A business is only as strong as its reputation. But across all industries, maintaining one's good reputation remains a challenge. Cyberattacks continue to torment the unprepared, and Amazon's vast reach is pushing traditional businesses toward the sidelines, among other factors. It's not all bad news, however. Reputation Institute, a leading provider of reputation intelligence, revealed its top 10 most reputable insurance companies in the United States for 2018. The 2018 U.S. Insurance RepTrak research is based on a survey that captured nearly 3,000 individual ratings from Americans on an assessment of over 44 nominated companies. Related: What top personalities can teach us about reputational risk

Room for improvement

While the top companies solidified their reputations, 2018 has been a challenging year for many insurance organizations. Businesses nationwide experienced a -3.7 point reputation decline this year, and the reputation of the insurance industry sank by -4.3 points. But there are still opportunities for improvement. Overall, signs of a reputation recovery can be seen as the insurance industry's reputation increased to 71.3 in September from 65.9 in February. "The insurance sector has unique challenges as compared to other industries," Nicky McHugh, vice president at Reputation Institute, said in a statement. "Relative to the health care sector and the broader financial industry, innovation, workplace and performance have a higher impact on reputation among insurance companies in the U.S." Related:  Guarding our reputations Insurance agents and online reputation management