Study Finds Term Life Web Sites Not Meeting Online Consumer Expectations

NU Online News Service, June 27, 2:35 p.m. – Gomez Inc., Waltham, Mass., a Web management consulting firm, has published a study on term life insurance sales systems suggesting that insurers need to do more to meet online customer expectations.

Poor usability, inconsistent site performance, and the prevalence of sites designed to showcase products rather than meet the needs of consumers have slowed widespread consumer adoption, according to the study's authors.

Other study findings:

• About 7.4 million consumers, or 8% of the U.S. adult active online population, have sought life insurance information online.
• A total of 22.4 million people, or 24.2% of the U.S. adult active online population, intend to purchase a new or different term life insurance policy in the next five years. Of this group, 56.5%, or 12.6 million consumers, intend to use the Internet during the purchase process.
• A total of 58.6% of Internet users prefer to work with an agent to determine an appropriate policy and level of coverage, despite the increased availability of insurance-related content and tools.
• 69.3% of Internet users who own life insurance are interested in using the Internet to manage their policies.

The study, the second in a two-part series, is based an online survey of more than 10,000 Internet users.