Customer apathy toward annuities and life insurance poses an ongoing challenge for providers. Satisfaction increases as more customers use digital tools and begin using life insurance and annuities for financial planning, in addition to final planning services such as death benefits and insurance funeral, according to a published study Thursday by JD Power.
Life insurance sales saw a brief resurgence in popularity during the height of the pandemic, while annuity sales have soared recently, said Breanne Armstrong, director of insurance intelligence at JD Power, in a communicated. But aside from that, customer satisfaction and engagement have generally declined as customers keep these products.
That’s starting to change, Armstrong said.
Customers who interact with their providers’ digital offerings are more engaged, have higher satisfaction levels and are more likely to integrate their life insurance and annuity products into their overall financial plans, she said. declared.
The study is based on two surveys conducted by JD Power from May to July. The satisfaction of 3,579 clients of the largest American annuity companies was measured on their performance in the same five key factors.
The other examined the satisfaction of 5,588 customers of America’s largest individual life insurance companies, based on their performance on communication, interaction, pricing, product offerings and disclosures.
Satisfaction increases with digital
The study showed that customer satisfaction with annuity products averages 800 (on a scale of 1 to 1,000) this year, an increase of 11 points compared to 2022. This is also due in large part to increased digital engagement.
Overall satisfaction levels are highest when annuities are purchased through provider websites, JD Power says, as is customer satisfaction with the application and orientation process.
JD Power also found that 72% of annuity customers can now be characterized as digital customers who regularly interact with their provider via website, email, chat, text or mobile app. Overall satisfaction for digital customers is 819, compared to 784 for those who have no digital interactions and 726 for those who have no interactions with their supplier.
The number of customers purchasing life insurance policies through insurer websites represents 13% of all life insurance purchases, up from just 6% in 2019. In total, 62% of life insurance customers now interact with their insurer via digital channels.
Overall satisfaction is 823 (on a 1,000-point scale) when customers use digital channels; that’s 79 points more than when customers don’t interact digitally.
The proportion of life insurance customers who take out their policies for both financial and final planning reasons has increased from 30% in 2022 to 39% in 2023.
Overall customer satisfaction with life insurance policies is significantly higher when purchased for both reasons, as opposed to final planning alone or financial planning alone.
Even for products purchased through agents or advisors, adding digital interaction only increases customer satisfaction, the study found. When life insurance customers who purchased through an agent or advisor interact only non-digitally, satisfaction is 795. It increases to 821 when digital interactions are added.
This trend also exists among annuity customers who purchased their annuity through an agent or advisor, with a satisfaction score of 809, compared to 784 for those who did not have this type of interaction.
See the attached tables to see which annuity and life insurance providers have the highest and lowest customer satisfaction.
#Worst #Annuity #Life #Insurance #Providers #Power #ThinkAdvisor
Image Source : www.thinkadvisor.com