Poll Results – Features Trump Price

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Which is usually the most critical factor for you when it comes to selecting the best income protection insurance product solution for your client:
  • Product features/definitions (61%)
  • Premium stability (19%)
  • Competitive premiums (13%)
  • Claims acceptance rate (5%)
  • Not sure (1%)
  • Other factors (1%)

Our latest poll result indicates the product features and definitions box is the one most advisers look to tick – before pricing – when it comes to selecting the best IP solution for their clients.

As we go to press, just over six in ten advisers (62%) say product features and definitions are usually the most critical factor for them in determining the right IP solution for their clients, but a significant 30% opted for pricing issues as their number one concern – premium stability (18%) and competitive premiums (12%).

We’ve received feedback to suggest our poll question itself might have been worded differently, with one comment suggesting the question should have been asked assuming all the new IP products were the same – that is, aside from the product features and definitions, what’s next most important. Another comment noted this poll question is akin to asking you to choose between wearing trousers and a shirt.

Ok – we hear you!

As we mentioned in our poll story last week, another survey has delivered what turns out to be a similar overall outcome, namely that the most important factor driving an adviser’s choice of insurer for IP products – post APRA’s IP intervention – is product features and definitions, followed closely by stable premiums over time and premium competitiveness.

There appears to be a commonly-held view among different industry stakeholders that there will definitely be more movement from the insurers in terms of product changes, now that all the manufacturers have laid out their cards in releasing their new IP product ranges. And in October this year, more changes wil be taking place as the industry struggles to implement APRA’s guidelines around maximum five-year term IP contracts.

In the meantime, Riskinfo will continue to monitor and report all the latest IP trends and outcomes as the industry navigates its way through a new Australian income protection insurance landscape.