CUSTOMER SERVICESurvey on Web Sites Shows Some Insurers Not ListeningIs there any more basic form of customer service than to respond to customer inquiries? There must be, at least for the 30 percent of insurers rated by the Customer Respect Group (CRG) for its 2003 Online Customer Respect Study. Only those insurers ranked among the largest 1,000 companies in the U.S. were reviewed. Seventy insurers fell into that group, meaning 21 failed to respond to online inquiries.

CRG has established 25 different attributes it uses to examine the online customer experience. The attributes are grouped into six categories that include how the business respects a customers privacy (privacy); how it values and respects customer information (principles); the customer focus of a site (attitude); open and honest policies (transparency); ease of navigation (simplicity); and quick and thorough re-sponse to inquiries (responsiveness).

Of the 70 insurance Web sites reviewed, Amica Mutual Insurance earned the top rating with a score of 9.1 (out of 10), barely edging Minnesota Life Insurance with a 9.0. The rest of the top 10 in order were Progressive, Allstate, UICI, Phoenix Com-panies, CUNA Mutual Group, MetLife, Safeco, and LandAmerica Financial Group. MetLife showed the greatest improvement among the insurance group from last year to this year, making the top 10 with a score of 8.3 after finishing in the middle of the pack in 2002 with a score of 7.1. The insurance industry average score was 6.8.