More People ‘Using Internet for Financial Planning’

by Stephen Logan on 2nd February 2010

The public are increasingly using the web to help them make decisions about financial planning, with life insurance searches at their highest level ever in the US during 2009.

This is according to a new report from comScore, which found that such search queries enjoyed a 15 per cent year-on-year rise, reaching 16.6 million for the first time.

Financial institutions considering the use of SEO services may be encouraged by the news that consumers are researching policies online.

Susan Engleson, director of comScore, commented: "The internet is playing an important role in this complex financial planning decision and insurers are experiencing varying degrees of success at meeting online consumers’ needs."

In her view, this new trend means that insurers should consider building up their presence online, since this is where customers are starting to make decisions about which provider they choose to go with.

Last month, the market research firm revealed that sales in Australia in December showed that internet retail is becoming an increasingly important sector there.