U.S. Life Insurance Carrier Performance: The Agents’ Perspective

A new Aite Group report explores what carriers can learn by listening to the voice of the agents

Boston, MA (Nov. 5, 2020) – The recent pandemic has elevated consumers’ awareness of mortality risks and the necessity for protection as well as heightened their concern over their financial needs. Customers are expecting a holistic review of their financial planning needs and products and services that will create a path for their overall wellness. An agent’s input can be a valuable source of benchmarking for carriers and help their product, distribution, operations, and technology leaders understand this competitive landscape. The latest Aite Group report, U.S. Life Insurance Carrier Performance: The Agents’ Perspective, aims to help insurance carriers, agency owners, and solution providers to gain an understanding of the criteria agents consider important when planning life insurance business.

“In the last few months, agents have played a critical role in deploying carriers’ response to the pandemic, such as facilitating remote applications, underwriting without fluids, and communicating digitally with customers,” says Manoj Upreti, senior analyst at Aite Group. “The carriers are learning that friction in the agent experience can ultimately lead to difficulty meeting consumers’ needs and failure to deliver the value they expect, and that success in the life insurance business continues to be at the confluence of customer needs and agent preferences,” he explains.

This report identifies the top insurance carriers that agents use, the relative importance of key criteria when deciding which carrier to choose, and several influencing factors for each of these key criteria. It then compares the agents’ rating of selected carriers against the rest of the carriers. Aite Group collaborated with Competiscan, a Chicago-based firm, to survey a group of 76 life insurance agents in the U.S. between March and May 2020. This survey was combined with desk research of reports, industry data, podcasts, website reviews, and articles as well as insights from past conversations with agents and life insurance carriers.

This 44-page Impact Report contains 35 figures and three tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Life Insurance service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact Deck.

Click here for the online summary or to download the table of contents.

This report mentions AIG, AXA, Brighthouse Financial, Genworth, Guardian, John Hancock, Legal & General, Lincoln Benefit Life, Lincoln Financial, MassMutual, MetLife, Mutual of Omaha, National Life Group, Nationwide, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, Pacific Life, Penn Mutual, Principal Financial Group, Protective, Prudential Financial, Securian, State Farm, Torchmark Corp., Transamerica, Voya Financial, and Western & Southern Financial.

About Aite Group

Aite Group is a global research and advisory firm delivering comprehensive, actionable advice on business, technology, and regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry. With expertise in banking, payments, insurance, wealth management, and the capital markets, we guide financial institutions, technology providers, and consulting firms worldwide. We partner with our clients, revealing their blind spots and delivering insights to make their businesses smarter and stronger. Visit us at www.aitegroup.com.

Source: Aite Group