Protection providers should spend ten times more educating consumers

The protection gap will only close if insurers commit at least ten times more turnover to educating consumers about their products. says Lifesearch managing director Tom Baigrie.

 

Speaking at an insurance conference on income protection, Baigrie said insurers currently spend less than 3 per cent of their turnover on communicating directly with consumers but they should be spending more like 30 per cent.

 

He said: "Insurer need to get consumers to understand their need for protection. You can do this by talking about claims. Deploy your capital if you are serious about closing the protection gap and growing the market or it will all be about market share."

 

He says a single, market-wide campaign would be a waste of time and effort.

 

Each insurer should concentrate on marketing their products to their particular target markets.