Deloitte Survey: Life Insurance Providers Could Benefit by Increasing Outreach and Education [Professional Services Close – Up]

A prime reason many uninsured individuals don't have insurance coverage is that no carrier has invited them to purchase their products, according to a Deloitte survey of life insurance buyers.

According to a release, even insured individuals who are open to buying additional coverage often say that they have not been solicited by carriers.

"From our survey it is clear that life insurance is very much on the minds of many consumers," said Rebecca C. Amoroso, Vice Chairman and U.S. Insurance Leader for Deloitte LLP, who was the survey's executive sponsor.

Adds Amoroso, "A significant percentage of respondents have simply not been offered coverage recently; many also noted that they never shop for coverage on their own initiative. Not soliciting their business exacerbates this gap between insurers' interests and consumers' needs."

The survey, "The Voice of the Life Insurance Consumer," was conducted to provide life insurers with insights into how people perceived the value of life insurance, including where coverage ranked among their other financial priorities, as well how consumers preferred to be reached. The survey covered buyers and non-buyers' related beliefs, motivations, influences, priorities and preferences.

Deloitte also identified some of the marketing challenges life insurers face in expanding their penetration among the uninsured and underinsured. "A significant number of respondents frankly don't know if they need more insurance or if they do, they don't know how much they might need to buy," said Sam Friedman, Insurance Leader for Deloitte Research, who led the project. "Still others say they want life insurance but cannot afford it leaving open the question as to whether these cost-conscious prospects might in fact purchase a policy if they realized what the price and value for coverage might actually be."

"Even current buyers did not overwhelmingly recognize many of the financial needs life insurance can fulfill, such as a source of cash in retirement, a way to save money for financial emergencies, or to help finance a child's college education," Friedman said.

Those who are insured more strongly identified with the value and benefits of life insurance than did those without coverage; yet even half or fewer of those with coverage do not associate their policy with all of the benefits that it can provide.

More information:

www.deloitte.com/us/about

((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))