Is technology changing Life Insurance? You bet it is.

The internet is changing the way Life Insurance is researched and bought in Australia, and these research findings prove it.

A year ago NobleOak commissioned a study to find out what impact technology was having on the Life Insurance industry.

The study highlighted the significant role the internet now plays in helping Australians research and buy Life Insurance – with more and more people taking matters into their own hands rather than seeking advice from advisers, friends or family.

This year we repeated the study with another 1,000 respondents, with the results confirming a number of the trends identified last year.

Three of the key trends were:

Life Insurance advice is predominantly sourced from the internet.

The internet continues to be the primary source of Life Insurance advice, with 43.6% of respondents use the internet when seeking financial advice for Life Insurance.

People are also increasingly willing to make a purchase online, with a 35% increase in the number of respondents who purchased Life Insurance or Income Protection online or through a mobile device compared to last year.

Customers are less willing to pay for financial advice.

Better access to Life Insurance information and calculators is increasingly allowing people to sort out their own Life Insurance, without having to pay for professional advice.

‘DIY’ Life Insurance is also a clear preference for many people, with 55.9% of respondents saying they are unwilling to pay anything for Life Insurance advice.

Switching behaviour is now more prevalent.

With greater product commoditisation and a more empowered consumer, there has been a major increase in people choosing to switch Life insurers.

In 2017, 24.6% of respondents said they would consider reviewing their cover and/or insurer, up from 19.5% in 2016.

Making DIY Life Insurance easier

NobleOak has a history of offering high quality, fully underwritten Life Insurance directly to customers.

Through technology like this, we believe more Australians can get the right cover – without having to pay for financial advice. One of the key challenges is working out how much cover you need. We’re helping to address this challenge by launching our online Life Insurance Assessment Calculator . It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete and is free to use.

Research conducted by Pureprofile in November 2017 with 1,006 Australian resident respondents.