Special Session Summary Superannuation Research-Customer Perspectives

ABSTRACT - There are particular consumer behaviour difficulties associated with the marketing of complex service products, such as insurance policies, pension plans and personal superannuation. This session looks at three studies which address specific aspects regarding customer perspective issues in the marketing of personal superannuation, one of the most complex service products.

Citation:

Margie McOmish (1996) ,"Special Session Summary Superannuation Research-Customer Perspectives", in AP - Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 2, eds. Russel Belk and Ronald Groves, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 39.

Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 2, 1996      Page 39

SPECIAL SESSION SUMMARY

SUPERANNUATION RESEARCH-CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVES

Margie McOmish, Central Queensland University

ABSTRACT -

There are particular consumer behaviour difficulties associated with the marketing of complex service products, such as insurance policies, pension plans and personal superannuation. This session looks at three studies which address specific aspects regarding customer perspective issues in the marketing of personal superannuation, one of the most complex service products.

The first paper by Margie McOmish, describes a qualitative study which examines the response of a number of different advertisements targeted at women. The second paper, by Tony Ward, is a quantitative study of the effect of prior product knowledge by gender, which also examined the ability of men and women to acquire additional knowledge. The final paper, by Tony Ward and Tina White, examines the effect of government legislation on the information content of personal superannuation sales brochures.

 

PERSONAL SUPERANNUATION ADVERTISING: SELECTING A SUITABLE PRESENTER

Margie McOmish, Central Queensland University

This paper gives the results of qualitative research which examines a number of different presenters in personal superannuation advertisements targeted at working women. Print advertisements with different female presenters were shown to respondents to gauge their response to the presenter. The research was also undertaken to identify key consumer behaviour motivations for working women in the personal superannuation market. The results of this research were the basis of further research which empirically tested the VisCAP model of presenter selection.

 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACQUISITION OF PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE OF A COMPLEX SERVICE PRODUCT AND GENDER

Antony Ward, Central Queensland University

This paper investigates the different levels of prior product knowledge of male and female purchasers of personal superannuation and their respective abilities to acquire additional product knowledge. The paper presents the results of an empirical study which measured the pre purchase knowledge of male and female customers and which then measured the ability of male and female customers to acquire new knowledge about personl superannuation was objectively measured. The implications for legislators, theory and practice are discussed.

 

A COMPARISON OF THE CONTENT OF PERSONAL SUPERANNUATION SALES BROCHURES IN AUSTRALIA: 1991 - 1994

Antony Ward, Central Queensland University

Tina White, Central Queensland University

This research is concerned with a comparison of the information content of personal superannuation sales brochures used by Australian life companies in 1991 with those in use in 1994, following the issue of the Insurance and Superannuation Commission (ISC) directives 290 and 304.

The paper commences with a brief review of the results of the 1991 study, leading to the justification for and limitations of, this comparative study. A brief review of the literature leads into a description of the method employed and results of this comparative study, followed by a discussion of the implications of these results and the identification of future areas of research.

The results unexpectedly indicate that the information content of personal superannuation sales brochures has not changed significantly between 1991 and 1994. There are some structural and presentation changes identified, in particular the introduction of a key features section at the front of most brochures, which briefly summarises the product.

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