MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- DALBAR's inaugural ranking of the digital experiences offered to Universal Life policyholders finds Thrivent at the top of the list. Closely following Thrivent are Nationwide, Ohio National, Lincoln Financial and Prudential, the top five consumer site experiences. These firms excel at online policy management and making the topic of life insurance more understandable to the average consumer.

Self-service options such as updating an address enhance the online experience and 93% of companies offer this convenience. Nearly all allow life insurance premiums to be paid electronically, however, only a third make paying one's premium even more convenient by allowing one-time payments to be made pre-login. New York Life and MassMutual both have guest payment options, and Pacific Life's "Present & Pay" service is available to some policies. This option offers customers the convenience of online premium payment even if they have not established online account access.

While most firms are making great strides in the online capabilities offered to clients in managing their policies, where firms lack is in the details provided about their product offerings. Most cover the key elements of Universal Life insurance by explaining premium flexibility, uses for cash value and the impact of withdrawals and loans on benefits, but details about insurance fees and charges and specifics on coverage amounts are sparse. In fact, less than 10% provide dollar amounts or calculations when describing the fees associated with a policy. Nationwide dedicates an entire page to explain common life insurance fees and Prudential provides actual charge percentages and dollar amounts, but such detailed fee explanations are uncommon.

DALBAR, Inc., the financial community's leading independent expert, evaluates, audits and rates business practices, customer performance, product quality and service. DALBAR's recent ranking of Universal Life Web experiences is the first in a series of life insurance website reviews.  Still to come are rankings of Term Life, Whole Life and Variable Life experiences. For more information about DALBAR's website reviews or other digital programs, please email Jared Licklider at jlicklider@dalbar.com.

SOURCE DALBAR, Inc.