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Insurance customers report higher satisfaction rates when dealing with agents than over the phone or web: report


February 26, 2015   by Canadian Underwriter


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Insurance customers surveyed report a higher rate of satisfaction while dealing through agents rather than through the Internet and carriers need to “expand their use” of catastrophe modeling tools, Cap Gemini SA and Efma suggest in a recent report.

Paris-based Capgemini – whose offerings include computer services – and financial service industry association Efma announced Thursday the release of their World Insurance Report 2015. That report was based in part on a survey of more than 15,500 insurance customers worldwide about their “general satisfaction” with their insurers.

Paris-based Efma is a not-for-profit association that includes bankers and insurers.

The report included the percentage, by country, of insurance customers responding to the survey with a positive or negative experience.

In Canada the breakdown was 37% positive, 57% neutral and 5% negative. Canada was third behind Austria (with 43% reporting a positive experience) and the United States, with 41%.

The report also includes a breakdown by region and sales channel.

In non-life insurance in North America, the percentage with a positive experience was 57% by agent, 43% by phone, 43% by Internet on a personal computer, 35% by Internet on a wireless mobile device and 32% by social media.  [click image below to enlarge] 

Cap Gemini word insurance report 2015

“While insurers need to develop and improve digital channels to keep pace with the growing demands of their customers, it should not be at the expense of the agent relationship,” Capgemini and Efma said in a press release. “In fact, positive experience levels on when using insurance agents were almost 10 percentage points higher than those of digital channels. This disconnect suggests that the current services provided on digital channels by insurers are dragging down global customer experience levels. Insurers must not only improve their channels to better serve customer needs, but they must also make sure that the channels work in harmony at any needed touchpoint along the customer journey.”

Worldwide, 28.9% of respondents had a positive experience in 2014, down 3.7 points from 32.6% in 2013. In North America, 39.7% had a positive experience last year, down 8.3 points from 47.9% in 2013.

“A steep drop in positive customer experience by the Gen Y segment contributed to the large decline in North America,” Capgemini and Efma said in the report, referring to customers between the ages of 18 and 34.

“Having never experienced adult life without the aid of the Internet or smart devices, digital technology is essential to the Gen Y lifestyle,” according to the report. “With Gen Y comprising one quarter to one third of the populations in many markets, this segment is of high importance to insurance firms, especially given the high potential of their lifetime values. The downside is that Gen Y expectations are quite lofty.”

The increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events is also an issue for insurers, the Capgemini and Efma suggest in the report.

“The rising cost of claims associated with disasters is changing the landscape of the insurance business,” according to the report. “From a product perspective, insurers need to consider adding riders to their policies, as well as new products to address co-insurance needs. In terms of processes, insurers have an immediate need to expand their use of advance modeling tools to better predict catastrophe and expected losses.”


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