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LIMRA INSIGHTS
Barometer Measures Importance
of Dealing With an Advisor
ommunications methods may
C
change, but the importance of
the personal touch remains.
By Ashley V. Durham
T
o stay current with consumer
insurance perceptions and behaviors, LIMRA and Life Happens
jointly publish the Insurance Barometer
Study. Now in its fourth year, it measures
consumer financial concerns and attitudes
about financial products, with a particular
focus on life insurance.
Some of the responses are not surprising and reflect attitudes held about life
insurance for years. For example, 80 percent of adults still agree that most people
need life insurance. However, while one
in four adults admits they themselves
need more life insurance, only one in 10
said they are very likely to buy a policy
within the next year.
When they are ready to buy, most people still want to work with a financial advisor or agent, because life insurance can
be a relatively complicated purchase. Just
over half of the respondents in the 2014
Barometer Study prefer to purchase from
an agent or financial advisor in person.
At the same time however, one in four
under the age of 45 said they’d prefer to
apply for life insurance online. There is
also a strong preference among all age
groups, even among seniors, to use the
Internet when researching life insurance.
Despite increasing Internet involvement, the financial professional’s presence remains essential. Communication
in person or over the phone is still the
way most consumers want to work with
their financial advisor or agent. Email is
almost as popular among the under-45
crowd, but only 30 percent over the age of
45 prefer to communicate by email.
Financial advisors and agents have
heard a great deal about the importance
of staying current with technology. This
is especially true with younger consumers, who cite several tech-based pref70
Source: “2014 Insurance Barometer,” LIMRA and Life Happens
erences of communication with their
financial advisors or agents. Video Web
conferences are favored by one in five of
the under-45 consumers. Other methods
increasing in popularity include instant
messaging, text messaging and communicating through a social media site.
What does all this mean for a financial
advisor or agent running a business? It
actually reflects the larger “omnichannel” trend in life insurance, with consumers wanting to interact with the life
insurance purchasing process on their
terms. Today’s consumers will sometimes seek life insurance information inperson and other times they will browse
a company Web page, as 40 percent of
consumers told us they had done (half of
them within the past year). In the end,
consumers want to understand what
they are buying and to make sure they
InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » June 2014
are getting the right amount of coverage
for the right price.
We conduct the Barometer Study each
year because it allows us to identify and
monitor emerging trends with consumers. The survey also reinforces that consumers still seek good advice. Whether
it’s a phone conversation with an agent or
a discussion held on a financial advisor’s
Facebook page, the methods of communication may change, but the importance
of the personal touch remains.
Ashley V. Durham is a senior
analyst in Insurance Research
for LIMRA. She is the project
director for the U.S. Individual
Life Insurance Sales Studies, the
U.S. Individual Life Insurance
Yearbook and the Insurance
Barometer Study. Ashley may be reached at
ashley.durham@innfeedback.com.
As seen in InsuranceNewsNet Magazine