Zurich ‘Value Your World’ feedback thread - £300 voucher to be won for feedback

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnetters who are testing Zurich’s ‘Value your World’ tool.

Here’s what Zurich have to say: ‘Value Your World’ is a tool that helps users assess whether they’ve got enough life insurance in place to cover their loved ones should the worst happen. While a lot of people have some form of life insurance, it’s hard to know whether you’ve thought of everything and whether you’ve got the right kind of cover for your family. Value Your World asks a series of questions to help users understand what’s valuable to them, and whether they’ve got enough cover in place. If a user finds that they could do with a bit more life insurance, they can also get a series of quick quotes and apply online in a few simple steps.’

Testers, here are some questions we’d like to hear your answers to, but also feel free to add any other comments you have about Zurich’s ‘Value Your World’ tool.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

All those selected who give the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
   Quite easy to use, simple questions.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?
   It was easy to use, not ideal on a mobile though.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?
   There was a protection gap but then I expected that as they are trying to sell insurance. I think the figures can be misleading though, especially when you have a partner as never asked about their income/savings. At the moment if I'm a SAHP with no income, my partners income pays for the DCs upbringing, if I died, he would still have to pay; the insurance would imply that he would be able to give up work and just live off the lump sum. I don't think that level of cover is absolutely necessary.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?
   No, as above, I don't think we need that level of cover, what we have is adequate.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?
   More mobile friendly: boxes set up for number input so keyboard doesn't come up. Ask for partner income.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?

Good and easy to use.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes. Easy layout.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

It was helpful.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

Definitely.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

Nothing.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
   Very simple and easy to understand what they're asking.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes it was very easy to use, I was on a mobile and it was easy to see all the info.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

My quote came out at the average house price which was shocking! I'd need a lot of money to survive.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

I have looked into it in the past and looking at it again on this, I may consider it in the future.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

It asked how much we had left on our mortgage, we rent so it would be good to maybe say how much would a years rent be or something similar because we would be in a sticky situation trying to pay rent if something happened to one of us.

1. What did I think of the design of the tool? I liked it - it was easy to read, using simple language and covered everything I could think of financially. It wasn't patronising and I liked the fact that it didn't use overly emotional language - the tone was pitched at just the right level.
2. Did you find the tool easy to use/understand? Yes, on the whole, I thought it was pretty straightforward. I was slightly confused at one point where it talked about my income (I'm not working) but that your partner may want financial breathing space if anything happened. I did think that there should be reference to the other income of the house too. In the event of something catastrophic happening it may be that the partner would want to take a sabbatical from work and want their own income covered - or maybe need income to employ someone to help with childcare etc - which may not be affordable on their salary. Surely it's not just about covering an obvious financial gap left by the loss of salary?
3. Was it useful? Yes I daresay that we have a bit of a gap in cover - it's a tricky one though as I didn't include any family savings (which would mostly cover the gap right now) as we'll probably be using most of these for home improvements over the next few years. I guess there's a lesson there about re-assessing regularly!!
4. Did the tool inspire me to take action? No - but it did serve as a good reminder to re-assess our cover on a regular basis.
5. What improvements would I like to see? If you're just looking for a ball park figure for life assurance I think this is a decent enough tool but I do think it's quite simplistic for it to be based on one person. It would be nice if it was possible to design a "couples" tool where you can input all the family financial info so it's assessed as a whole. I think if you have a decent grip on the subject this tool would be enough as a checklist. Otherwise I still think it's best to actually talk to someone!

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Very sleek, intuitive, pretty GUI.
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? I came up against a couple of issues. There was no option to select how long you would like to fund your child(ren), personally 18 years old but the default was 21 and you didn't know that unless you used the Fine Tune option. Also on the loans question it should really say that any Student Loans should NOT be included because they are wiped in the event of death or permanent disablement, so wouldn't need to be repaid.
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? Because we recently moved house, I knew we had a shortfall in our protection; we only have a decreasing term mortgage plan, which since starting work as a Financial Paraplanner, I realise should really now be level because we have a child. Therefore anything over and above the actual mortgage balance in the event of a payout will be extra money for DH and/or DD, and will help protect against inflation if level cover was selected.
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? It has definitely been interesting to see what Zurich think our cover level should be, so it has inspired me to rethink the cover we need.
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Being able to look at joint finances for the option of joint cover, not just my own. Think the figures ended up being skewed and higher than they should have been as DH is a higher earner than I am. Also disappointed to see that Zurich push towards their own limited financial advisers and there's no mention of www.unbiased.co.uk to find an independent financial adviser that could help people to find the best life cover for them, and not just be tied in to Zurich when there are so many more options out there in the world. Even just one line on that page would be enough to show that there are options available to consumers.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
   Simple and easy to use

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes very easy. Didn't ask any complicated questions.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

Yes it was helpful. Not a big protection gap for us.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

No, because the gap was very small. May have to revisit if I change employers (and go somewhere without death in service cover).

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

None, it was fine.

1. design was fine, easy to use.
2. Yes very straightforward
3. I have found out that I am over insured as far as life cover goes!
4. no as the tool doesn't take into account my partners income so if we both died I don't know whether we would be over insured.
5. I think critical illness cover is as important as life cover but this tool doesn't appear to cater for it, maybe I missed it as was going through it quite quickly, but it really should be included.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?

Well designed and good graphics used to break down cover needed.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes I did find it easy to navigate between pages, it prompts if you have done something incorrectly which is good.
3) Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

Yes it was helpful. Haven't updated any of my cover since having a child and it has identified a need to get on with this!

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

Yes, it is something that I will be discussing with my husband.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

A space to put partners income maybe? Especially as I am not the higher earner, the outcomes were not representative of our household situation as a whole.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Simple, easy, clear graphics so easy to navigate
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Okay to understand but not as easy on a itouch, because the pop up keyboard got in the way.
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? Got a bit of a shock as the quote was way higher than I thought it would be. I do have a protection gap so tool is thought provoking.
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? It maked me worry about it but at the moment I can't afford it.
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Use a number drop down list rather than keyboard on mobile devices . Have a chat / fao function in case user had any questions about how to use or wants advice as they go along. Be able to swap between rent/ mortgage

It's good, but perhaps a little too simplistic - people might have other circumstances, not covered in the survey questions, that they might want to include. The form is nicely laid out & clear, attractive to look at and easy to use. However, it does assume a certain amount of financial knowledge on the part of the user- for example, when it asks if you want your insurance to stay the same or decrease - but the help text does help explain a little. I'd be concerned I'd picked the wrong options or misunderstood - I think it is helpful for getting an idea of what you need but is no substitute for a real legal representative talking you through your options and explaining fully.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?

I really liked it - I used it on a mobile platform and loved the little animations. I also liked that the colour scheme was in keeping with Zurich's logo.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes... easy to use, just typing in the box. The next screen loaded quickly and it didn't take very long. The questions were relatively straight forward. Although, I was a bit confused about my partner's income. I'm currently a stay at home parent and thought that this information would prove to be important in a quote.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

Yes..when I first took out life insurance I found it very hard to determine the level of cover that I needed as I didn't have a clue where to start. The tool made this process straight forward and helpful. Thankfully no gap!

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

No, but I did go back and check that I had adequate cover and protection

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

As previously mentioned, I think it would be useful to be able to enter your partners income. I'm also renting and so had to enter 0 on my mortgage repayments - I wonder whether that may have skewed results as I would still need this to be covered if anything were to happen to me.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? It was a nice clear design, looked professional yet simple.
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Yes but I completed it using my phone and had an issue with scrolling but this is common for sites on a phone.
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? It did surprise me and make me think.
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? It makes me want to improve my cover as, while I have mortgage cover, it has made me realise how much my partner would struggle with a single income and a baby.
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? A little explanation of how the assumed values ate calculated would be nice.

The design of the tool was very clear & simple to use.
It was really easy & quick to use and I've just used it on a mobile device which can sometimes either not be possible or really complicated
The tool has helped me realise just how unprepared I am for the future with no insurance or pension, I was really happy with the quote as well so it's definitely the way I will go to get a life insurance policy.
It was really quick, simple and easy to use I don't think there is anything in the app I would change

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Nice and clear and the graphics made me smile.
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Yes.
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? Yes and I did have a big gap.
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? It made me think about it
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Easier number entry.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Good and easy to use
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Yes though not sure why didn't ask for partner income too but it was easy to make adjustments
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? No I have 25 year protection already and if anything maybe more than I need
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? I am interested in life cover so will now look into it. It seems quite expensive with Zurich
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Asking partner income

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Simple and easy to use
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Yes very easy to use and understand
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? Yes and no; it wasn't taking in all the life circumstances so information provided wasn't complete. However it seems that we may have overestimated the life cover we need so will have to look in to this further!
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? Yes possibly, I will have to check our insurance details
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Partners income and pension! Also there could have been a drop down menu at least on some of the questions rather than typing in the numbers. I also found the question about supporting your child through university a bit confusing; no straightforward answer to that, also why is university the only option? I suppose it doesn't matter really.

1) What did you think of the design of the tool?
Nicely laid out, pleasant to look at

2) Did you find the tool easy to use and understand?
Yes. The questions were basic and interface was good. Very quick process.

3) Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you have a protection gap?
It was useful up to a point. The breakdown of how each section was estimated was interesting. We do appear to have a gap in our protection but not sure how we can afford to put any more towards insurance at the moment! So from that point of view, it has just stressed me out!

4) Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover
It is something we will probably look at in 2-3 years when we have more monthly disposable income.

5) What improvements would you like to see in the tool?
As other reviewers have said, partner's income and pension. If that was taken into consideration, I'm sure the cover gap (and therefore insurance premiums!) would be significantly less! I'm assuming that you consider university as that would be the most expensive route your children would potentially take, and if they don't, then the money could just be used by them for something else.

WOW some serious home truths here got me thinking.....

1. What do you think of the design of the tool? Easy to use and straight forward to understand i.e. clear & concise
2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not? Yes I did - relevant questions, very basic too so didn't involve too much thinking/ calculating.
3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap? Yes very helpful - got me thinking of savings, pensions & current life insurance cover
4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover? Yes see response above
5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool? Possible suggestions on what to do to help bring the cover down.

Placemarking for later.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
   Easy to use and appealing.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?
   Yes, easy response choices and clear design. Non fussy page.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?
   Yes, but no chance to ask about critical illness policies etc that exist.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?
   No, I am covered as best I can be with what I earn.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?
   More choices, some are very simplistic whilst life is more complex (e.g. situation of partner, note of whether mortgage would be covered in event of my death).

1. I thought the design was great. Smooth to use, gimmicky enough to be helpful and practical but not too naff.

2. Yes, easy to navigate

3. Yes it was helpful, but I would like a "How did we come up with this figure?" button - that would break it down and explain why it kept increasing with every step. "

4. It's inspired me and given me the umph to sort it out but I don't think I would have been encouraged to try it if it hadn't been with Mumsnet. I am impressed with Zurich so far though!

5. As above, an explanation would be nice. I did go for a full quote so I also found that easy and useful.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?
   Very easy and simple to use, well designed for a mobile platform and very clear.

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?
   It was easy, mainly due to limiting the amount of questions per page and the colours on screen are not distracting.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?
   Yes, we have just got a new mortgage and definitely need more life cover.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?
   I know I need to improve my cover but I've just been made redundant whilst on maternity leave so until I know what my salary will be next year when I return to work I am not sure what I can afford.

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?
   The ability to factor in my partners salary, as well as an idea of what could exclude us from being eligible for these policies.

1. What do you think of the design of the tool?

Yes very simple and easy to use

2. Did you find the tool easy to use and understand? Why/Why not?

Yes the questions were easy and understandable.

3. Did the tool prove helpful to you? Did you find that you had a protection gap?

It opened my eyes to the amount needed at the end.

4. Did the tool inspire you to take action to alter your life insurance cover?

Made me think about it and talk to my partner

5. What improvements would you like to see in the tool?

None I found it worked great and really useful