TIAA-CREF, Guardian Web Sites Move Up In Dalbar Rankings

TIAA-CREF, Guardian Web Sites Move Up In Dalbar Rankings

The consumer Web sites of TIAA-CREF and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America made significant improvements in the first quarter of 2004, while Allstate, Massachusetts Mutual and Guardian also made big gains among professional sites, according to Dalbar Inc.s latest ranking of life insurance and annuity company Web sites.

Dalbar, a research firm in Boston, ranks insurer and financial services company Web sites on a variety of criteria, such as ease of use, range of functions, currency of content and consistency of appearance.

There was a slight reshuffling of company names on Dalbar’s most recent top-40 list. However, Fidelity retained its lead among consumer sites, while the Hartford kept its No. 1 position among sites designed for financial professionals.

Fidelity’s consumer site maintained its Excellent designation for the 13th straight quarter, even though its score fell by about 1 point to 86.8.

Also among consumer-oriented sites, TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company, New York, advanced from 7th to 3rd place, displacing Thrivent Financial by improving planning tools and investment education, including an investment guide for women and a retirement plan evaluation tool.

One of the most substantial improvements on Dalbar’s rankings was by Guardian Life, which advanced from 28th to 13th with its recent relaunch of a streamlined and reorganized consumer site. At the same time the company’s professional site soared to 13th place from 26th.

Dalbar says the consumer site offers improved financial information about the company itself, along with extensive help in setting up a financial plan for those caring for elderly parents or disabled family members. Guardian also won points for adding financial news and the ability to provide financial statements online.

The new consumer site features enhanced navigation features, online prospectuses and annual reports, and e-mail alerts to clients to let them know when account data is available, notes Anne Hackett, a spokeswoman for Dalbar.

Dennis Callahan, executive vice president and chief information officer of Guardian, says the company improved its Web site as part of a concerted effort to advance its business through technology. The redesign was spearheaded by an e-business steering committee instituted under Callahans leadership in 2001.

The improvements to the site are characterized by higher usability, better use of open space, more direct links to areas that consumers want to access and more emphasis on self service, says Callahan.

Guardian also improved its professional sites, easing agents’ access to client accounts and allowing them to assign client account access to higher-level managers. This assures that customers will continue to be covered when their regular agents are away, says Michael ODea, manager of e-business programs for Guardian.