We want all of our customers to rate our products and services as ‘good’ or better. So we need to understand what we can do to satisfy more people.
We’re only too aware that planning your financial future and selecting the right products can be daunting. That’s why almost all of our customers come to us through professional advisers. We’ve worked closely with those who advise customers for many years, so we understand the types of product and features their clients need. Because advisers choose which companies to recommend, people will only buy our products if they’re among the best in the market.
Most of the products we offer are long term, designed to meet your needs over many years. They’re also designed to be able to respond to your changing needs. We’re very aware that your expectations are constantly rising, so we need to keep innovating and improving.
It’s also important that we consider what different groups of customers want from products. Some of our products are designed for very specific groups. Others have options and choices built in so that they can be right for a wide range of people. Where we don’t think a product is right for everyone, we’re increasingly making a point of stating this clearly in our literature and checking that advisers understand our thinking.
The Customer Impact survey identified that return on investment was by far the biggest factor influencing how customers score products. We offer a wide range of investment funds, managed by leading fund managers within and outside AEGON, to meet a range of attitudes towards risk. So, although we can’t control how markets perform, we can offer you and your adviser a wide range of choices.
How are we doing?
- In 2006, we sold record amounts of products and increased our overall share of the market.
Overall, how would you rate the life and pensions or savings products that you purchased from AEGON Scottish Equitable?
Source: ORC International, 19 February 2007
- As well as launching new products, we continually monitor our existing portfolio to make sure it’s still right for today’s customers. We recently stopped offering our free-standing AVC product as Government legislation meant it was no longer the best way for customers to top up their pension.
- We were named Best Pensions Provider in the 2007 Financial Adviser Life & Pensions Awards, where we won seven awards in total for various products.
What we’ll do differently in 2007
- We’re spending much more time directly researching our customers’ views. In the past, we mainly relied on comments from advisers to help us understand customer needs. Although we still regard this as a very valid source of information — after all, advisers are constantly considering the financial needs of their clients — we’re also researching our customers’ views to give us a more rounded view on where we can improve.
- We’ll work closely with advisers to get better at understanding the specific needs of different types of customer.
- We’ll also consider how we can make sure the right people end up with the right product for them. For example, we’ve started highlighting within literature and with advisers where a product is not right for a particular group of customers. All of this will help make sure that customers don’t end up buying the wrong product.
