Launching the first-ever direct-to-consumer online life insurance company

As the first-ever online, direct-to-consumer (DTC) solution for medically underwritten term life insurance, Haven Life’s innovative platform redefined the vertical. For the first time, people could apply and receive a real-time coverage decision, instead of having to wait weeks or months and undergo an intrusive medical exam.

But how do you make something as “un-sexy” as life insurance valuable to millennials, and ask them to wrestle with two of the most unsettling topics in their relationships—money and mortality—to apply?

Everyone must carry insurance for their homes, health, or cars. But 64% of US adults don’t own life insurance, as it’s optional, and has a long, confusing, and flat-out awkward path to coverage.

Our target consumers—educated millennials that make ~$80k a year, new homeowners, and married couples who may be expecting or have just had a child—already know that life is complicated, but their life insurance doesn’t have to be. 

We realized that to drive brand awareness and policy applications, we had to first help Haven Life become an insurance go-to, and then, a trusted resource for timely, relevant, easy-to-understand advice about life insurance, family, life hacks, and other lifestyle topics around protecting financial futures.

In 2015, this entirely online company needed a solid digital go-to-market solution for their first pilot market (Massachusetts), so, we first worked to increase brand awareness and capture demand with Google Search and SEO.

As Haven Life grew to other states, and eventually nationwide in 2017, we applied learnings as we went by tying out of home and direct mail initiatives to search campaigns and developing more robust digital personas. To further generate interest and demand, we expanded our tactics and launched customer-journey-focused paid campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

These initial paid social campaigns were consistent top-performers because of the possibilities around in-depth audience targeting around key demographics and life-events as audiences grew. With the ability to enable third-party audiences along with Facebook’s own parameters, we were able to reach the right people in the right part of their decision-making process.

Now that Haven Life’s core digital brand awareness foundation was set, and customers were leaving rave reviews about how simple, easy, and trustworthy they were, the table was set to bring their educational resources to more people.

In 2018, we began working hand-in-hand with their in-house editorial team by focusing our media efforts on smart content distribution. By tying media performance and customer journey insights together, we helped inform content creation and bring useful, relevant financial and lifestyle advice to new parents, spouses, and more. Now, in 2019, more and more applicants are discovering Haven Life through the brand’s content.

Haven Life initially approached Dragon360 in 2015 to help them launch their new platform in their pilot market, and now, years later, we’re still celebrating a successful ongoing partnership. We not only helped launch and grow their business, but we’re helping real families safeguard their future with billions of dollars in term life insurance protection.