Profiling Britons with life insurance
People buy insurance to safeguard themselves from financial loss, and so life insurance is perhaps its ultimate form. Among its other adverse effects, death can seriously limit one’s earning power.
So who are the Britons who actually have life insurance policies?
Demographic data from YouGov Profiles shows that, along gender lines, they are a little more likely to be female (54%) than male (46%) compared to insurance policyholders in general (where there is a 50/50 split). Along age lines, they are most likely to be 35-54 (50% vs. 36% of policyholders in general), which makes a degree of sense – if they’re younger, they’re perhaps less likely to be family-motivated; if they’re older, they may be looking more to savings or estate planning to financially provide for their loved ones than insurance policies.
Indeed, looking at the stage of life Britons with life insurance are at, 77% are married, living as married, or in a civil partnership compared to 58% of policyholders in general. They’re also more likely to have children in the home (40% vs. 25%).
Looking at income, Britons with life insurance are more likely to be higher income (34% vs. 19%) than other policyholders – so the aim may be to preserve a certain standard of living for their families. So this could be a potentially lucrative audience for insurers looking to sell more expansive life insurance policies – or other policies, as the customer requires.
What do insurers need to know about Britons with life insurance?
Britons with life insurance are more likely to hold a raft of different policies than the general public, including joint home/building contents insurance (49% vs. 35%), breakdown cover (25% vs. 19%), and travel insurance (19% vs. 13%).
This extends to less common forms of cover such as critical illness (9% vs. 2%) or income protection (6% vs. 1%). There may be opportunities here for insurers selling to customers who currently have life insurance policies – and customers who do not have these policies – alike.
But another key thing to know: 70% of Britons with life insurance policies are actively shopping around for a better deal when these policies come up for renewal, compared to 63% of policyholders in general. This represents an opportunity for insurers looking to pick up new clients – and perhaps a warning against complacency with current customers.
As for how Britons with life insurance policies are finding new providers, most use price comparison sites (81% vs. 76%), or the websites of insurers/brokers they know (31% vs. 26%). They’re also more likely to use consumer financial advice sites (19% vs. 14%).
Britain’s most popular life insurance brands
Using a combination of YouGov Profiles and BrandIndex data, we can identify the life insurance brands Britons like the most. Positive Impression scores, which measure general good sentiment towards a particular brand, show that Aviva comes out on top: some 38% of the public have a favourable opinion. In second place is Legal & General, with three in ten (30%) Britons having a positive opinion of the brand, with LV= or Liverpool Victoria (29%) and Direct Line (27%) close behind in third and fourth respectively.
Scottish Widows rounds out the top five, with 25% of Britons having a positive opinion of the brand. The bottom half of the top ten is less decisive. Standard Life (20%), AXA (20%), Post Office (20%), Pru (20%) are all viewed positively by a fifth of Britons, with Sun Life viewed positively by a sixth (17%).
The perception gap between Britons with life insurance and other policyholders is widest with Aviva (27%), Legal & General (23%), Liverpool Victoria (22%), Standard Life (13%) and Scottish Widows (19%).
The above represents just a fraction of our data on Britons with insurance. YouGov Profiles and BrandIndex can help you understand your audience – or a subsection of your audience – in more depth and detail.
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