Customer satisfaction among small-business insurance clients declined seven points this year and 15 points during the past two years, with many citing a lack of proactive support and personalized attention, according to a survey by J.D. Power, which noted this is the second year running small-business customer satisfaction ratings have dropped. An emerging trend among small-business clients is growing dissatisfaction with "soft skill" services, such as interaction with agents and proactive outreach, which have historically been areas of strength for the industry, according to Robert M. Lajdziak, senior consultant of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power. "There's also a trend in which small-commercial customers spend three times more effort interacting with their carrier on the website, on the phone or with agents," Lajdziak said in a release. "The largest declines in the study are among customers who had workers' comp coverage or commercial auto policies. Carriers will want to pay particular attention to customers with these types of policies." Unlike in previous years, client sentiments on price were not a driver of the decline. Overall customer satisfaction around pricing actually increased 15 points, J.D. Power reported. While the drop in overall satisfaction was seen across businesses of all sizes, those with 5-10 employees had the most noticeable drops. The above slideshow highlights, in no particular order, the top five reasons small businesses clients are continuing to show declining customer satisfaction ratings with their insurers, according to J.D. Power. Related:

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