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. 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

Last Research Advisory Board meeting of the year

Last month we held our final Research Advisory Board meeting of the year with our Southern members - Jeremy Bernstein, Travis Hamilton, and Wilhelmina Eveleens and our Independent Chair, Tony Dench.

Jeremy Bernstein

Travis Hamilton

Wilhelmina Eveleens

Independent Chair, Tony Dench

The feedback from our Research Advisory Board meetings has been very valuable to our Research team and allows us to strengthen our research ratings when we gain an insight into the adviser perspective.

Topics we reviewed were:

·         the proposed rating for Rural Key Person insurance;

·         the proposed design for product and provider settings (business);

·         the addition of new research rating factors;

·         the introduction of price change history.

We’re looking to recruit a new member in 2025 – if you know an adviser in the region who would be keen, please let a member of the research team know, you can find out more about the Research Advisory Board here. Being a member of the board provides an opportunity to participate in a governance structure and gain valuable wider industry experience.

Quality Product Research: Research Advisory Board – Central

We recently held our first Research Advisory Board meeting of the year with our Central Representatives and as usual received a lot of feedback to bring back to our team.

Independent Chair: Tony Dench

Insurer Observers: Amanda Harlen (Asteron Life), Helena Harbrow (Partners Life)

Board members: Samuel Rees-Thomas, Louise Grinstead, Joshua Logan (stepping down)

QPR Representatives: Russell Hutchinson, Doreen Dutt

The research advisory board reviewed the following topics:

·        Research report design, specifically a revamp of our Summary and Detailed Head-to-Head report to provide more details

·        Allowing for more flexibility in how advisers can present reports.

·        A review of our current trauma buyback options, we propose including an additional button, Buyback + Instant Buyback under the trauma Advanced Options and once selected, the best of the two scores will be quoted and displayed in the research.  

·        The proposed rating for non-PHARMAC, recently we created an infographic comparing non-PHARMAC medicines between providers and we will use this to revise the rating for this benefit within medical.

The feedback from our Research Advisory Board meetings has overall been very valuable to our research team and allows us to strengthen our research ratings when we gain an insight into the adviser perspective.

Since the meeting we have the news that Josh Logan is stepping aside from the role for the time being, we thank Josh for his service and look forward to inviting him back at some point in the future.

If you’re interested in providing feedback on any of the topics above, please reach out to our research team on info@quotemonster.co.nz or join us for our research deep dive scheduled for Thursday, 19 September 2024 11:30 am-12:30 pm.

We look forward to visiting our Southern team later this year.  

For more information on our Research Advisory board please click here.

Quality Product Research: Research Advisory Board – Northern

We recently held our first Research Advisory Board meeting of the year with our Northern Representatives and as usual returned to Quotemonster HQ with a pack of valuable feedback. 

Board members: Anand Srinivasan, Allan Gillbanks and Katrina Church

Independent Chair: Tony Dench

Insurer Observers: Connor Ryan (Fidelity Life) and Kirsten Raynor (Asteron Life)

QPR Representatives: Russell Hutchinson, Doreen Dutt and Sara Alani

The research advisory board reviewed the following topics:

·         Income and Mortgage Protection Weighting Review

·         Business Insurance - Key Person Rating

·         The Addition of Legacy Research to our Standard Quote Flow

·         A handful of research reviews we have accumulated based on adviser feedback

The feedback from our Research Advisory Board meetings has overall been very valuable to our Research team and allows us to strengthen our research ratings when we gain an insight into the adviser perspective.

We look forward to visiting our Central and Southern teams later this year.  

For more information on our Research Advisory board please click here.

Quality Product Research: Southern Research Advisory Board

In the last quarter of the year, we had our Research Advisory Board meeting with our Southern Representatives. We came away with tons of valuable feedback to implement in our research ratings on Quotemonster.

Independent Chair: Tony Dench

Southern Research Advisory Board members: Travis Hamilton, Jeremy Bernstein, and Wilhelmina Eveleens

Insurer Observers: Karl Sievwright (Southern Cross), Emma Wise (AIA)

QPR Representatives: Russell Hutchinson, Aneel Ravji and Doreen Dutt

The research advisory board reviewed the following topics:

·         The proposed rating changes for the non-surgical benefit. An important subject, this discussion resulted in adjustments following the Southern Cross changes to their contract and our reweighting the feature, and others to reflect the change in claims profile for this benefit.   

·         Revised Income and Mortgage Protection Claims Model, this resulted in a range of scenarios and details that will be included in our newest claims model.

·         A handful of research reviews we have accumulated based on adviser feedback, such as, the additional of Cerebral Aneurysm, optional items included in our extras or premier Income and Mortgage Protection options, and sharing on which products should be prioritised in our legacy research.

The feedback from our Research Advisory Board meetings has overall been very valuable to our Research team and allows us to strengthen our research ratings when we gain an insight into the adviser perspective.

We look forward to our meetings in 2024!

For more information on our Research Advisory board please click here.