US consumers are more likely to switch insurance brands due to poor customer experience than traditional factors such as price, according to new research from Adoreboard on the 59 largest US insurance brands.
[PRESS RELEASE – Belfast, Northern Ireland]
A new study of 28,433 consumer online reviews, conducted by data scientists from Adoreboard, the leaders in Predictive Insights for Customer and Employee experience found that insurance firms could be sleepwalking into a ‘switching frenzy’ by consumers who feel let down by poor customer experience.
Seventy-five percent of consumers who left a review on Clearsurance expressed joy or anger relating to how they were treated, compared to twenty-five percent discussing insurance rates or pricing.
A total of 21% of US consumers said they’ve been let down by the claims process. And frustrations with weather claims generated 7% more rage compared to any other issue. Equally, the experience of dealing with insurance firms to get items such as cars or homes repaired drove customer trust down by 10%.
“Insurers need to place customer experience at the heart of their operations in order to build trust and loyalty,” said Chris Johnston, Adoreboard’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Customer experience should be top of mind for insurers, as traditional loyalty factors such as price are no longer enough for their customers.”
Issues such as poor customer communication were discussed by 6.5% of consumers and decreased consumer trust by 11%.
Surprisingly, technology doesn’t feature highly on the needs of customers with only 2% of reviews discussing this topic. However, consumers expressed considerable joy when it came to mobile application experiences.
Indeed, US consumers reward insurance firms who deliver an ‘ease of use’ experience across the customer journey, with this increasing trust by 11% and reducing customer sadness by 5%.
The biggest winner of the study is Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee who topped our index of the most trusted insurance firms – the Trust Index.
Also included in the top ten most trusted insurance firms are household names Geico, State Farm, and Allstate.
Relative newcomer Lemonade Insurance secured 8th position in the Trust Index, by delivering above-average performance across their claims process, ease of renewal, and product bundling.
The study found the most trusted insurance firms drive 18% more positive conversations and over-performed in response times by 12% and in their renewal process by 14%.
The biggest losers in the Trust Index include Infinity A Kemper Company, who are recovering from a data breach, in which 6.2 million employees and customers personally identifying information was accessed. Analysis shows underperforming brands are not top of mind with consumers and when discussed the experience is largely negative.
