Chatswood serves the life and health insurance sector in New Zealand with market intelligence, data, and bespoke consulting services. Some of these are provided in conjunction with Quality Product Research Limited - a subsidiary that brings you Quotemonster.
We believe that good decisions are more likely to occur when we have good information about the market environment in which we operate. Intuitive leaps and creative decisions are always required, of course, but the more they are based on a firm foundation of observation, the better they tend to be.
Quality Product Research by the numbers
As 2024 draws to a close we thought we’d do a quick by the numbers post to review what we’ve been up to this year.
As 2024 draws to a close we thought we’d do a quick by the numbers post to review what we’ve been up to this year. It has been a busy but wonderful year, and we’d like to thank everyone who has crunched numbers with us, come along to our roadshows, invited us along to their events and done business with us.
Research Advisory Board events held this year: 3
Years in operation: 13
Team members: 16
Quotemonster roadshows held: 17 venues all around the country plus one online
Research: 8 types of personal, 5 types of business, 24+ insurers, 80 on-sale products, 200+ legacy products – phew!
Users of Kiwimonster so far: 198
Number of insurer price changes: 230+
Highest number of users logged in on one day: 495
Attendees at roadshows: More than 800
Subscribers: 1100+
Unique number of IT update and improvement tasks: 2941, exclude duplicate and on hold items of which the IT team closed and made live more than 89.46%
Kilometres travelled by the team: more than 9,200 kilometres travelled, from the smallest meeting in Taupo to the largest on the North Shore of Auckland. And yes, we use carbon offsetting!
Rating factors: 27,000+
Frequency of quotes produced: A quote every 13 seconds, on average. Even more during busy periods leading to…
Total quotes crunched to date this year: more than 2.5 million
Total quotes crunched ever: more than 30 million
Quality Product Research – Major Review: the proposed rating for Special Events and Future Insurability
Special Events Increase (SEI) and Future Insurability Option (FIO) increases are valuable but often underutilised features in products like Life or Trauma insurance. Recently, we were challenged by a rated company on our methodology for assessing these benefits. As a result, we have initiated a major review of these items.
Introduction
Special Events Increase (SEI) and Future Insurability Option (FIO) increases are valuable but often underutilised features in products like Life or Trauma insurance. Recently, we were challenged by a rated company on our methodology for assessing these benefits. As a result, we have initiated a major review of these items.
While SEI and FIO share similarities, they cater to different needs:
Special events increases are reactive to life milestones.
Future insurability options are proactive, providing periodic opportunities for growth. This is an optional feature to be selected at application time, and often results in an increase in premium.
Both features provide flexibility, especially as life circumstances evolve, and combining them offers the best of both worlds.
· Our review aims to assess the following:
· The sub-items used for each benefit.
· The weightings applied to each sub-item.
· How the Amount score should be captured: per event, allowable increase at policy anniversary, or total maximum increase over the life of the policy.
Key Considerations for Scoring
Per event: Capturing the increase per special event may highlight significant variations in amount scores between insurers. However, this could lead to confusion, as insurers often apply different limits to different special events.
Over lifetime of policy: This approach would provide more straightforward scoring but may result in most insurers receiving the same amount score, which could fail to reflect nuanced differences in limits for specific events.
Below, you’ll find our proposed sub-item list with preliminary weightings. These weightings will be refined based on feedback received during this consultation process.
Review process
Our review began with internal discussions and a comprehensive analysis of policy wordings across the market. We have conducted an initial review of the sub-items, and our next step is to seek feedback from insurers and reinsurers. Once all relevant information has been gathered, we will make appropriate updates to our database and share the new ratings on our social media channels.
Your feedback
We highly value your feedback on how these wordings are being applied in the real world. Please email us at info@quotemonster.co.nz with details of your experience to help us refine our understanding, or alternatively please use the Adviser Claims Experience on Quotemonster to log your claims experience, a video on this feature can be found here.
Downloading Research Reports
It’s super easy to download or email a research report from Quotemonster, find out how here.
It’s super easy to download or email a research report from Quotemonster, find out how here.
Linking health providers to life providers
Find out how to link any health provider together with any life provider on Quotemonster.
Find out how to link any health provider together with any life provider on Quotemonster.
Quality Product Research – Major Review: the updated research rating for Cardiac Arrest
We were challenged by an insurer regarding our rating for Cardiac Arrest. Given the significant advances in modern medicine, it was an opportune time to conduct a major review of this item and evaluate how the definition of cardiac arrest has evolved in the market.
Introduction
We were challenged by an insurer regarding our rating for Cardiac Arrest. Given the significant advances in modern medicine, it was an opportune time to conduct a major review of this item and evaluate how the definition of cardiac arrest has evolved in the market. Our conclusion is that claim criteria for this benefit have improved over the years, which can lead to better outcomes for customers.
Please find our proposed changes below.
Renaming Cardiac Arrest to Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Review Process
We began by notifying insurers and reinsurers of our intention to review this item. This included inviting them to share claims data and clarify how their definitions are applied to real claims, with appropriate references to their policy documents. We also shared a proposed rating with advisers during our research deep dive session earlier this year.
After gathering the necessary information, we updated our product database accordingly. The final rating was released in QPR v16.2 and is now live on Quotemonster.
Please note that while this document includes the proposed rating for comprehensive trauma cover, the updated rating has been applied across moderate, severe, and business covers.
Your feedback
We highly value your feedback on how these wordings are being applied to claims you may have encountered. Please email us at info@quotemonster.co.nz with details of any recent claims to help us refine our understanding, or alternatively please use the Adviser Claims Experience on Quotemonster to log your claims experience, a video on this feature can be found here.
Setting up your research report settings
Setting up your research report settings in Quotemonster is super easy - find out how here.
Setting up your research report settings in Quotemonster is super easy. Choose from heat map reports, benefit overviews or star rating reports as your default.
Final training sessions for 2024 released
You’re invited to join our final training sessions for 2024, our team have had a great time running these sessions, meeting new and experienced advisers and receiving valuable feedback on what we can do to improve.
You’re invited to join our final training sessions for 2024, our team have had a great time running these sessions, meeting new and experienced advisers and receiving valuable feedback on what we can do to improve.
If you’re interested in joining us, please see our scheduled below:
Introduction to Quotemonster – Wednesday, 11 December 2024 10:30 am-11:30 am
In this session, Kelly Pulham, our National Partnerships Lead, will demonstrate the basic functions of our website, along with some handy tips and tricks along the way.
Demystifying Advicemonster - Wednesday, 11 December 2024 12:00 pm-1:00 pm
In this session Aneel Ravji, our AdviceTech Lead, will demonstrate how to use our needs analysis and statement of advice (SOA) tools.
Business Risk Research and SOAs with Quotemonster – Thursday, 12 December 2024 9:30 am-10:15 am
In this session, Aneel will demonstrate how to use our business risk pricing, research, and SOA functionality.
If you would like to join either of these sessions, please email your request to info@quotemonster.co.nz
Happy Crunching!
Recent rate changes on Quotemonster
We are pleased to confirm that the following rate changes are live on Quotemonster effective 1 December 2024.
Dear Quotemonster users,
We are pleased to confirm that the following rate changes are live on Quotemonster effective 1 December 2024.
Southern Cross Wellbeing One and Two (no changes were made to the GP and Prescriptions or Dental and Optical Options)
If you have any questions or comments on these changes please reach out to us on info@quotemonster.co.nz
Happy Crunching!
How to set up Occupation Class Settings
Watch our video on how to set up occupations class settings on Quotemonster.
Our video will take you through how to set up occupations class settings on Quotemonster.
Website and research upgrades: what you need to know – website version v4.6.3 / QPR v16.2
Here are the changes that we’ve recently made on Quotemonster.
Here are the changes that we’ve recently made on Quotemonster:
Researchmonster updates:
- Pricing and research for Fidelity Life’s Specific Injury is now available.
Specific injury cover pays a lump sum when you suffer from one of the 30 defined specific injuries as a result of an accident.
These injuries include certain fractures, burns, loss of sight, loss of hearing, loss of use of one limb and more, where the required definition is met. Where your injury is covered, the payout will depend on how severe the specific injury is. To learn more, click here.
To select this option on Quotemonster, ensure you have included qualifying covers (e.g. Life, Trauma or Income) in your quote.
Fidelity Life has also released a range of enhancements to Life, Trauma and Multi Trauma, effective 20 November 2024. These changes are reflected in our product ratings on Quotemonster. To learn more, click here.
- Updated pricing and research for Pinnacle Life enhancements now available.
Pinnacle Life have updated their definitions for cancer, heart attack, stroke, and bypass surgery, along with the addition of 16 covered conditions such as Cardiac Arrest, Major Head Trauma, Meningitis / Meningococcal Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and more effective 7 October 2024.
Quotemonster provides research for Pinnacle Life’s Life, Trauma Accelerated, TPD Any Occ Accelerated and Income Products, plus pricing for Life and Trauma in the ‘Estimates’ section. To learn more, click here.
- Research for AIA Specified Accidental Injury is now available.
AIA have completed Phase two of their planned changes to accidental injury.
Quoting and research is now available for this version, which was released on 1 November 2024. To learn more, click here.
Noteworthy mentions regarding updates above:
Research on previous policy document versions (if applicable) can be found in our Standalone Head to Head.
The following infographics have also been updated:
· Personal Product Rating Map
· Standalone Head to Head Product Map
· Health Benefit Maximums
· Insurer Pass Backs and Policy Terms
Training sessions:
Our team hosts online training sessions on a regular basis and invites you and your colleagues to join us if you’re interested in learning more about our services.
Our next sessions will be:
Introduction to Quotemonster – Wednesday, 11 December 2024 10:30 am-11:30 am
In this session Kelly Pulham, our National Partnerships Lead, will demonstrate the basic functions of our website, along with some handy tips and tricks along the way.
Demystifying Advicemonster - Wednesday, 11 December 2024 12:00 pm-1:00 pm
In this session Aneel Ravji, our AdviceTech Lead, will demonstrate how to use our needs analysis and statement of advice (SOA) tools.
Business Risk Research and SOAs with Quotemonster – Thursday, 12 December 2024 9:30 am-10:15 am
In this session, Aneel will demonstrate how to use our business risk pricing, research, and SOA functionality.
Introduction to Kiwimonster - Wednesday, 4 December 2024 9:30 am-9:50 am
A session on our brand spanking new service – Kiwimonster.
If you would like to join any of these sessions, please email your request to info@quotemonster.co.nz
Happy Crunching!
