Insurer Web Sites Get A Booby Prize

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

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

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

Among the 52 health care, life and health, and property-casualty insurer Web sites analyzed, Customer Respect said that the top ranking went to Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Boston and last place to Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville, Fla.

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

Pointing to the importance of its findings, Customer Respect cited a statistic from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America that before purchasing insurance, 85 percent of people go online to do research.

On a-10 point scale, the overall average CRI score for insurance firms was 5.1 against the overall average for all companies of 5.7. Property-casualty companies scored an average of 5.3, life insurance 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 that insurance companies need to respond better to online inquiries.

It found that 27 percent of e-mail inquiries were completely ignored, over twice the percentage of the general list surveyed in the past year. Also, only 11 percent of companies consistently sent helpful replies within a day.

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

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

Researchers said they found that the design of too many sites may confuse visitors and prevent them from finding information quickly. Thirty-nine percent of sites contain inconsistencies in their navigation systems. Also, only 42 percent of sites have comprehensive Frequently-Asked-Questions sections (FAQs). Insurers scored 6.1 against an average of 6.5 for site usability.

In the “Trust” rating, the report said only 6 percent of insurance companies now share data with third parties. However, 62 percent use this data for their own marketing purposes without consent.

The overall “Trust” score was reduced by poor scores in Transparency–the degree to which policies and practices are made clear to online customers–with a score of 4.9 against an average of 5.7.

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

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

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

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