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| [March 28, 2005] |
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Largest Insurance Firms Ranked on How They Treat Online Customers In First Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study
BOSTON --(Business Wire)-- March 28, 2005 --
Qualified Improvement in Responsiveness to Online Inquiries Seen, But Firms Continue to Share User Data At Rate Higher Than Other Industries
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 First Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of the country's largest insurance firms.
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement topped the Life and Health list, while Lincoln National Corporation came in last. The Progressive Corporation did best in the Property and Casualty category (and best overall), while Mercury General Corp. fared worst.
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. 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 interviewing a representative sample of the adult Internet population, and by analyzing and categorizing more than 2000 corporate Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined the 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), Responsiveness (quick and helpful responses to inquiries), Privacy (respect for the privacy of the customer), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies) and Principles (values and respects customer data). Combined they measure a company's overall Customer Respect.
Summary Results/Comparisons
Although a direct comparison is difficult because of the inclusion of industry-specific questions, the average CRI based on 595 surveys of corporate Web sites in various industries throughout 2004 was 5.9. Meanwhile, the firms in this study scored slightly better at 6.1. In the last Insurance report in 2004, the industry scored slightly below average.
In the area of Responsiveness, fewer online inquiries went unanswered in this report. In fact the number fell dramatically from 36 percent to 19 percent. This compares well with the all-industry 2004 average of 26 percent. But although inquiries that received a reply within an hour rose slightly to 14 percent, the number that were answered within a day fell from 67 percent to 54 percent. This may be at least partly explained by the fact that while some companies have made additional efforts to reply to inquiries, they haven't yet put systems in place to reply in a timely manner (one day is the acceptable limit according to users). The average number of inquiries that are responded to within a day or less across all companies in all industries in 2004 was 67 percent, so the insurance industry looks to be in a transition stage.
In the area of Privacy, there was little good news. Insurance firms continue to share user-submitted online data with business partners and other third parties at an alarming rate. While the all-industry 2004 data sharing average was 24 percent (for business partners/third parties), and the Insurance industry's 2004 average was 34 percent, this year's study revealed that rate inched even higher to 35 percent.
A concerning trend in the same "privacy of personal data" vein is the increasing difficulty customer have in controlling the use of their personal data. Customers should choose to "opt-in" to further company cross-marketing activity but only 20 percent of insurance companies allow this option. Fully 50 percent of firms surveyed have no obvious way for customers to choose to "opt-out" of future marketing using their information.
"We're seeing some of the same trends in the Insurance industry report as we saw in the recent Financial Services report," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. "There are some qualified gains in Responsiveness, which are offset by continued Privacy issues. The stakes are the same in both industries. Users object to having their submitted online data shared with third parties or even internally without their permission. Insurance firms would do well to address this issue before users begin to click to sites that do a better job of protecting their data."
The report conveys in great detail improvement opportunities for each company. The sector's First Quarter 2005 rankings are as follows: -0- *T Life and Health CRI ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Teachers Insurance and Annuity 1 Association College Retirement www.tiaa-cref.org 7.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Farmers Insurance Group www.farmers.com 6.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 MetLife Inc. www.metlife.com 6.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 New York Life Insurance Company www.newyorklife.com 6.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 CUNA Mutual Group www.cunamutual.com 6.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance 6 Company www.massmutual.com 6.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America www.glic.com 6.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Pacific LifeCorp www.pacificlife.com 6.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 AFLAC, Inc. www.aflac.com 5.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Mutual of Omaha Insurance Companies www.mutualofomaha.com 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans www.thrivent.com 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Principal Financial Group, Inc. www.principal.com 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 UnumProvident Corporation www.unumprovident.com 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 John Hancock Financial Services Inc. www.jhancock.com 5.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Prudential Financial, Inc. www.prudential.com 5.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Lincoln National Corporation www.lfg.com 4.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sector average 6.1 Property and Casualty CRI ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 The Progressive Corporation www.progressive.com 7.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. www.nationwideinsurance.com 7.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 The Allstate Corporation www.allstate.com 7.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Liberty Mutual Insurance Group www.libertymutual.com 7.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LandAmerica Financial Group, 5 Inc. www.landam.com 6.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 GEICO www.geico.com 6.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Safeco Corporation www.safeco.com 6.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hartford Financial Services Group 8 Inc. www.thehartford.com 6.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fidelity National Financial, 9 Inc. www.fnf.com 6.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 The First American Corporation www.firstam.com 6.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 State Farm Insurance Cos. www.statefarm.com 6.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- American International Group, 12 Inc. www.aig.com 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Travelers Property Casualty Corp www.travelers.com 5.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- American Family Mutual Insurance 14 Company www.amfam.com 5.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Amica Mutual Insurance Co. www.amica.com 5.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- United Services Automobile 16 Association www.usaa.com 4.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Chubb Corporation www.chubb.com 4.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Mercury General Corp. www.mercuryinsurance.com 3.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sector average 6.1 *T
Other overall findings for all surveyed firms include the following:
-- Surveyed firms receive the best overall rating (CRI: 7.7) for Simplicity and the worst (CRI: 4.1) for Responsiveness.
-- Only 21 percent of all sector firms use Autoresponder technology, in which emails are automatically sent to users to confirm the receipt of their inquiry and let them know when they should expect a response.
-- Some 45 percent of firms did not respond consistently or did not respond at all to online inquiries resulting in 25 percent of all online inquiries being ignored.
-- Looking at all inquiries made, including those ignored, only 40 percent were answered within a day of being sent, considered to be the limit that consumers will accept. Taken one level further, only 25 percent were responded within the day and were considered helpful.
-- All sector firms now have privacy policies on their sites explaining how customers' personal data is being used.
-- Some 53 percent either don't share data or do so only within their business group. Another 35 percent share data with business partners or outside partners. And 12 percent need to be more explicit about how they share data.
-- Some 91 percent of surveyed firms use cookie technology. Of these, only nine percent provide a full explanation about what advantage these cookies provide to the user and what data they hold.
-- After personal data is collected, 50 percent of sites provide no means to "opt out" of future marketing campaigns.
-- Just 47 percent of firms always use SSL or Https forms to provide security when collecting personal data.
-- All companies researched for this report need to make changes to their sites in order to ensure that they are reaching both disabled and non-disabled site visitors alike.
How to Order
The Customer Respect Group provides Web research services ranging from a single Web site audit to a full subscription that covers:
-- Industry-specific key findings, analysis and editorials for one-or-more subscribed industry reports
-- Dynamic league tables for CRI and each CRI sub-index scoring for all companies
-- CRI report cards for each company covered in that report
-- Detailed own-company confidential report including actionable recommendations
-- Best practice guidelines, practical customer respect examples
-- Analysis tools for head-to-head and multi-company comparisons with drill-down to sub-indices and individual criteria detail
-- Annual Cross Industry Reports including the Fortune 100 CRI Report
Companies can obtain additional information by visiting the Web site, www.CustomerRespect.com, calling 617-378-3173 or emailing info@customerrespect.com.
About The Customer Respect Group
The Customer Respect Group is an international research and consulting firm that uses its Customer Respect Index (CRI(TM)) methodology to help companies improve how they treat their customers online. It provides leadership in the objective and scientific measurement of a customer's online experience. Many of the largest U.S. companies have already adopted the CRI methodology to improve online customer satisfaction and loyalty. The Customer Respect Group is headquartered in Boston. For additional information, visit www.customerrespect.com.
All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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