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Annuities Research

Digging into the Customer Experience: Annuities

Corporate Insight’s Annuity Monitor keeps clients on top of developments in the annuity business. Our value-added annuities research digs deeply to identify and assess specific aspects not only of the customer experience, but also the ways in which leading insurers market their annuity products to independent financial advisors.

Active Variable Annuity Marketing PDF Print E-mail
Low-interest rates and less-than-stable market conditions put a large strain on various annuity providers, effecting sales of both variable and fixed annuities. Some providers have thrived despite these difficult market conditions, while others, unfortunately, have scaled back on product guarantees and optional benefits or have exited the industry entirely. Under this backdrop, this Annuity Monitor Report focuses on the marketing tactics used to promote variable annuities by firms on their public websites.

We do not provide graded assessments of each firm, but rather focus on a comprehensive account of what is currently offered by the firms included in this report. Eight firms were evaluated on two key criteria:
  • Variety of resources available on the public sites (promotional images, client testimonials, multimedia resources, etc.)
  • Quality and depth of information that is posted by each firm
Unfortunately, only 40% of Annuity Monitor coverage firms are currently featuring active marketing campaigns for new or recently released annuity products. We define a new or recent campaign as any marketing resource that has been added to the firm’s public site over the past year, and that is still currently offered on the site. Of those that are actively marketing their annuity products, we were pleased to find that several firms employ useful resources, such as multimedia videos, to explain the key product features and highlight the benefits of their annuity offerings.
 
The most frequently utilized marketing resource among the firms covered in this report is individual product brochures, which are offered by seven firms. Homepage promotional images, highlighted links to product pages and annuity-focused multimedia videos are other marketing resources that are used by at least half of the Annuity Monitor firms in this report. Unfortunately, only one firm utilizes promotional imagery that is both aesthetically pleasing and informative.
 
Additional key findings include:
  • 38% of firms utilize an image to promote variable annuities on their respective homepages.
  • One quarter of firms are currently highlighting microsites that focus on new annuity product releases.
  • Two firms require that public users complete an online form to receive annuity marketing brochures in the mail.
 
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