Woman's Life Insurance Society Uses Its "Intuitions" To Target Women's Market
LIMRA's MarketFacts and Insurance Advocate
March 1999

As we approach the new millennium, it’s clear that the financial role of women has changed. Their growing participation in the workforce and the resulting influence in economic decision-making greatly change the outlook for life insurance sales.

Historically, women were considered only as part of a married couple in which the husband was the primary focus when it came to life insurance. Generally being the family breadwinner, the emphasis for life insurance sales was to replace his income in the event he died. The wife, on the other hand, generally ended up with just enough coverage for final expenses — that is, if she carried any insurance at all.

Women’s evolving role in the workplace
Times have changed. As of 1997, women account for 46 percent of the total U.S. labor force. The number of working women has doubled since 1970 — from 30 million to 60 million in 1997.

Approximately 62 percent of married women work outside the home, with fully 48 percent of those working wives now providing half or more of their family’s income.

With this shift in family income has come a big shift in attitudes about family money management. A 1996 insurance industry study revealed that 90 percent of women no longer think investing is a man’s job and 85 percent of men agree. And these figures don’t even account for the large number of women who have never been married, as well as divorced women, who are the sole decision-makers about their economic futures.

The travails women face
With their newfound purchasing power and economic responsibility, it’s surprising to find that women still are one of the most underserved markets for life insurance. A LIMRA study confirms that in 1990, adult males accounted for 48 percent of all life insurance policies purchased, while adult females accounted for 38 percent. At the same time, the average amount of insurance purchased for men was almost double the average amount purchased for women.

Even as women increase their presence in the workplace, they still face some basic financial realities which are very different from those of men:

• Performing comparable jobs in the workplace, women still earn an average of only 74.4 percent of men’s wages. And this figure marks a downward trend from the previous year when women earned 75 percent of men’s wages.
• Women often enter the workforce later in life than men and have shorter work histories because of family responsibilities.
• There were 12 million single-parent families headed by women in the United States in 1992 — a figure that has more than doubled since 1970, when there were only 5.6 million such families.
• Families maintained by women had the lowest median income of all family types in 1991 — $16,692 — compared to $40,995 for married-couple families and $28,351 for families maintained by single men.
• Women are only 50 percent as likely as men to work for a company offering a retirement plan.
• Almost half of men over age 65 receive a pension. The comparable figure for women: 22 percent.
• Women live an average of five to seven years longer than men; on average, they will spend the last one-third of their lives not married, but single, either through widowhood or divorce.
• Nearly 75 percent of the elderly poor are women, even though 80 percent of them weren’t poor before they were widowed or divorced.
• Many women are faced with chronic disabilities later in life; 80 percent of the people in nursing homes are women.

One insurer takes a unique approach
One insurer, Woman’s Life Insurance Society^®, is not only focusing on women’s life insurance needs; the whole organization is dedicated to women and their families.

Janice Whipple, national president and chairman of the board, explains, "Woman’s Life^® recognizes that women have very distinct financial needs, as well as different motivations and desires when it comes to protecting their families. Because of its history and its focus on women for more than 100 years, Woman’s Life^® understands those differences like no other insurance company can or ever will," Whipple explained.

Faith Cuda, national sales director of Woman’s Life^®, feels it’s important to apply these learnings about women and finance in order to better meet women’s needs. "Woman’s Life^® is responding to the tremendous need women have for sound advice that is relevant to their personal financial situations. Women want products and services tailored to their needs. That’s what Woman’s Life^® is all about."

The result is Intuitions^™, a new marketing program unveiled by the not-for-profit fraternal benefit society in August 1998. This unique marketing approach is designed to offer life insurance and annuity products as well as fraternal programs that fit a woman’s total needs at various stages within her and her family’s lifetime. Intuitions is essentially a values-based program in which Woman’s Life^® appeals to a woman on her own terms, focusing on her values and then molding its products and services to meet those values.

Intuitions rejects the traditional insurance sales approach based solely on a prospect’s age and income. Instead, it recognizes the events unique to women’s lives — life-altering events that tend to influence their values. Such events include (but are by no means limited to) the birth of a child; marriage; divorce; serious illness of a family member; or the death of a close family member, especially a parent or spouse.

In applying this new marketing approach, Woman’s Life^® places a woman in one of four life-stage categories based on the circumstances and life events that shape her values:

• "Promises" to meet the hopes of young women;
• "Expectations" to meet the dreams of women with young families;
• "Priorities" to meet the challenges of single mothers; and
• "Insights" to meet the needs of mature women.

For example, a couple with young children would fit in the "Expectations" category, regardless of the members’ ages. Intuitions recognizes that a 45-year-old couple with young children has financial goals that have more in common with a 28-year-old couple with young children than they would with other 45-year-old couples whose children are grown. For both couples, regardless of the parents’ ages, their values most likely are shaped by a strong desire for family protection and better opportunities for their children.

Like most insurers, Woman’s Life^® offers products to cover this family’s financial needs. Life insurance including universal life, whole life and term plans; juvenile insurance; annuities; and IRAs cover a multitude of unforeseen expenses. They provide protection for expenses associated with untimely death; income protection; mortgage protection; education planning for their children; retirement income planning; childcare and home-care needs should one spouse die unexpectedly; and building cash value for specific wants such as travel, owning a business, investing or leaving a legacy.

However, what makes Woman’s Life^® truly unique are the noncontractual fraternal and family education benefits it provides at no additional charge to qualified members. These allow Woman’s Life^® to meet more than a woman’s financial needs. They help protect her and her family from certain unplanned or extraordinary burdens, and help give them a better quality of life. These benefits include:

• Scholarship programs for undergraduate college students — some based on academic merit and some based on financial need.
• A monthly education benefit for college undergraduates in the event of a parent’s death or total disability.
• A monetary benefit for members struck with cancer, to defray out-of-pocket expenses for surgery, radiation treatment or chemotherapy.
• An annual monetary benefit to members to help defray the costs of breast or prostate cancer screening tests.
• Disaster relief for members whose homes lie in an officially declared "disaster area" following a flood, hurricane, earthquake or tornado.
• A monthly benefit for care, maintenance and support of a fully orphaned child up to age 18.
• A monetary benefit in the event of a newborn baby’s death.
• Guaranteed insurability for newborns at standard rates.

In addition, Woman’s Life^® offers self-help kits on topics for both adults (Smoking Cessation, Breast Cancer Awareness, Weight and Walking) and children
(On Our Own at Home).

The recent adoption of literacy as a national cause at the Society’s 29th National Convention last summer can be attributed in part to the importance of literacy on a woman’s ability to achieve financial independence. And Woman’s Life^® is looking to further enhance its fraternal benefit offerings in order to meet and exceed women’s needs and expectations.

Just as important as its financial and fraternal products and services, Woman’s Life^® members also gain the camaraderie of friendship and the joy of giving through a nationwide superstructure of local chapters. Members gain the opportunity to participate in service projects and social events, as well as educational and leadership programs.

Building on a tradition of serving women
It’s no coincidence that Woman’s Life^® has taken a marketing approach focusing on women. Women’s financial independence has been the Society’s focus since its inception more than 100 years ago. Founded in 1892 — at a time when women had few rights, few opportunities for personal growth and little financial value placed on their contributions to society — Bina West, a rural Michigan schoolteacher, recognized that women had their own financial needs and political concerns, separate from their husbands’. Determined to give women the financial support they needed to protect their families, she created the Woman’s Benefit Association.

What’s different today, perhaps, is the diversity of women in different life stages and under different circumstances. Yet, Bina West’s vision persists embodied in the Woman’s Life^® mission: to enable women to become personally and financially independent. Whipple sees Intuitions as a way for the fraternal benefit society to rededicate itself to its roots of serving the needs of women and their families.

Just the name — Woman’s Life Insurance Society^® — is noteworthy. Not only does it clearly identify the Society’s mission, but it provides the Society with a significant marketing advantage. Whipple cited the stunning conclusion of the 1997 Women in Insurance marketing report, sponsored by some of the largest insurance companies in the United States. It states, "The name Woman’s Life Insurance Society^® very evidently conveys a powerful message to women. It is automatically perceived as a company that recognizes women’s financial issues."

A.M. Best independently drew the same conclusion: "… the name alone provides the Society with value-added operating synergy and growth opportunities." As part of its rating rationale for placing Woman’s Life^® in the excellent rating category, Best cited the Society’s new life and annuity products, its exceptional financial strength, its high-quality investment portfolio and long-established presence as the "preferred provider of financial security to women."

Unlike other companies that have a department focused on marketing to women, Woman’s Life^® is totally dedicated to women and their families, dedicated to empowering women to become personally and financially secure and independent. Intuitions is simply a manifestation of its deep commitment and understanding of women’s unique needs.