A new study from J.D. Power provides fresh perspective on the performance of large business commercial insurers and brokers, where risk managers are concerned.

Approximately 1,000 customers who are risk professionals and employees of companies with annual revenues or an operating budget exceeding $100 million participated in the J.D. Power 2014 Large Business Commercial Insurance Study, which measures customer satisfaction for commercial property, workers' compensation and auto insurers across five factors: interaction, program offerings, price, billing and payment, and claims.

Broker satisfaction ratings were based on four aspects: ease of contacting the broker, the reasonableness of the fees, the guidance provided when it comes to selecting programs, and the timeliness of resolving a contact.

The study looked at the responses of all the risk professionals from an industry standpoint, asking them to identify themselves and their responsibilities. Nearly 40% of the respondents had some level of enterprise risk management as part of their responsibilities, and these individuals were the least satisfied of the group.

“There is a strong indication that risk professionals want to have a relationship with both the broker and the insurer,” says Tim Bebout, director of the commercial insurance practice for J.D. Power. They have different expectations for both parties and “are able to separate their overall impression of their insurer from their broker interactions, evaluating their insurer independently from their broker.”

The study found that customer satisfaction was notably higher when insurers were involved with the service interactions as opposed to just the brokers, 865 versus 769, respectively, on a 1,000-point scale.

Overall satisfaction with brokers averaged 854, with just 48 points separating the highest and lowest scoring brokers. The most important factor in determining satisfaction with a broker centered around how easy it was to contact the broker. At 888, this was the highest score in the overall customer experience, with reasonableness of fees being the lowest at 828.

The ability of a broker to understand a customer's needs also impacted satisfaction ratings with 84% of customers rating their brokers who “completely” understood their needs at 890. Satisfaction among the remaining 16% dropped to 662 for brokers who only partially understood customers' needs or didn't understand them at all.

The study found that there are definite benefits for brokers and insurers who exceed their customers' expectations by looking at the complete customer experience for risk professionals. These will translate into higher policy retention rates, lower price sensitivity, and an increased likelihood that customers will refer others to an insurer or broker.

In fact, 62% of the property insurance customers who were “pleased/delighted” with overall satisfaction scores of 800 or higher said they “definitely will” renew with their current insurers and 80% “definitely will” recommend their insurers.

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