Start - Consumer Testing

1990-1A, NAIC Proceedings - NAIC / LIMRA Focus Group - Universal Life Disclosure Form Test Market Results - 10p

  • Commissioner Ommen asked whether Mr. Birnbaum is aware of any consumer testing of illustrations or research that has already been done that looks at consumer understanding in this area.
  • Mr. Birnbaum said ..... he is not aware of any consumer testing in this area.

2020 1110 - NAIC Life Insurance and Annuities (A) Committee (LIAC) - Virtual Meeting

I'll respond briefly to the suggestion that we use focus groups to get the consumer point of view. We did consider that early on in our work and rejected it for a couple of reasons.

...probably the most important reason is that if you get 15 people in a room who are recent purchasers of life insurance and then spend an hour or two dissecting the sales process and the use of their illustrations in that sales process, you're likely to have 13 people coming out slightly or greatly disillusioned over what they just did.

We found that our field force and our marketing department didn't like that idea at all.

So if somebody could think of a way to get to the consumer without causing real problems among recent buyers, who are our most fragile customers, we would like to hear it.

-- John W. Keller <Northwestern Mutual>

1991 - Illustrations, Society of Actuaries - 20p

  • Such a fact-finding might profitably begin with a professionally (or perhaps academically) constructed, objectively managed consumer test of representative sample policy summaries and narrative summaries.
  • This approach was discussed by the Working Group in 2016. The ACLI supplied the NAIC and interested parties with access to numerous sample policy summaries and policy narratives.
  • However, they were never consumer-tested to determine whether they were, in fact, unreadable or incoherent to consumers.
  • Rather, the idea of consumer-testing, which was supported by industry and funded consumer representatives, was tabled in favor of exploring the development of a voluntary, short, consumer-oriented document which might theoretically supplant existing policy and narrative summaries.

2019 1115 - ACLI Letter to NAIC LIIIWG

  • One of the things we've been struggling with is the Chicken and Egg problem. 
  • My hope is if we have some samples that there is some general consensus around.... then we have something to test. 
  • And, I guess, there's some disagreement around whether or not that's needed at all.  

--  Richard Wicka (WI) - Chair of the Life Insurance Illustrations Working Group <Bonk>

2020 0724 - NAIC Life Insurance Illustrations Working Group (LIIIWG)