Study Ranks Insurers' Online Customer Service
Insurance Networking News, February 12, 2004
The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online, today released the results of its Winter 2004 Online Customer Respect Study of insurance firms that rank among the countries largest 1000 companies.
Overall, Cincinnati Financial Corporation scored highest in the study, while Unitrin scored lowest.
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The study is the only one to bring objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customer's perspective. It assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI(TM)) rating to each company on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.
By looking at more than 1000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined 60+ different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience. These attributes have been grouped together and measured as indicators of Simplicity (ease of navigation), Privacy (respects customer privacy), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries) and Principles (values and respects customer data). Combined they measure a company's overall Customer Respect.
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As a whole, results were comparable to the 2003 study although scores at the top were higher than in the past (CRI 9.6 vs. 9.1). Despite prior warnings regarding Responsiveness and Principles issues, however, poor scores in these attributes continue to plague the sector. While 93 percent of firms have privacy policies, 35 percent of these firms share data without permission from users. Some 37 percent of firms respond to only one-half of or no online inquiries. And while more than half of surveyed firms have Autoresponder technology, in which emails are automatically sent back to users to confirm the receipt of their inquiry and let them know when they should expect a response, 16 percent of the time no response was sent following an Autoresponder email.
"We are certainly cheered by the results of the top several companies in our survey," said Roger Fairchild, president of The Customer Respect Group. "But frankly we are concerned to note that so many of the nation's largest insurance companies are sharing personal data without permission and that responsiveness to online inquiries remains, at best, spotty. These firms need to strongly consider the connection between respectful Web sites and their ability to compete for new business and retain current customers."
The highest ranked organization within the sector was Cincinnati Financial Corporation at 9.6 (out of 10), while the lowest was Unitrin at 3.0. The sector's average was 6.8. Beyond these scores, the report conveys in great detail improvement opportunities for each company. The sector's Winter 2004 ranking is as follows:
