Life Insurers Take Steps to Climb Satisfaction Rankings

The two companies with the lowest customer satisfaction rankings in a poll by Insure.com have both taken steps to shore up their reputation.

There's a saying in professional sports: don't listen to the fans, or you'll be sitting with them. But that's not the case for insurers, for whom customer experience is the watchword.

Insure.com, an online brokerage, released the results of a poll measuring customer satisfaction with their P&C and life carriers. The life insurance results are interesting: The bottom-ranked companies have both made recent investments in initiatives to show up their reputation.

Aviva, which came in last, kicked off its "Youmanity" campaign last year. As our Anthony O'Donnell reported:

Aviva's claim to be "focusing on people, not policies" is very similar to Cigna's focus on "unique individuality," and both play against insurers' long-standing struggle to move from policy- to customer-orientation. Cigna has its "GO YOU," and Aviva has its "Youmanity," -- a portmanteau word that the company's thoughtful communications people have taken the trouble to spell out.

And Lincoln Financial, only one step above Aviva, announced the formation of a Consumer Insights Group within its Insurance Solutions/Retirement Solutions division just this week. The team is "dedicated to capturing quantitative and qualitative information about consumers that can better inform product design and distribution decisions."

One final note: Allianz Life, which was unranked, also hired a customer experience head this week. And where did Lisa Hoene, senior director of market management, last work? None other than Ameriprise — the top company in Insure.com's rankings. That's the equivalent of my beloved, beleagured Buffalo Bills hiring an executive from Green Bay or New England.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio