There is no single benchmark for the assessment of quality, some services are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and information about providers is publicly available, others are not within their scope.
Customer feedback in the form of testimonials, case studies and survey results will be readily available from a good quality reputable provider.
Communication
As ever communication is key, by insurers, advisers and value-add service providers alike.
In that order, there is a real need for clear articulation of what is available to whom, when and what for. This needs to be regularly communicated to customers, whether via annual statements, customer portals or anything else that gets the message across.
Advisers can be forgiven for struggling to keep up with the wide range and rapidly changing value-add services landscape, and this is a challenge for the industry to find a simple, easy to digest way of comparing what is the equivalent of apples and pears.
With such high focus on value-added services within the protection industry, to truly leverage their value, it is important that companies do their due diligence when choosing who to partner with, that they ensure the appropriateness for their clients, and that more is done to demonstrate relevance and quality and communicate effectively with customers.
Value-add services create the 'wow' factor in the protection industry, in a way that simply a successful payment of a claim will not.
Christine Husbands is managing director at RedArc
