ANNUITIES Gold Monitor Awards

Transcription

1 ANNUITIES Gold Monitor Awards 2015 Award Winners

2 About Us Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence and user experience research to the nation s leading financial institutions. For over 20 years, the firm has tracked technological developments in the financial services industry, identifying best practices in online banking and investing, online insurance, mobile finance, active trading platforms, social media and other emerging areas. There are no assumptions in Corporate Insight s work we use live accounts at all of the firms we research, providing our clients with unparalleled, unbiased intelligence on the competition. Press Coverage Promote Your Firm s 2015 Gold Monitor Awards! Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors. For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com. Connect With Us

3 Annuity Monitor Awards Corporate Insight is pleased to present our ninth annual Monitor Awards report, offering a broad benchmarking of the annuity industry across several key sectors. This year, we awarded firms in seven crucial categories: Public Site Homepage and Navigation, Public Site Educational Resources, Public Site Product Information, Private Site Account Information, Private Site Transaction Capabilities, Advisor Sales and Prospecting Materials and Advisor Illustration Systems. Within each category, we award gold, silver and bronze medals based on how well firms meet our criteria. As in past years, the Gold Medal is reserved for offerings that provide an exceptionally valuable service. For features that offer similar value but lack some of the outstanding attributes and functions of the best offerings, we award a Silver Medal. For features that offer an excellent or unique service but do not meet the highest standards for a given category, we award a Bronze Medal.

4 Category Overview Public Homepage and Navigation Client Account Information Public Educational Resources Advisor Sales and Prospecting Materials Public Product Information Advisor Illustration Systems Client Transaction Capabilities Promote Your Firm s 2015 Gold Monitor Awards! Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors. For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com.

5 Public Homepage and Navigation Firms help shape first impressions through public site homepages. The role that homepages play in engaging clients and prospects is pivotal. Firms must offer annuity clients and prospects an attractive homepage that offers access to a variety of educational, product and company news resources. Furthermore, firms must adequately guide site users with an intuitive navigation design. Our evaluation of public homepages and site navigation took into account organization and structure, design and layout, availability of client login field, navigational structure and location of annuity section. Jackson National earns the gold medal for its homepage and straightforward navigation, which promote a wide array of annuity-specific information. Jackson National stands out for its promotion of key annuity resources, as it is the only firm to offer access to product-specific variable annuity performance details. The firm also boasts an actionable dropdown menu that allows clients to easily locate forms, annuity education and other relevant information.

6 Public Educational Resources Here, we look at the level of detail in public annuity education sections. Ideally, firms should provide prospects with general information about annuity benefits, solutions, advantages, their role in retirement planning and more, through informative pages, FAQs, articles and brochures. Complementing annuity content with videos, tools and calculators can help engage prospects. Pacific Life earns a gold medal for providing a range of educational content, videos and tools focusing on annuities within a centralized location of the public site. In 2015, the firm added another educational center focusing on women and retirement product solutions. Notably, the firm continues to offer annuityspecific tools Tax Deferral Analyzer and What are the Advantages of an Annuity that generate visual graphs and reports as results.

7 Public Site Product Information By offering public site product information, firms create an opportunity to educate prospects and clients on their annuity offerings. The opportunity is key to beginning the sales process. Our assessment of public annuity product information took into account the structure of the annuity product pages as well as the supplementary literature available online. In terms of content, we focus on the amount of product detail and performance data provided for both annuities and living benefit riders (if applicable) directly on the product page. Jackson National is awarded its third gold medal in this category for offering comprehensive product pages and a wide array of product literature and materials. The firm s product pages are intuitively organized into tabs, with materials and multimedia prominently featured in a menu at the top of the page. Jackson National particularly stands out for its detailed performance center, which offers the widest range of options among Annuity Monitor firms.

8 Client Transaction Capabilities Firms should properly equip their private site with transaction capabilities. The ability to manage investments with fund transfers, reallocations and withdrawals is particularly key for clients who rely on their annuity as a retirement investment vehicle. We look for firms offering a notable selection of transaction capabilities that provide a wide range of transactions (e.g., transfers, reallocations, withdrawals, contributions, etc.). A focus is given to the capabilities accessibility, interface design and overall usability. Value-added features such as clear instructions, external help resources and progress meters helped firms gain top accolades. Fidelity earns its third gold medal, as the firm stands out for its six comprehensive transactions, including future allocations and transfers. The firm offers help resources throughout each of its processes, and clients can easily locate and navigate through them.

9 Client Account Information Clients should be able to obtain a full scope of their annuity contract details on a well-presented and centralized platform. An effective account information display is organized and features optimal readability and easy access to key private site features. In addition to offering contract details, firms should offer a transaction history section, with lengthy archive, and historical contract value search and/or historical unit value search (for variable or index annuities) that enable prospects to view past values. This way, clients stay on top of their account. Guardian earns a gold medal for offering an extensive amount of account details in a wellorganized layout. The firm s Contract Overview section provides clients with their contract values, investment details, annuitant and beneficiary data, and past transactions. Clients can also view historical contract and investment values from this section.

10 Advisor Sales and Prospecting Materials For this category, we focus on the selection of product literature, prospecting materials and sales presentations offered to advisors in a user-friendly platform. Firms should provide an array of marketing materials and sales resources, including product brochures, performance reports, benefit option guides, seminar invitations, worksheets, checklists, customizable letters and mailers. Ideally, these materials should be available in an easy-to-locate, organized and manageable platform, featuring search, sort, filter and order capabilities. Jackson National receives a gold medal for offering a variety of marketing and sales materials within a dedicated Advisor Marketing Center, which features filter, search and ordering capabilities. Materials offered include product brochures, investment materials, sales ideas, business building pieces and prospecting resources, such as presentations, customizable letters and mailers. Advisors can also save, print, download and may order some materials.

11 Advisor Annuity Illustration Systems Conducting annuity illustrations is paramount to the sales process. Advisors must be able to access annuity illustration systems with related help and sales resources. Annuity illustration systems must also generate detailed, helpful and visually appealing ledgers. This category was analyzed based on the quality of navigation to illustration system, interface design and features, help availability, integration of product and sales resources and ledger quality and design. Voya is awarded the gold medal for its thorough and easy-to-use Voya Presents illustration software. Voya offers an intuitive illustration process, which advisors complete on a single screen through expandable menus. The firm boasts a great deal of sales and marketing resources, including product brochures and access to the online applications, as well as a helpful user guide explaining how to conduct illustrations. Voya also offers a product comparison feature. The firm generates a colorful and graphical ledger.

12 2015 Top Gold Medal Winners Jackson National In the 2015 Annuity Monitor Awards, Jackson National leads with three gold medals, followed by Fidelity, Guardian Life, Pacific Life, and Voya with one each.

13 Contact Us Alisson Andrade Senior Analyst Annuity Monitor and Life Insurance Monitor Connect with Alisson Connect With CI