Insurers, specifically multi-line insurers, that have increased their efforts on improving the customer experience, have seen an overall increase in customer satisfaction, according to the recently released J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Life Insurance Study.
However, the industry as a whole declines significantly in 2018. While satisfaction among individual life insurance customers reached an all-time high of 785 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2017, up a significant 16 index points from 2016, the 2018 industry customer satisfaction average dropped back to 779 for 2018.
“If life insurance companies want to see an increase in satisfaction, they must place the customer at the center of their growth strategy,” said Robert Lajdziak, Business Consultant for the North American Insurance Practice at J.D. Power. “Historically, life insurance companies focus most of their energy and planning around the point of sale and generally neglect following through on the customer experience post-sale.”
The 2018 study finds multi-line property and casualty-focused insurers as well as retirement-focused institutions, on average, rank higher than traditional life insurance companies and improve since last year on customer experience.
“Life insurance companies have started to focus on customer experience in the past three years,” said Lajdziak. “The P&C-focused and retirement-focused brands have the upper hand here because they have deeper customer relationships across multiple products and have made customer satisfaction a central component of their business strategy.”
Study rankings
State Farm ranks highest for the fifth consecutive year (825). Northwestern Mutual (812) ranks second followed by Nationwide (810), MetLife (793) and Mutual of Omaha (792) to round out the top five.
The J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Life Insurance StudySM is a syndicated benchmarking study profiling the experiences of customers from the largest life insurance companies in the United States. The study is based on responses from 5,391 individual life insurance customers surveyed in June-July 2018.
To measure customer satisfaction, critical-to-customer experience factors are examined using an index model. The model identifies the dominant factors that impact customer satisfaction and behavior and provides a benchmark of excellence for each. The U.S. Life Insurance Study measures overall customer satisfaction based on performance in four factors (in alphabetical order): annual statement and billing; interaction; policy offerings; and price.
For more information about the U.S. Life Insurance study visit: https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-individual-life-insurance-study.
About J.D. Power: J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
