Corporate Insight's 2015 Monitor Awards are out! The awards honor financial services firms for excellence in the online user experience they offer prospects, clients and advisors. Throughout the month of February, we will be releasing a series of slide decks highlighting the firms that received Gold Monitor Awards. Each of the nine slide decks will focus on a specific industry within financial services. The Annuity Monitor Awards recognize leading annuity issuers for excellence in the online user experience they offer their prospects, clients and advisors. Annuity Monitor Awards are given out across seven categories: Public Homepage & Navigation Public Educational Resources Public Product Information Client Transaction Capabilities Client Account Information Advisor Sales and Prospecting Materials Advisor Illustration Systems The slide deck highlights the Gold Monitor Award winning firms in each category and explains why their online offerings were best in class.

1. 2015 Award Winners
Gold Monitor Awards
ANNUITIES

2. AboutUs
Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence and user experience research to
the nation’s leading financial institutions. For over 20 years, the firm has tracked
technological developments in the financial services industry, identifying best
practices in online banking and investing, online insurance, mobile finance, active
trading platforms, social media and other emerging areas. There are no assumptions
in Corporate Insight’s work – we use live accounts at all of the firms we research,
providing our clients with unparalleled, unbiased intelligence on the competition.
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Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors.
For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com.
Press Coverage

3. Corporate Insight is pleased to present our ninth annual Monitor Awards report, offering a broad
benchmarking of the annuity industry across several key sectors. This year, we awarded firms in seven
crucial categories: Public Site Homepage and Navigation, Public Site Educational Resources, Public Site
Product Information, Private Site Account Information, Private Site Transaction Capabilities, Advisor
Sales and Prospecting Materials and Advisor Illustration Systems. Within each category, we award gold,
silver and bronze medals based on how well firms meet our criteria.
As in past years, the Gold Medal is reserved for offerings that provide an exceptionally valuable service.
For features that offer similar value but lack some of the outstanding attributes and functions of the best
offerings, we award a Silver Medal. For features that offer an excellent or unique service but do not
meet the highest standards for a given category, we award a Bronze Medal.
AnnuityMonitorAwards

4. Public Homepage and Navigation
Public Educational Resources
Public Product Information
CategoryOverview
Client Account Information
Promote Your Firm’s 2015 Gold Monitor Awards!
Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors.
For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com.
Advisor Sales and Prospecting Materials
Advisor Illustration Systems
Client Transaction Capabilities

5. Firms help shape first impressions through public site homepages. The role that homepages play in
engaging clients and prospects is pivotal. Firms must offer annuity clients and prospects an attractive
homepage that offers access to a variety of educational, product and company news resources.
Furthermore, firms must adequately guide site users with an intuitive navigation design. Our evaluation
of public homepages and site navigation took into account organization and structure, design and layout,
availability of client login field, navigational structure and location of annuity section.
Jackson National earns the gold medal for its
homepage and straightforward navigation, which
promote a wide array of annuity-specific
information. Jackson National stands out for its
promotion of key annuity resources, as it is the
only firm to offer access to product-specific
variable annuity performance details. The firm
also boasts an actionable dropdown menu that
allows clients to easily locate forms, annuity
education and other relevant information.
PublicHomepageand Navigation

6. Here, we look at the level of detail in public annuity education sections. Ideally, firms should provide
prospects with general information about annuity benefits, solutions, advantages, their role in
retirement planning and more, through informative pages, FAQs, articles and brochures. Complementing
annuity content with videos, tools and calculators can help engage prospects.
Pacific Life earns a gold medal for providing a range of
educational content, videos and tools focusing on
annuities within a centralized location of the public
site. In 2015, the firm added another educational
center focusing on women and retirement product
solutions. Notably, the firm continues to offer annuity-
specific tools – Tax Deferral Analyzer and What are the
Advantages of an Annuity – that generate visual graphs
and reports as results.
PublicEducationalResources

7. By offering public site product information, firms create an opportunity to educate prospects and clients
on their annuity offerings. The opportunity is key to beginning the sales process. Our assessment of
public annuity product information took into account the structure of the annuity product pages as well
as the supplementary literature available online. In terms of content, we focus on the amount of product
detail and performance data provided for both annuities and living benefit riders (if applicable) directly
on the product page.
Jackson National is awarded its third gold medal
in this category for offering comprehensive
product pages and a wide array of product
literature and materials. The firm’s product pages
are intuitively organized into tabs, with materials
and multimedia prominently featured in a menu
at the top of the page. Jackson National
particularly stands out for its detailed
performance center, which offers the widest
range of options among Annuity Monitor firms.
PublicSiteProductInformation

8. Firms should properly equip their private site with transaction capabilities. The ability to manage
investments with fund transfers, reallocations and withdrawals is particularly key for clients who rely on
their annuity as a retirement investment vehicle. We look for firms offering a notable selection of
transaction capabilities that provide a wide range of transactions (e.g., transfers, reallocations,
withdrawals, contributions, etc.). A focus is given to the capabilities’ accessibility, interface design and
overall usability. Value-added features such as clear instructions, external help resources and progress
meters helped firms gain top accolades.
Fidelity earns its third gold medal, as the firm
stands out for its six comprehensive
transactions, including future allocations and
transfers. The firm offers help resources
throughout each of its processes, and clients
can easily locate and navigate through them.
ClientTransactionCapabilities

9. Clients should be able to obtain a full scope of their annuity contract details on a well-presented and
centralized platform. An effective account information display is organized and features optimal
readability and easy access to key private site features. In addition to offering contract details, firms
should offer a transaction history section, with lengthy archive, and historical contract value search
and/or historical unit value search (for variable or index annuities) that enable prospects to view past
values. This way, clients stay on top of their account.
Guardian earns a gold medal for offering an
extensive amount of account details in a well-
organized layout. The firm’s Contract Overview
section provides clients with their contract values,
investment details, annuitant and beneficiary data,
and past transactions. Clients can also view historical
contract and investment values from this section.
ClientAccountInformation

10. For this category, we focus on the selection of product literature, prospecting materials and sales
presentations offered to advisors in a user-friendly platform. Firms should provide an array of marketing
materials and sales resources, including product brochures, performance reports, benefit option guides,
seminar invitations, worksheets, checklists, customizable letters and mailers. Ideally, these materials
should be available in an easy-to-locate, organized and manageable platform, featuring search, sort,
filter and order capabilities.
Jackson National receives a gold medal for offering
a variety of marketing and sales materials within a
dedicated Advisor Marketing Center, which features
filter, search and ordering capabilities. Materials
offered include product brochures, investment
materials, sales ideas, business building pieces and
prospecting resources, such as presentations,
customizable letters and mailers. Advisors can also
save, print, download and may order some
materials.
AdvisorSalesand ProspectingMaterials

11. Conducting annuity illustrations is paramount to the sales process. Advisors must be able to access
annuity illustration systems with related help and sales resources. Annuity illustration systems must also
generate detailed, helpful and visually appealing ledgers. This category was analyzed based on the
quality of navigation to illustration system, interface design and features, help availability, integration of
product and sales resources and ledger quality and design.
Voya is awarded the gold medal for its thorough and
easy-to-use Voya Presents illustration software. Voya
offers an intuitive illustration process, which advisors
complete on a single screen through expandable
menus. The firm boasts a great deal of sales and
marketing resources, including product brochures and
access to the online applications, as well as a helpful
user guide explaining how to conduct illustrations. Voya
also offers a product comparison feature. The firm
generates a colorful and graphical ledger.
AdvisorAnnuityIllustrationSystems

12. 2015Top GoldMedalWinners
2 32
In the 2015 Annuity Monitor Awards, Jackson National leads
with three gold medals, followed by Fidelity, Guardian Life,
Pacific Life, and Voya with one each.
JacksonNational
3

13. 646-751-6960
Aandrade@corporateinsight.com
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Alisson Andrade
Senior Analyst
Annuity Monitor and Life Insurance
Monitor
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