Royal London has launched a guide for protection advisers aimed at reducing application drop-outs and early cancellations while improving the long-term quality of business.
The insurer said its data shows that one in five protection applications do not ultimately go on risk, while one in 10 protection plans are cancelled during their first year.
Its new Building Better Business Quality, Together guide focuses on the parts of the advice and application process where adviser intervention could improve client outcomes and retention.
The guidance covers early client engagement and expectation-setting, the quality of applications and maintaining contact with customers after their cover has started.
Royal London has structured the resource around four areas — risk, reputation, revenue and retention — with an emphasis on how firms can improve the sustainability of their protection books as well as the experience of individual clients.
It also brings together existing Royal London resources including risk reports, its Value of Menu tool, pre-sale underwriting support, client review processes and personalised insight reports.
Jon Fuller, protection distribution director at Royal London, said: “Our new guide is designed to help advisers focus on the points in the journey where they can make the biggest impact.
“Whether that’s setting realistic expectations, helping clients disclose information accurately, encouraging regular reviews or using business insights to identify opportunities, small improvements can add up to deliver better outcomes for clients and stronger business quality over time.
“By combining practical tools, data-led insight and tailored support, we want to help advisers build more resilient protection businesses while keeping more clients appropriately protected for the long term.”
FOCUS ON RETENTION
The guide places particular emphasis on regular client reviews, which Royal London said can help ensure protection remains appropriate when a customer’s circumstances change.
The insurer said continued contact can also reinforce the value of existing cover, improve retention and give advisers an opportunity to identify protection needs that have emerged since the original advice.
Maria Bishop, protection proposition manager at The Openwork Partnership, said: “Business quality is fundamental to delivering good customer outcomes and maintaining trust in protection advice.
“Through our regular business quality discussions, Royal London has demonstrated a strong commitment to understanding adviser behaviours, sharing meaningful insight and working collaboratively to identify areas for improvement.
“Their focus on using data to support better disclosure practices, application quality and customer outcomes provides advisers with practical guidance that can help strengthen standards and enhance long-term business performance.”
Royal London also provides personalised insight reports to advisers who have submitted 25 protection applications. These cover measures including persistency, business mix, straight-through processing rates, claims experience and cases where applicants do not take up cover.
The reports are intended to give advisers a clearer picture of their protection business and help identify areas where application or retention performance could be improved.
