Zurich Financial Services has released research that indicates the rate of adviser use of online life insurance application services has levelled out.
An external survey conducted for the insurer by Beaton Research and Consulting revealed that around one third of all advisers are still submitting less than 10% of their life insurance applications online.
Zurich’s General Manager Sales and Marketing, Retail Risk, Philip Kewin, said the findings reflect preferences that are driven by adviser demographics, rather than any lack of understanding about the merits of online applications:
“We conducted similar research late last year and found close to 20% of advisers did not use eApplication services at all,” said Mr Kewin.
“But at the other end of the scale four in ten advisers are submitting 90% or more of their applications online,” he said.
… these results also reinforce the view that insurers still need to cater for a wide range of adviser operating models
Mr Kewin said some advisers still have a preference for traditional pen and paper, and are unlikely to change their approach. He added that these results also reinforce the view that insurers still need to cater for a wide range of adviser operating models.
The research also found advisers from South Australia and the Northern Territory were the heaviest users of eApplications, while advisers in Victorian and Tasmania use them the least.
