DALBAR Releases Top 25 Insurance Web Site Rankings; Fidelity Investments and MetLife Affiliate New England Financial Rank No. 1.Business/Technology Editors BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2000 DALBAR today named Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments is a group of privately held companies in the financial services industry. It is made up by two independent but closely cooperating companies, Fidelity Management and Research Corporation (FMR Co. and New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. Financial, an affiliate of MetLife, as the nation's best web sites among financial service firms offering insurance and insurance-related products. &uot;Fidelity Investments, which although best known as a mutual fund firm does offer offers insurance, and New England Financial, long a pioneer on the web, provide online users with sites that are highly functional and useful,&uot; said Louis Louis, titular duke of Burgundy Louis, 1682–1712, titular duke of Burgundy; grandson of King Louis XIV of France. He became heir to the throne on the death (1711) of his father, Louis the Great Dauphin. S. Harvey Harvey, city (1990 pop. 29,771), Cook co., NE Ill., a suburb S of Chicago; inc. 1895. Its manufactures include steel castings, metal products, chemicals, machinery, and electronic equipment. Harvey has an oil research center. The city was founded by Turlington W. , president and founder of Boston-based DALBAR. The DALBAR Top 25 Insurance Industry web site ranking See page ranking. report is based on data collected from DALBAR's online monitoring service The general surveillance of known air traffic movements by reference to a radar scope presentation or other means, for the purpose of passing advisory information concerning conflicting traffic or providing navigational assistance. - WebMonitor. That service, which was launched last October October: see month. , tracks developments in functionality and content of more than 200 financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. web sites and reports daily of the content and changes to those web sites. Mr. Harvey said the WebMonitor service enables companies in the insurance, mutual fund, retirement plan, banking and brokerage industries to monitor the rapid pace of change on the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the , and to place new features and developments in perspective. DALBAR evaluates three major elements of an insurance firm's web site as part of the ranking process: 1) Functionality, which accounts for 60 of a possible 100 points awarded. Web sites are rated based on the quality and range of pertinent PERTINENT, evidence. Those facts which tend to prove the allegations of the party offering them, are called pertinent; those which have no such tendency are called impertinent, 8 Toull. n. 22. By pertinent is also meant that which belongs. Willes, 319. information and services available to the web site visitor. Fidelity Investments was ranked as the web site with the best Functionality, scoring 50 out of a possible 60 points. Fidelity received perfect marks in the areas of personalization Custom tailoring information to the individual. On the Web, personalization means returning a page that has been customized for the user, taking into consideration that person's habits and preferences. , account information, account access and a near perfect score in product information. 2) Ease of Use, which accounts for a potential 25 points. Web sites are rated based on the visitor's ease in navigating (networking, hypertext) navigating - Finding your way around. Often used of the Internet, particularly the World-Wide Web. A browser is a tool for navigating hypertext documents. the site, ability to locate important information quickly and easily, and ability to access help when using the site. New England Financial and The Equitable equitable adj. 1) just, based on fairness and not legal technicalities. 2) refers to positive remedies (orders to do something, not money damages) employed by the courts to solve disputes or give relief. (See: equity) EQUITABLE. were ranked as the web sites with the best Ease of Use, scoring 22 of a possible 25 points. Both New England and The Equitable received high marks for overall organization, graphics, and readability read·a·ble adj. 1. Easily read; legible: a readable typeface. 2. Pleasurable or interesting to read: a readable story. . 3) Editorial Content, which accounts for a potential 15 points. As part of the editorial content review, web sites are rated based the quality and relevance of the ongoing editorial content on the site. Prudential Prudential is the name of two different companies and buildings named after them: Companies:
DALBAR released its Top 25 Mutual Fund web site rankings last year, naming INVESCO INVESCO, (NYSE: IVZ) is an investment management company based in London, England, UK. It is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index. It has branches in 19 countries, but more than half of its business is in the United States. as the nation's best web site among mutual fund firms, followed by Vanguard Vanguard Any of three unmanned U.S. experimental satellites. Vanguard I (1958), the second U.S. satellite placed in orbit around Earth (after Explorer 1), was a tiny 3.25-lb (1.47-kg) sphere with two radio transmitters. and AIM. Under the sub-categories evaluated, Fidelity - as in the Insurance Industry web site ranking - was ranked as the mutual fund firm with the best functionality on its web site. The company received high marks for personalization, account information, account access, news and financial calculators. American Funds  Please see the discussion on the talk page. Founded in 1976, DALBAR rates financial institutions and financial professionals on their customer performance. DALBAR is well known for industry studies on investor behavior, benchmarks for customer satisfaction and customer service. In August 1999, DALBAR announced a joint effort with Microsoft to provide intelligent Internet based referrals of financial professionals. DALBAR WebMonitor Life Insurance &Annuity annuity: see insurance. annuity Payment made at a fixed interval. A common example is the payment received by retirees from their pension plan. There are two main classes of annuities: annuities certain and contingent annuities. Web-Site Ratings Methodology DALBAR's WebMonitor life insurance &annuity web-site ratings are based on a 100-point scale. 100 possible points are awarded for excellence in the following categories: functionality, ease of use, and editorial content. FUNCTIONALITY (60%) Web-sites are rated based on the quality and range of pertinent information and services available to the web-site visitor. Information and services are divided between: --Primary goals of a web-site --Secondary goals of a web-site EASE OF USE (25%) Web-sites are rated based on the visitor's ease in navigating the site, ability to locate important information quickly and easily, and ability to access help when using the site. EDITORIAL CONTENT (15%) Web-sites are rated based on the quality and relevance of the ongoing editorial content on the site, including but not limited to press releases, promotions, news updates, commentaries, and investor education. Ratings are based on the findings of DALBAR' WebMonitor program which monitors changes in content of the industry's leading web sites on a daily basis.
Scoring Categories
Functionality (60 pts)
Primary Goals
Account information and services (10 pts)
Product information (10 pts)
Education (10 pts)
Retirement planning (6 pts)
Information about the company (6 pts)
Secondary Goals
Market news &outlooks (5 pts)
Planning tools &calculators (5 pts)
Email capabilities (3 pts)
Site personalization capabilities (2 pts)
Tax help (1 pt)
Access to additional resources (1 pt)
Access to financial professional-only site (1 pt)
Ease of Use (25 pts)
Ease of navigation/locating information/speed (9 pts)
Ease in reading/understanding content (7 pts)
Help on using site (5 pts)
Clarity/completeness of organization (4 pts)
Editorial Content (15 pts)
Interesting and newsworthy (8 pts)
Relevant/timely (4 pts)
Well-written (3 pts)
DALBAR WebMonitor
Life Insurance &Annuity Web-Site Rankings
Release date: 1/10/00
Ease Editorial
RANK COMPANY SCORE Functionality of Use Content
1 Fidelity 79 50 20 9
1 New England 79 45 22 12
3 TIAA-CREF 78 44 21 13
4 New York Life 77 44 19 14
5 American Skandia 74 44 18 12
6 Prudential 72 40 17 15
7 Hartford 69 41 19 9
7 Manulife 69 37 19 13
9 Mass Mutual 64 32 20 12
10 John Hancock 61 31 20 10
11 Allstate 60 31 18 11
12 MetLife 57 27 19 11
12 Nationwide 57 32 14 11
14 Jackson National 56 27 20 9
15 Zurich Kemper 55 29 17 9
15 SunAmerica 55 27 19 9
17 Pacific Life 54 25 18 11
18 MONY 51 27 14 10
18 Travelers 51 21 21 9
20 Allmerica 50 21 18 11
20 Sun Life 50 19 19 12
22 General American 45 21 16 8
23 The Equitable 44 13 22 9
24 Lincoln Life 43 18 16 9
25 United of Omaha 38 11 16 11
Maximum Possible Score 100 60 25 15
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion