Some life insurance advisers are still reluctant to lodge applications online, according to new research from Zurich Life Australia.

Research undertaken by Beaton Research and Consulting for Zurich Life found a third of the 435 advisers surveyed submit less than 10% of their life insurance applications online.

But figures supplied to insuranceNEWS.com.au by Zurich Life last week show 41% of advisers are now submitting more than half of their applications online.

Older advisers are more reluctant to use online applications, with 40% of advisers aged 40-54 and 10% aged 55-64 submitting less than 10% online.

Advisers under 35 submit more than 50% of their applications online, but the research also showed some older advisers are equally comfortable using online processing.

About 40% of advisers aged 55-64 and those above 65 submitted more than 50% of their applications online.

Philip Kewin, Zurich Life GM Sales and Marketing Retail Risk, says the survey shows some advisers will not change their habits despite the efficiency savings that come from using online applications being “fairly well documented and understood”.

But the number of advisers using traditional methods to lodge applications is declining.

“We conducted similar research late last year and found close to 20% of advisers did not use online application services at all,” he said. “But at the other end of the scale 40% are submitting 90% or more of their applications online.”

Mr Kewin says the results reinforce the view that insurers still need to cater for a wide range of adviser operating models.