Shoppers look to the internet for life insurance

Monday, May 24, 2010

A new survey from global consultants Accenture has revealed that an increasing number of insurance policy holders are considering taking out policies online.

The survey which quizzed over 3500 consumers in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil and the UK, also showed that a high level of consumers are currently contemplating switching insurers in the hope of finding a better deal.

53 per cent of respondents indicated that they may switch to another provider in the coming year, which demonstrates just how willing the insurance customers are to shop around for better deals.

Insurance agents or banks remain the most common sellers of insurance policies although a decreasing percentage of consumers plan to buy their insurance through these means in the future.

Instead customers are starting to look to the internet more and more, with 43 percent suggesting they will buy insurance over the internet in the coming year.

Whilst TV advertising is inevitably going to have helped online insurance companies, global managing director of Accentures insurance practice, Serge Cullet said that the broad number of options that are available to see and choose from online has invariably increased its popularity.

The survey included policy holders of a broad range of insurance covers available including both health and life insurance.