This research study involves a comparative analysis of
marketing life insurance in the UK. The main objectives of this
study are: (1) to investigate the attitudes of marketing managers
of the large and the small life and composite insurance companies
towards marketing life insurance; (2) to investigate the
variables which influence life insurance purchasing behaviour;
and (3) to conduct a comparative analysis of the attitudes of
marketing managers, the insured and the non-insured towards the
variables under investigation.
The design of this study is by facets. The facet approach
helped to compile three sets of questionnaires which were
addressed to (a) the insured, (b) the non-insured, and (c)
marketing managers of life and composite insurance companies.
The data collected consists of both attitudinal and
categorical variables. The analytical techniques used to analyse
the attitudinal data include: Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling
(MINISSA Programme), Discriminant Analysis, and Spearman RankOrder
Correlation Coefficients. As for the categorical data the
Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) is employed in the
analysis. Furthermore, Wilcoxon Test and F-Test are used for
testing the research hypotheses.
Briefly, the research findings suggest that (1) marketing
managers of life and composite insurance companies give priority
to strategic marketing, direct response marketing, and marketing
effectiveness variables and then concern themselves with customer
services, competition, economic and sales problems; (2) both the
insured and the non-insured attach more importance to saving
through other financial institutions than life and composite
insurance companies; (3) the insured regard "colleagues/friends",
"TV advertising", and "ads in newspapers and magazines" as the
main sources of information in keeping them informed and
encouraging them to purchase life insurance; (4) both the insured
and the non-insured regard "standard of service", "contact by the
agent", and "quality of staff" as the most important factors in
influencing their purchasing decisions; and (5) both the insured
and the non-insured regard "providing for children's education"
and "return on investment" as the main reasons for saving
through life and composite insurance companies.
A comparative analysis of the attitudes of marketing
managers, the insured, and the non-insured suggests that
marketing managers will need to put more emphasis on "retirement
income", and "mortgage repayment plans" in their marketing
campaigns; more emphasis should also be placed on the "quality of
staff", and "standard of service".
Finally, an analysis of the effects of socioeconomic and
demographic variables on life insurance purchasing behaviour
suggests that selected predictors (i.e., marital status, family
life cycle, family size, age, education, occupation and income)
when tested together explain a significant portion of the
variance of the dependent variable.