Online Life Insurance Sales

Online life insurance sales have increased substantially over the past decade, according to a 2011 study from LIMRA. The findings of the study showed that while 64 percent of adults still preferred to buy insurance through face-to-face interaction, the number had dropped from 80 percent in 1996, due mainly to the increase in clients buying online.

“Obviously, the Internet has fundamentally changed consumers’ buying practices over the past 15 years,” says Marvin Feldman, president and CEO of the nonprofit LIFE Foundation. He believes that life insurance companies have recognized growing consumer interest in using the Internet to shop conveniently, and have responded accordingly by making online life insurance sales simple and fast.

Internet Growth

Internet usage amongst adult consumers has increased substantially since the year 2000. Not only has the number of users increased but the number of sites available to them has also grown, and shopping over the Internet is one of the biggest growth areas. Insurance sales lend themselves well to e-commerce transactions, and by making products available online, insurance companies can service many more customers than they can in person.

Tech-Savvy Consumers

The consumer, too, has changed. Consumers are more tech-savvy than they were ten years ago, and with secure payment options and assured privacy of online transactions, they are more confident in providing confidential information online and researching a company’s stability online.

Saving Time

Time saving is a big draw in today’s world, with consumers leading busy lives that leave little time for dealing with paperwork. Online life insurance sales provide the client with the opportunity to enter data in a secure form, submit identification and other information by email or fax, and correspond with an agent in real time. Payment is made securely using a credit card or an authorization is completed for the insurer to debit the client’s bank account directly.

Benefits

Researching prices online is one of the main benefits of online life insurance sales. Potential clients can enter basic information such as age, general state of health, number of dependents and whether they smoke to get a life insurance quote. By going through a life insurance brokerage site users can compare quotes from multiple life insurance carriers, which makes it possible for the user to get several quotes immediately and compare the features of each option.