What Life and Annuity Issuers Have to Do to Stay Relevant

Annuity sales may be strong this year, but life insurers you work with still face a complex, rapidly changing environment.

They must find ways both to cut costs and to keep their customers.

Here are five things I’m telling them about how to keep you and your clients listening to what they have to say.

1. Streamline processes.

Replacing an outdated policy administration system or any other legacy systems comes with its own risks, but reducing the number of systems can costs, simplify staffing and help an insurer respond to changing by adding products and updating product features more quickly.

2. Personalize messaging and operations.

Once an insurer has modern systems, it can segment the market more easily, send customers and prospects more relevant messages, get applicants through underwriting processes more quickly and, in general, give your clients the kind of modern service they have come to expect.

3. Build trust.

The situation may be different for your clients, but many consumers are not getting the life insurance coverage and annuities they need because the insurers are not successfully reaching them: More than 60% of the consumers who participated in a 2020 LIMRA survey said they wouldn’t buy annuities because they do not understand annuities and do not know which type to buy.

Life and annuity issuers need to use the new systems and the new personalized messaging to explain themselves.

4. Mind the cannibals.

Certainly, fixed annuities are selling well.

Variable annuities: Less well.