ST. PAUL -- LifeBenefits.com, the self-service group life insurance site provided by Minnesota Life, received a higher rating than any of the companies listed in this year's insurance Customer Respect Study published by The Customer Respect Group. The Minnesota Life site received a 7.3 rating out of ten; the highest ranking from the insurance industry study was 7.1

In the analysis commissioned by Minnesota Life, CRG said the LifeBenefits site has a "well-structured, efficient on-line policy. You excelled in the areas of ease of use and general navigation and in the treatment of personal data supplied by site visitors. The quality and speed of email responses also were impressive."

"Usability is a top priority for our customer web sites," said Maria O'Phelan, second vice president, Group Life Insurance Customer Service and Technology. "Our customers go to LifeBenefits.com only to enroll or when they need to make a change to their coverage; they don't want to have to go through a learning curve every time they log on. We also take the protection of personal data very seriously and we're pleased that our privacy scores from CRG reflect that emphasis."

LifeBenefits.com is part of the package large employers receive from Minnesota Life when they purchase group life insurance as an employee benefit. The site is integrated seamlessly into the company's intranet for use by employees for dozens of tasks such as applying for additional coverage, tracking the progress of an application, changing beneficiaries, or receiving live on-line assistance from a Minnesota Life customer service representative. The result is convenience for employees and a large savings in administrative costs for employers.

CRG rated insurance companies in several categories including simplicity, attitude, responsiveness, principles, transparency, and privacy. In addition to receiving the highest overall rating, LifeBenefits.com outranked the industry average in every category.

With $420 billion of life insurance in force, Minnesota Life Group Insurance is one of the fastest-growing group life insurers in the US, rising from sixteenth largest in 1997 to sixth in 2004, according to A.M. Best Company data. Respondents to customer surveys are 100 per cent satisfied with the service they receive from Minnesota Life, giving the company the exceptional Net Promoter(R) Score of 87 percent. For more information about web-based services offered by Minnesota Life Group Insurance, a subsidiary of Securian Financial Group, Inc. ( http://www.securian.com/ ), visit http://www.lifebenefits.com/ .

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