Women make up half the population, but until recent years havebeen an untapped target market for insurance.

Only 31% of women have protection or savings-oriented lifeinsurance, and women arestatistically more unlikely to be uninsured.

But as more women enter the labor force, become entrepreneurs,and take on the decision-maker status in the household, the marketis quickly expanding.

Accenture research presumes that the annual premium value ofwomen's global market will grow from between six to nine timeslarger than the $98 billion market of 2013. This means that by 2030an estimated $569 billion to $874 billion will be put into theinsurance industry — just by women alone.

Related: Women's market represents trillion-dollaropportunity

An often underserved market in the industry, insurers arestarting to emphasize strategies to bring in female consumers inall insurance types.

Here are three ways that many insurance companies are gettingstarted:

More than 40% of households are headed by women. (Photo:iStock)

1. Define the segment

More women are providers and decision-makers today than a decadeago.

From 2007 to 2012, the percentage of women-owned businessesincreased 27%, and from1960 to 2011, the percentage of households with a woman as the soleor primary provider rose to 40.4% from 10.8%.

In order to start a successful campaign to draw in more femaleconsumers, insurance companies can leverage their own data toformulate a high-value prospect model. Insurers must firstintegrate and cleanse their databases to ensure that theirfirst-party consumer information is up to date and accurate.

They can then segment the database to focus on female consumersand use third-party data services to append missing and additionaldemographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics to shedlight on the profiles of their most profitable female customers.Modeling their best female customers in their planning will lead toa better understanding of what prospects and current consumers wantand need.

Life insurance providers need to particularly take notice aswomen are more likely than men to be concerned about being a burden totheir families, and a 2014 study by Aegon Retirement and Readiness found thatonly one in five women surveyed feel that the financial servicesindustry truly understands their needs when it comes to financialplanning to secure a future for their families. This leaves a largegap of women looking for security for themselves and theirfamilies, but not receiving the offers and information they need tomake a plan.

Related: What insurance advisors should know about 80% ofAmerican families

More than 90% of women do research online before bying aproduct and 30% use mobile devices to make purchases. (Photo:iStock)

2. Optimize for digital and mobile

Although things are changing, it's still more common for womento handle the majority of child and household care responsibilitiesalong with holding a full-time job.

Among families with working mothers of preschool children, onlyone in five fathers claimed to be the primary caregiver, accordingto the Council of Economic Advisors. This makes for women on the gowho expect services on the go.

A Marketing Firm Interactions study conducted in 2014 found that91% of women conduct online research prior to making a purchase and30% use their mobile device to make purchases.

Between board room meetings, parent teacher conferences, orboth, women need insurance information at their fingertips, andcompanies need to get on board to stay competitive.

Optimize websites for mobile and digital and making forms easyand quick to fill out. One way to accomplish this is to removecumbersome fields and use third-party data services to fill in theblanks with accurate, updated information. Some companies are alsoonly requiring top level information at first, and then once arelationship has been established, the company can request morein-depth information from prospects.

Related: Fact of the week: How many American wives earn morethan their husbands?

Research shows that women tend to be more concerned aboutrelationships when buying insurance. (Photo: iStock)

3. Focus on relationships first

Research by Accenture has found repeatedly that while men aremore product- and service-focused, women are more relational- andexperience-focused in their insurance conversations.

In order to attract — and keep — female insurance customerscompanies must implement ways to ensure positive consumerexperiences across all channels.

Accenture suggests services such as regular follow ups,cross-selling of products that could be helpful to them ,andfriendly reminders of renewals to amplify the positive customerexperience.

Eighty-percent of women surveyed by Retail Perceptions are influenced by positive customer reviewsand 67% are less likely to purchase a product or service afterviewing negative reviews. Educating sales people and team membersin the importance of consumer experience is integral to fosteringpositive consumer-brand relationships that women expect in theirservice providers. Women are generally more brand loyal as well,and will take on the role of brand ambassador for companies theyfeel go above and beyond their expectations.

In a challenging marketplace insurers must continuously find newways to tap into unaddressed market segments. Using solid data tocreate consumer profiles, optimizing for quick access on multiplechannels, and valuing customer experience are just three of themany ways to bring more women into your customer base.

Jim Kaiser is vice president of data solutions for WesleyChapel, Fla.-based data marketing company DataMentors.

Related: Women in insurance and the champions ofchange

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