Helping Consumers Understand the Value of Life Insurance
May 31 2016 - 12:01PM
Business Wire
Research reveals a better way to engage with consumers so they
won’t “turn off” when life insurance is discussed
AXA, a leading financial protection company, recently revealed a
new way to talk about life insurance, a long-time touchy subject
that is often met with resistance, even though 86 percent of
consumers say that most people need life insurance protection.* The
new language of life insurance resulted from extensive research
conducted for AXA by Maslansky + Partners, an outside consulting
company that provides research-driven insights and positioning
language to help companies break through barriers and connect with
their audience.
Knowing consumers are often turned off or confused by
discussions about permanent life insurance in particular, a type of
life insurance that covers the policyholder for his or her entire
life and includes a savings component, we wanted to find a way to
open up conversations and help consumers understand the value of
these products and how they differ from term life insurance.
“Permanent life insurance is designed to be more than just
protection for the family,” said Ron Herrmann, head of the
Financial Protection business for AXA US. “But many consumers don’t
understand that, in many cases, they can access the cash value,
income tax-free, to supplement retirement income, help pay for
college or other expenses. Because they think of life insurance as
simply protection, they can be skeptical about the savings part.
That’s why it’s important to position permanent life insurance
products correctly, so that consumers can get past their
preconceived notions and really hear what these products have to
offer.”1
How to talk about permanent life insurance
Research showed that some consumers didn’t understand the
difference between term and permanent life insurance. Others
thought that using the policy as a vehicle for savings seemed too
risky. Research also showed that still others didn’t understand how
the build-up of cash value in the policy could help with expenses
or provide retirement income. Bottom line: they thought life
insurance was for family protection only.
We found that changing the way financial professionals talked
about permanent life insurance made a difference, helping consumers
to stop and listen, and to see the benefits this type of life
insurance can provide.
For example, AXA now talks about permanent life insurance in
these ways:
- As protection and more –
starting with something consumers are familiar and comfortable
with, then building in the extras.
- As a smart addition to many
financial plans – so that consumers will understand why life
insurance and savings can belong in a discussion together.
- For those who want more ways to
protect their family, potentially minimize taxes and grow their
money over time – highlighting benefits that matter to
consumers along with protection.
“We’ve used language suggested by the study we did with
Maslansky in our marketing materials and tested them to see if they
are indeed effective,” said Ori Ben-Yishai, Managing Director of
Marketing Programs at AXA US. “In a consumer test, over 90 percent
said that the brochure they reviewed explained why life insurance
is an important part of an overall financial plan and that the
brochure would prompt them to talk to a financial professional
about life insurance sooner than if they hadn’t read it.** Because
only six in ten Americans have life insurance***, let alone
understand that permanent life insurance products offer much more
than protection, we’ve succeeded any time we can help consumers to
learn more about the options available to them for protecting their
families and improving their finances.”
About AXA
“AXA” is a brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services,
LLC and its family of companies, including AXA Equitable Life
Insurance Company (NY, NY), MONY Life Insurance Company of America
(AZ stock company, administrative office: Jersey City, NJ), AXA
Advisors, LLC, and AXA Distributors, LLC. In business since 1859,
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company is a leading financial
protection company and one of the nation’s premier providers
of life insurance, annuity, and financial products and
services distributed to individuals and business owners through its
retail distribution channel, AXA Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC)
and to the financial services market through its wholesale
distribution channel, AXA Distributors, LLC.
AXA S.A. is a Paris-headquartered holding company for a group of
international insurance and financial services companies, including
AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC companies. AXA S.A. is a
worldwide leader in financial protection strategies and wealth
management with 103 million clients in 64 countries as of Dec. 31,
2015. AXA S.A. has been ranked the No. 1 insurance brand in the
world by Interbrand for seven consecutive years as of Oct. 5, 2015.
The obligations of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and MONY
Life Insurance Company of America are backed solely by their
claims-paying ability. Find AXA
on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more
information, visit www.axa.com.
*LIMRA 2016 Insurance Barometer Study**AXA VUL client brochure
evaluation, 2015*** “Facts from LIMRA” brochure, 2015
1 Policy owners would be accessing the cash value through policy
loans and withdrawals. Loans and withdrawals reduce the policy cash
value and death benefit, may cause certain policy benefits or
riders to become unavailable, and increases the chance that the
policy will lapse. If the policy lapses, is surrendered or becomes
a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC), the loan balance at such time
would generally be viewed as distributed and taxable under the
general rules for distribution of policy cash values.
GE-114066 (5/16)(Exp.5/18)
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160531006171/en/
AXAJohn Cline,
212-314-5142john.cline@axa.us.com
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