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UK Insurers Poll Consumers To Determine Their Behaviour

Elaine Brookes Steve Case

Author: Steve Case - Insurance Expert

Reviewed & Fact Checked By: Elaine Brookes

Updated: 8th December 2023

Two reports have recently been released by leading insurers comparethemarket.com and AXA insurance group, both interested in gaining a better understanding of consumer behaviour.

life cover photo

Of course, it’s in the interest of increasing sales of insurance policies, but the findings are intriguing.

AXA life insurance wants to ramp up sales of permanent life insurance. That’s the same as Whole of Life Insurance. They differ from shorter-term cover in quite a few ways… and their research into consumer behaviour has taught them how to open the discussions to sell you the products (even if you don’t know what it is).

The other report conducted by the Institute of Inertia, a collaboration between comparethemarket.com and The University of Sheffield, revealed several data insights into consumer behaviour.

Some interesting facts surfaced between the two research studies conducted on behalf of one of the UK’s leading insurers and the leading insurance market website.

Did you know?

Of 2,000 parents polled by The Inertia group, the results show that within one month of losing a partner…

  • 23% of UK parents couldn’t cover the mortgage or rent payments
  • 60% would need state benefits
  • 37% would need to use food banks

Source: Fiona Murphy – CoverMagazine.co.uk

That is not the picture of a happy family with sound financials. It sounds rather selfish and not in the interests of parents to leave their loved ones unprotected financially.

Turns out, it’s got nothing to do with necessities and everything to do with love. That’s the findings from Inertia, anyway.

Instead of labelling the insurance products like life insurance or family protection, 31% of the 2,000 Brit parents polled report that they’d be more inclined to purchase life insurance if it wasn’t called that but instead love insurance. Would you buy love insurance?

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Then there’s AXA insurance group

They’re looking to increase sales of their permanent life insurance as a retirement plan product. Well, to be fair, they don’t state that, but that’s what these data research papers are about: power to the sales teams. They discovered that a lack of credible information leads to lower life insurance policy sales.

The response from AXA is to address concerns by comforting you first and foremost by describing their key features differently.

They first sell the protection aspect due to it being comfortable because that’s what you think life insurance for females and women, in particular, is; financial family protection.

Following the comfort information, they then pack on the value adds.

  • Protection and more
  • A smart addition to many financial plans
  • For those who want more ways to protect their family, potentially minimize taxes and grow their money over time”

The main differentiator for the AXA permanent life cover is that it is more than financial protection for your family in the event of a tragic death. It forms part of an investment strategy because there is a “savings component” to it, reports Ron Herrmann, head of the Financial Protection business for AXA US.

Furthermore, the AXA findings revealed consumers didn’t understand the difference between term and permanent life insurance.

To many of us, we know that statement to be true. Insurance is insurance, after all. However, it’s also considered protection and gets the same response. It’s a bore and something we’ll get around to because there’s always tomorrow (until there isn’t).

What to take from the insights?

Insurance companies are gathering data to discover what makes you tick and eventually buy the cover they want to sell you. The best policy may not be the best price or coverage, but the insurer will sell it with the most knowledgeable sales team.

It’s not enough to compare the market. You must compare the policies because the small print matters more than the monthly premiums.

Recommended Reading:

Our Life Insurance FAQ

Level Term Life Insurance: Quotes & Cover

And, of course, you’ll need to know what all the fuss is about with permanent life cover. That’s the same as Whole of Life cover, which you can learn more about here.