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November 25, 2007 at 02:00 PM
New York Life Insurance Company remained on top of Dalbar Inc.’s list of best life insurance and annuity websites for consumers in the third quarter, while Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company continued as Dalbar’s top-ranked site for financial professionals.
Dalbar, Boston, evaluates financial websites on a variety of features that measure their value to users.
Among the top 10 sites aimed at consumers, MassMutual, Pacific Life, TIAA-CREF and Nationwide all improved on their second quarter scores.
The most impressive gain was by Hartford Financial Services Inc, which jumped to 8th place from 14th place.
Dalbar gave Hartford added points for an array of enhancements, including improved access to accounts, adjustable font sizes for easier viewing and deeper product information, such as data on investment performance and fees.
Among recent trends in the third quarter, Dalbar points out that a number of firms tied their sites to Life Insurance Awareness Month, which the industry observes each September. New York Life, Western Southern, AXA Advisors, Principal Financial and the American General division of AIG all offered tie-ins to the promotion on their websites.
Some offered a link to a video by the LIFE Foundation, Arlington, Va., featuring actress Molly Shannon talking about the important role life insurance has played in her life, Dalbar noted.
Dalbar also lauded several firms for adding new online information designed to alert consumers to fiscal security issues.
For instance, AXA Advisors, Pacific Life and MassMutual offered information on fraud or added protections to help consumers protect against financial scams, SPAM and other risks.
In Dalbar’s rankings of life insurance and annuity sites targeted to financial professionals, AIG American General and Nationwide showed significant improvements since the second quarter.
American General rose 3 spots, landing in 5th place by redesigning its site to highlight useful information more clearly, Dalbar says. It also added new information about its products, including minimum investment levels, annual performance and daily unit value data, and costs of fees and other expenses associated with specific products.
Nationwide climbed 6 spots to 9th place on the professional site list with a number of useful additions, including contact information for internal company departments, Dalbar said. It also included new information on regulatory and compliance changes affecting Nationwide products and the industry in general, and made it easier for advisors to manage their clients’ accounts online.
