Financial professionals generally hold their life insurance and annuity distribution partners in high regard, but many say outdated systems and limited digital tools still make doing business harder than it should be, according to a new study.
Advisors, insurance agents and bankers report strong overall satisfaction with the companies that manufacture and distribute these products, but flagged usability issues, particularly with digital portals and self-service capabilities, that can significantly erode their experience.
JD Power’s inaugural 2026 Life & Annuity Distribution Partner Experience Study shows that demand for life insurance and annuities has grown as demographic shifts and market volatility prompt advisors to focus more on longevity risk and protection strategies for clients.
As conversations about the possibility of outliving retirement savings become more common, the quality of relationships between product providers and the professionals who distribute them has taken on greater importance.
“The two most valuable commodities of financial professionals are their time and reputations, so when it comes to working with life insurance and annuity partners, they place an enormously high value on trust and ease of interaction," said Craig Martin, executive director, global insurance intelligence at JD Power. “While many life insurance and annuity brands have built strong reputations and deliver reliable service to financial professionals and their clients, one area for improvement is user friendliness. Many providers come up short on self-service capabilities and have processes that can be time-consuming and seem antiquated.”
Despite the frustrations, satisfaction levels in the study were relatively strong compared with other segments of financial services.
Life insurance distribution partners earned an average satisfaction score of 743 out of 1,000, while annuity partners averaged 742. Those scores are notably higher than results from similar JD Power studies in adjacent industries, including 664 for independent insurance agents working with personal lines insurers and 629 for independent financial advisors working with wealth management firms.
However, many respondents indicated that working with providers can still be cumbersome. Ease of interaction ranked among the top priorities for financial professionals evaluating distribution partners.
Loyalty rates are markedly higher when providers are simple to work with: 78% for life insurance partners and 71% for annuity partners when advisors describe their partner as “very easy” to deal with. Fewer than four in ten professionals, or 40%, say their life insurance and annuity partners meet that standard.
Advisors also pointed to a lack of efficient self-service options. Nearly a third of respondents, or 31%, said the balance between digital self-service tools and live support is not ideal.
Among those focused on annuities, 20% specifically said their providers need to strengthen self-service capabilities.
The study also underscores the importance of digital engagement.
While most companies provide online portals that advisors view favorably, with 71% rating their experience as excellent, those platforms can be a major source of dissatisfaction when they fail to deliver. Among the 29% of professionals who reported weak portal experiences, overall satisfaction scores dropped by more than 200 points.
Among life insurance distribution partners, Pacific Life achieved the highest satisfaction rating with a score of 768. Guardian Life followed with 761, while Allianz ranked third at 760.
In the annuity category, Corebridge Financial placed first with a score of 765, just ahead of Security Benefit at 764. Symetra finished third with a score of 754.
The study measures how financial advisors, insurance agents and banking professionals evaluate their experiences working with major life insurance and annuity distribution firms, across six areas: business support, compensation, ease of doing business, operational support, product competitiveness and service to clients.
Results for the 2026 report are based on 2,860 evaluations of life insurance partners and 3,010 evaluations of annuity partners, collected between October and December 2025.
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