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Flexibility and simplicity are key components of any successful income protection product, according to Rose St Louis, protection director of Scottish Widows.
In the final part of a discussion with Health & Protection editor Owain Thomas in association with Scottish Widows, St Louis (pictured) emphasised that to increase adoption and long-term value, income protection products need to be flexible to adapt to clients’ changing life circumstances while being simple enough to understand for both clients and advisers.
Flexibility
St Louis said: “I think the most important consideration is flexibility.
“If you think about clients their lives, their needs, and all the different things they’re going to do… whether they’re going to be single, renting, buy a property, get married, have children, then they’ll be empty nesters, what they’re going to do in retirement – all that kind of good stuff – one thing for sure is everything keeps changing,
“So something that was appropriate for income protection when they were at an entry level in their first job and what they needed – is that still appropriate if they’re married with two children?
“So I think the need for flexibility and that product to evolve and bend and stretch and grow with them is really key.”
She said managing those premiums means an “income protection policy becomes stickier, because the client knows they can evolve with them, which is really important.”
Simplicity
Simplicity is also important she said.
“For me there’s something around simplicity of the proposition – so understanding or making the proposition easy to understand, easy to adopt, not just for the client to understand and feel that it’s good for them to have, but also for advisers to understand.”
Beyond the design of the policies themselves another aspect is the growing role of value-added services and storytelling in driving engagement and utilisation.
St Louis pointed to the increasing importance of value-added services, particularly mental health support, and the power of storytelling through case studies to demonstrate the real-life benefits of income protection and encourage utilisation.
In the first part of her interview, St Louis looked at how income protection is vital for proper financial planning.
And in the second part of her interview, St Louis looked at how IP growth was due to rising adviser and consumer awareness.
