Key Takeaways:
- Even though there are about 1,000 companies that sell life insurance in the U.S., finding the right company to match your needs is easy when you read life insurance reviews.
- A review can tell you if the company offers one-size-fits-all policies or customized coverage to fit your lifestyle and financial goals.
- Buying life insurance shouldn’t be complicated. Luckily, knowing how to decipher reviews from the best review sites makes it easy to pick a policy.
There are roughly 1,000 life insurance companies that sell policies in the U.S., according to the Insurance Information Institute. With so many options, how do you know which is the best company to go with?
The answer seems simple enough.
You look at the company reviews, of course!
Most companies provide a way for you to read customer reviews, but they don’t tell the entire story. For instance, an unhappy customer is more likely to look for a place to vent their frustrations than a satisfied customer.
Still, you can learn a lot from looking at life insurance reviews. Here’s what you need to know.
Table of Contents
The Importance of Life Insurance Reviews
Most people find life insurance confusing. Buying a policy leaves you with plenty of questions, such as when should you buy life insurance, how much coverage do you need, what term should you pick and which company will give you the best coverage for the best price?
Getting a recommendation on the amount of life insurance you need and term length is straightforward when you use The Ultimate Life Insurance Calculator.
But reading life insurance reviews is essential.
A review can help you with:
- Informed decision-making
- Improved understanding of policy options
- Knowing customer service availability
When you visit a review site, you see at a glance what products and services the company might offer and gauge the satisfaction of previous customers.
Where to Find Life Insurance Company Reviews
The internet provides access to everything from buying groceries to watching funny cat videos. It also helps to find reviews to research major life decisions like purchasing a life insurance policy.
There’s just one problem.
Not all review sites are created equal.
Take Ripoff Report, for example. It’s a site that collects customer reviews, but the reviews are anonymous and the site doesn’t verify the user’s identity.
For the best review sites, look at:
- The BBB
- Trustpilot
- Google reviews
- Yelp
- Articles and blog posts
- The company’s website
- The company’s social media profiles
What to Look For in Insurance Reviews
Before feeling confident enough to trust a company, a survey from BrightLocal reports the average consumer reads 10 reviews.
But it’s only helpful if you know what to look for.
When you use reviews to research the best life insurance companies, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are the most recent reviews positive or negative?
- How do the recent reviews compare to those posted over a year ago?
- Did the company have a change in leadership?
- How were current or previous consumers treated?
- Did they have any trouble contacting customer service?
- Did the company respond to negative feedback?
An obvious red flag is if consumers had difficulty getting a response from customer service. After all, what if you had a question about coverage or wanted to change your policy?
You can test the company’s dedication to customer service by reaching out to ask a question when getting a quote.
When you do, consider:
- How long they take to respond
- How well they answered your question
Because a good life insurance company should care enough to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.
How to Interpret Reviews
It should come as no surprise that customer reviews aren’t always reliable. That’s right — not everything you read on the internet is true.
If you know how to interpret life insurance reviews, you’ll have no trouble judging the company’s character.
When reading reviews, you should:
- Consider negative and anonymous reviews carefully
- See if you can find patterns
- Look at dates to see how old a review is
- Read as many reviews as possible
- Compare reviews from different companies
Consider Negative and Anonymous Reviews carefully
You should be critical of negative and anonymous reviews of life insurance companies.
Here’s why.
A report from ReviewTrackers found that consumers are 21% more likely to leave a review following a negative experience than a positive one.
Plus, a reviewer may not have been a good fit for the company or had a poor experience because they misunderstood the process.
Look for Patterns
You can almost always find common themes when reading life insurance reviews. Look for patterns in the reviews to get a better idea of what the company does well or where it might fall short.
Compare the positive trends to the negative remarks to come to your own conclusions.
Look at Dates to See How Old a Review Is
Recent reviews can paint a better picture of what a company is like. For instance, an insurance representative with pushy sales tactics could stand out in a negative consumer review. But the company may have taken care of the issue if the remark was from a year or more ago.
Look at older reviews, too. That way you can see how the life insurance company handles complaints.
Read as Many Reviews as Possible
Reading reviews can be time consuming. But it’s worth it.
If you read just five reviews and two are negative, it doesn’t tell you enough about the company.
When you read as many reviews as possible, you get a better understanding of how the life insurance company treats its customers.
You might check the company’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, read Google reviews, and look at trusted review sites such as the BBB and Trustpilot.
Compare Reviews from Different Companies
Finally, you shouldn’t stop at just one life insurance company. Compare reviews from several companies to see the differences in policy options, customer service, prices of premiums, and if the life insurance representatives work on commission.
A word of caution: Be careful if you’re looking at buying life insurance from a company that pays a commission. You can’t always trust their advice because the size of their paycheck is tied to the size of your policy.
Life Insurance Reviews: The bottom line
At its core, all life insurance policies do the same thing: They provide a cash payout to support your loved ones if you pass away. But life insurance products are very different and coverage can vary from one company to the next.
Each company can have a different underwriting process, different term options, and provide a different customer experience.
Ultimately, life insurance is a personal decision.
It’s easy to get caught up in reviews, but you can’t always depend on what you read.
Do your own research.
Get quotes from several life insurance companies to compare your options. Consider the policies available, such as a smart life insurance policy that changes with you versus a traditional one-size-fits-all policy.
Find out how much you can save with The Ultimate Life Insurance Calculator. Get a free quote today!
