Defaqto conducted its annual satisfaction survey between August and September 2023, gathering insights from 294 financial advisers on the individual protection market. The survey aimed to assess service levels across 10 categories, revealing that level term assurance and critical illness with life cover continue to dominate product preferences among advisers.
Notably, The Exeter achieved remarkable performance, securing the most top three positions by ranking first in five categories and third in the remaining five. Despite the general stability in the order of importance of service categories since 2022, the overall importance scores have marginally decreased by an average of 0.1.
A concerning trend identified in the survey is the year-on-year reduction in the average number of different protection products utilised by advisers, now at just 4.5. This decline contradicts the expected diversification of product range anticipated with the introduction of new Consumer Duty regulations.
The survey also highlighted a decrease in the average number of providers recommended by advisers, dropping to 3.9 from higher figures in previous years. Aviva and Legal & General remain the top choices for individual protection products, although overall support for providers has dipped by an average of four percentage points compared to the previous year.
Despite 23 different providers being nominated as preferred choices, only 13 garnered enough nominations to calculate specific satisfaction scores. Aviva emerged as the top choice for 28% of advisers, marking a significant presence in the top three preferences.
The satisfaction scores across all categories have significantly dropped from previous years, with the most notable declines in Business development managers, Technical assistance, and Underwriting services. This downward trend in satisfaction underscores the critical commentary on life office services in the trade press.
Although the industry appears to meet or exceed expectations in seven out of the 10 service categories, the backdrop of generally lower satisfaction levels paints a more nuanced picture. Particularly, Claims handling and administration, and Underwriting services, two crucial categories, fell short of adviser expectations.
