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Small business owners are more likely to switch insurers in 2025 than in recent years, according to J.D. Power.
Amid rising premiums, insurers may be heading into a growing retention problem as a significant chunk of customers indicate they may jump ship, the data showed, with 16% of customers saying good service is the most common driver of retention—beating out price, coverage options and reputation.
Meanwhile, just 55% of customers say they ‘definitely will’ renew with their current insurer, down six percentage points from a year ago.
“As insurers work toward rate adequacy in commercial lines, it is vital to retain the most valuable commercial accounts,” Stephen Crewdson told PropertyCasualty360.com., the managing director of global business intelligence of J.D. Power.
“There are many ways to boost satisfaction and retention with small commercial insurance customers so insurers can exit this market cycle with their best customers intact,” he said. “Among the top reasons are making sure small commercial customers fully understand their policies, understanding why rates might have gone up, and the ability to resolve problems on an insurer website. Clear and consistent communication is also hugely important.”
Other key takeaways…
- Retention declines across the board: After several years of improvement and stability, intended retention has dropped significantly among customers across virtually all demographic groups. The largest dip is among Millennials1 (-12 percentage points).
- Service sets tone for retention: Competitive pricing is a key reason customers select and stay with an insurer, but service is just as important in retaining them. Overall, 16% of customers say good service experience is the most common driver of retention, beating out price, coverage options and reputation.
- Communication about rate increases is vital to satisfaction: Overall satisfaction, which is 722 (on a 1,000-point scale) among customers who say they completely understand why their premiums increased, is identical to that among customers who have no increase at all. The number of customers who say they completely understand the reason for their rate increase has dropped by five percentage points since 2024.
- Institutional knowledge, website resolution are key retention drivers: Insurers’ ability to demonstrate that they fully understand a customer’s business or industry drives a 37-percentage-point improvement year over year in customer intent to renew, followed by customers’ understanding of their policy (+33 points); understanding the reason for a premium increase (+26); and the ability to resolve a problem entirely on an insurer’s website (+23).
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