Small Commercial Insurance Customers Valued, Yet Underserved, J.D. Power Finds

Overall customer satisfaction remains stagnant in 2018 from 2017 (825 on a 1,000-point scale), showing that despite small businesses comprising the vast majority of businesses operating in the U.S., insurers have room to nurture this profitable market, according to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study.SM

“To remain competitive, insurers must accelerate their customer experience efforts, especially with respect to service interaction and price,” said David Pieffer, Practice Lead, Property & Casualty Insurance Practice. “Specifically, we found that if agents or insurer representatives explain rate increases to customers in person, satisfaction is 100 points higher than those who were informed via email, as they better understood the reasons why. Those simple personal touches and attention will go a long way with small commercial customers.”

The 2018 Small Commercial Insurance Study is based on responses from 2,734 small commercial insurance customers. The study, now in its sixth year, examines overall customer satisfaction among small commercial insurance customers with 50 or fewer employees. Overall satisfaction is comprised of five factors (in order of importance): interaction; policy offerings; price; billing and payment; and claims. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale. The study was fielded in April-May 2018.

Study Rankings

Nationwide ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction (844) and performs highest in policy offerings, price and claims. Auto-Owners Insurance (832) ranks second and American Family (830) ranks third.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. J.D. Power is a portfolio company of XIO Group, a global alternative investments and private equity firm headquartered in London, and is led by its four founders: Athene Li, Joseph Pacini, Murphy Qiao and Carsten Geyer.