Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
July 31, 2006 at 08:00 PM
A consumer behavior primer
I spent a few days reviewing consumer behavior research conducted by Baba Shiv, an associate professor at Stanford, and discovered several findings that could apply to the annuity world. Since I don’t want this article to be a page of footnotes I’m not listing the academic studies that are the basis, but I’ll be happy to send anyone the references if you drop me an e-mail.
Overcome bad annuity article
A negative message is effective, especially if a decision will be made right after hearing the ad (which is why more “my opponent is evil” ads appear the week before an election), or if the message is not challenged. But if the message is challenged, there’s a good chance the bad article vibes can be turned or at least neutralized. How? Primarily by attacking the fairness of the article.
If an article says fixed annuities have high fees and face a lot of consumer complaints, and it quotes three mutual funds saying how evil fixed annuities are, the most effective response is righteous indignation followed by rebuttals: “Why was the reporter so biased? Why wasn’t anyone from the annuity carriers interviewed? I noticed there were 14 mutual fund ads in the reporter’s publication and no annuity ads. I wonder if the reporter’s maiden name was Fidelity.” Follow that with major point rebuttals like, “Fixed annuities don’t have annual fees. There’s only been one NASD complaint involving fixed annuities in the last two years. Fixed annuities are good because they have guarantees.” If the consumer is persuaded the negative attack is unfair, he will ignore it.
Cue the consumer
Whether you call it framing or cueing or setting the stage, the lead-up to the product presentation is crucial. Open by saying, “This index annuity has a 9 percent ceiling on the interest you can earn next year,” or you could say, “Your bank has a 1-year CD rate of 5 percent; this index annuity has a 9 percent ceiling.” The reason for the latter phrasing is the consumer may have forgotten what bank rates are and has unrealistic expectations of potential safe money returns.
