According to the recent J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Household Insurance Study, millennials are more critical of their homeowners and renters insurance experience than any other generational group in every satisfaction category.

But satisfaction levels for millennials rise to meet that of boomers when their insurance experience involves both agent and online interaction.

According to Valerie Monet, director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power, nearly half of millennials have either not interacted with their insurer in the last 12 months or exclusively interacted through a digital channel. “If we compare those customers to the boomers, they’re less satisfied,” she says, adding that another 21% who have interacted exclusively through their agent or a call center report similarly low satisfaction levels.

“But when millennials have interacted either through their local agent or call center and using digital channels, including email, satisfaction levels are actually on par with the boomers,” Monet says—presenting an enormous opportunity “for insurers and agents to improve satisfaction for millennials by aligning their communication and contact methods with the preferences of the customer base.”

While service channel preferences continue to evolve, customers across all generations are still as satisfied interacting with their agent as they are interacting through digital channels. “The independent agent has the opportunity to serve as an advisor to the millennial, using their interaction to educate and manage customer expectations,” Monet says.

That means it’s a misconception to assume Gen Y clients all want to take a hands-off, self-service and digital approach to insurance shopping. In fact, as “empowered consumers,” millennials are more satisfied with a multi-channel service approach that incorporates guidance from a trusted advisor and information that’s readily available in an interactive Web platform.

“Millennials have grown up with technology—they’ve always had easy access to information, so they’re more apt to consume the information presented to them,” Monet says. But making sure the customer in this age group “completely understands their coverage and has adequate online access to policy information are [both] significant drivers of a highly satisfying experience.”

So what tends to annoy or upset a millennial customer that a Gen X, boomer or pre-boomer client might be more willing to tolerate? In order to keep pace with the expectations of younger consumers, Monet says insurance organizations need to pay close attention to the latest trends in website functionality—both inside and outside the insurance industry. “Millennials are very likely to compare their experiences on an insurer’s website to other sites they’re visiting for other things,” Monet says.

According to Monet, the largest contributor to the satisfaction gap between millennials and boomers is that millennials report a higher rate of problems related to their insurer’s website. “Millennials are attempting to use their insurer’s website for more complex reasons—resolving billing issues or attempting to get rate quotes,” she explains. “Millennials indicate they experience significantly more functionality issues on the insurer’s website than boomers, like the website freezing or running slowly, or having to navigate through three or more pages more frequently than boomers to find the information they’re looking for.”

Striking the right balance between educating millennials and delivering digitally will be critical for insurance organizations that want to appeal to an age group that now makes up the largest proportion of homebuyers in the U.S. at 31%—a rate that “will only increase as the population matures,” Monet notes. “What makes them so important is they’re a lucrative customer segment.”

Bottom line? Millennials expect your website to meet their expectations for usability and information, but they still need you. “Millennials are actually far more critical of their insurer when their agent is not involved in the claims process compared with boomers,” Monet says. “They rely heavily on the agent in their core strength of providing personal service.”

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.