Insurance companies and asset managers should enhance online tools on education, suitability, and sales training to support variable annuity sales, according to a study released Wednesday by kasina, a financial services consulting firm in New York.
Online education, support, and sales tools can address “a lack of understanding on the part of advisers as to how a variable annuity works and who is a suitable customer,” said Sean Carroll, a consultant at kasina.
In doing the study, “Improving Variable Annuity Distribution through Online Initiatives,” kasina reviewed more than 30 industry-leading Web sites among the largest insurance and subadvisory firms, measured by variable annuity sales. kasina also did an online survey of e-business and marketing managers from these companies.
The kasina report points out that NASD received more than 7,000 complaints in 2003 about variable annuities, with suitability and fees among the factors most often causing dissatisfaction. Its analysis found that, offline, companies have put much greater emphasis on suitability than they do online. Only a handful of the sites reviewed gave any level of Web-based suitability testing.
