When it comes to life insurance, the agency channel is crucial for insurers’ sales and distribution plans. While many life insurers have taken steps to offer their customers the ability to purchase or service life insurance or retirement products through online channels, the fact remains that they are selling personal (and sometimes complex) products. Advice, then, is key to the customer experience. To better understand how life insurers are using digital capabilities to provide better advice, Accenture surveyed 300 North American financial advisors. The Accenture North American Insurance Financial Advisors Study revealed six factors that are fundamentally changing how life insurers do business. In this podcast, my colleague Patrick Lyons shares the first of these six factors: that digital tools are critical to providing good advice, but there is a gap between what advisors and customers want—and what insurers are currently able to offer. VIDEO Join me next week as I discuss the second of the survey’s findings: that today’s clients are better informed than before and expect more from their advisors. Learn more:
Many insurers are failing to provide advisors with the right digital tools to help them meet customer expectations according to a report from Accenture. The report, which was released on Tuesday, found that only about half of all health plans offer access to online advice and guidance for their customers. Accenture states, as they are selling personal and sometimes complex products online advice is key to the customer experience; adding there is a gap between what advisors and customers want.