Insurance carriers ranked at the bottom in a survey of how 12industries treat their online customers, according to aMassachusetts research and consulting group.

The findings announced by the Customer Respect Group of Ipswich,Mass. were based on its Second-Quarter 2006 Online Customer RespectStudy. The firm's sixth such study conducted on insurers foundproblems responding to customer e-mails and sites that wereconfusing and difficult to navigate.

Only 89 percent of insurance sites were found to contain anonline contact method.

Among the 52 health care, life and health, and property-casualtyinsurer Web sites analyzed, Customer Respect said that the topranking went to Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Boston and lastplace to Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville, Fla.

Overall, Customer Respect reported that the average CustomerRespect Index (CRI) ranking for p-c company sites was ahead of thelife-health sector, and health care was at the bottom.

Pointing to the importance of its findings, Customer Respectcited a statistic from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokersof America that before purchasing insurance, 85 percent of peoplego online to do research.

On a-10 point scale, the overall average CRI score for insurancefirms was 5.1 against the overall average for all companies of 5.7.Property-casualty companies scored an average of 5.3, lifeinsurance 5.2 and health care companies, a 4.8.

Customer Respect said Liberty Mutual, with a CRI score of 7.1,was the only company to achieve a rating of “Excellent.”.

The study findings, Customer Respect said, indicate thatinsurance companies need to respond better to online inquiries.

It found that 27 percent of e-mail inquiries were completelyignored, over twice the percentage of the general list surveyed inthe past year. Also, only 11 percent of companies consistently senthelpful replies within a day.

The firm said a “worrying” 11 percent did not even allow anyonline contact from online customers.

Customer Respect Group said 48 percent of online users equatee-mail responsiveness with overall levels of customer service. Theindustry scored just 3.9 out of 10 for responsiveness.

Researchers said they found that the design of too many sitesmay confuse visitors and prevent them from finding informationquickly. Thirty-nine percent of sites contain inconsistencies intheir navigation systems. Also, only 42 percent of sites havecomprehensive Frequently-Asked-Questions sections (FAQs). Insurersscored 6.1 against an average of 6.5 for site usability.

In the “Trust” rating, the report said only 6 percent ofinsurance companies now share data with third parties. However, 62percent use this data for their own marketing purposes withoutconsent.

The overall “Trust” score was reduced by poor scores inTransparency–the degree to which policies and practices are madeclear to online customers–with a score of 4.9 against an average of5.7.

The top five scoring p-c insurers and their CRI rating were:Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, 7.1; AIG Direct, 6.8; TheProgressive Corp., 6.8; GEICO Property and Casualty, 6.7; FarmersInsurance Group, 6.2.

After Fidelity National, the lowest five ranked p-c companies,in improving order, were: Mercury General Corp, 3.5; First AmericaCorp, 4.2; United Services Automobile Association, 4.3 and HartfordFinancial Services Group, 4.6

The complete table can be found athttp://www.customerrespect.com

Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group,said, “We are starting to see some companies use the Web experienceas part of their marketing differentiation, and as that increaseswe expect to see a real change in buying habits from the consumerputting the Web site at the forefront of the decision-makingexperience.”