In a recent study of life insurance policy owners, LIMRA found that one in two consumers have visited their life insurer’s website, and 70 percent of those who visited did so to use the online services.

“Not surprisingly, the majority of Generation X and Y policy owners and almost half of Boomer policy owners who have visited their life company’s website sought online services from their insurers--citing convenience and ease of use as reasons they visited the sites,” according to Mary Art, LIMRA’s research director, technology in marketing and distribution research. “With Internet usage growing almost 150 percent in the last decade, it is vital that companies understand who their online audience is, what their expectations are, and develop a website that offers the important services that these customers say they want.”

The report, Connecting for Service Online: Customer Service for Life Insurance, revealed that customers are interested in obtaining a wide variety of online services, with billing information, email and mailing address updates, forms access and policy information high on their list. LIMRA researchers suggest that insurers also offer information on managing finances and planning relevant to their financial concerns, such as saving for college, building an emergency fund, saving for retirement and saving for a home.

Other features mentioned by policy owners include:

• A Search Box: At least 1 in 2 life insurance policy owners consider a site search box on the company website to be very important.

• Price and Product Comparisons: More than 50 percent of policy owners are interested in the availability of price and product comparisons of products from their life insurance company on the site.

• Ability to Initiate Personal Changes Online: Consumers want to be able to make beneficiary changes, loan requests and fund withdrawals online.

“Customers--particularly Gen X and Y customers--want online services and they expect your company to offer a range of services online,” notes Art. “It is important for companies to offer a well-designed, easy-to-use site that appeals to consumers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, since they are your current and future customers.”

For more information, contact Catherine Theroux at LIMRA at ctheroux@limra.com.

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By Ayo Mseka
Editor-In-Chief
Advisor Today