In the era of health reform, one of the most appealing benefits options for small employers is to scale back on medical insurance and ramp up offerings in the less expensive voluntary category. And while one-half of employees say they are satisfied with their benefits, according to
MetLife's new US Employee Benefits Trends Study, just 36% of employers described themselves as "very satisfied" with company participation.
Interestingly, that discrepancy may actually be a result from the sheer number of choices offered to employees.
Michael Fradkin, senior vice president of markets and growth strategies at MetLife, suggested workers may be overwhelmed by the array of benefits available and instead choose to stick to the basic coverages they know.
"With more choice, there may also be confusion," Fradkin said. "If employers add to their benefits offering but aren't seeing the employee participation levels they anticipated, this may indicate a need for better benefits education and communications, rather than a lack of interest on the part of employees."
To prevent employers from dropping the coverages altogether, producers can step in to fill that role of benefits educator.
A recent LIMRA study indicates the first step in this process may be to reconsider the language agents use to speak with consumers.
"Our focus groups consistently described shopping for life insurance and other financial products as confusing, frustrating and overwhelming, which kept them from making a decision on what to buy,” said Scott Kallenbach, research director with LIMRA Strategic Research. “The words, images and messages used to explain financial products don’t seem realistic or relatable to many of these consumers.”
Agents wishing to overcome that barrier and close the deal need to aim for more “authentic communication,” Kallenbach said. That means using language that is memorable, positive, credible, relevant, down-to-earth and easy to understand.
Marketing materials are especially problematic, with many consumers reporting they didn’t understand commonly used concepts like “annuity” or “underwriting.”
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