MetLife Variable
Annuities
The Shift
From maximizing returns
to more consistent returns
The Challenge
Simplify a complex product: Winning back skeptical investors with a new twist on variable annuities.
After the 2008-09 financial crisis, many insurers backed out of the variable annuity business. Those who stayed were forced to adapt. MetLife created a new kind of annuity with a complex set of investment options. The challenge was to find a way to explain these funds in language that was clear, compelling, and repeatable.
The Insight
Instead of attempting to explain all the complexities of a new annuity to investors, we focused on the benefits and outcomes it was designed to achieve.
One simple message: more consistent returns over time became the mantra for communicating about the annuity itself and associated funds.
The Result
When polled, more than 60% of advisors connected the simple message with MetLife’s new product. It was the best launch of a new product MetLife had ever seen.
The product jumped to the number one sales spot in the industry within two months and exceeded annual sales goals within the first quarter.
Paulina Vakouros of Metlife
“We could have launched it and it could have had a great rate, but if people didn’t believe in those funds, and didn’t understand the funds, then it could have turned out to be a flop. It was probably the most successful launch MetLife has ever seen.”
