Insurance Call Centers Lag Behind Other Industries, Survey Says

While there are many signs that the insurance industry has made overall customer service improvements in the past few years, a recent study shows it still has a way to go when it comes to call center satisfaction. According to the CFI Group's Call Center Satisfaction Index, the insurance sector trails all other industries surveyed - save personal computers - in terms of call center customer satisfaction.The insurance industry earned an overall score of 68, which the report called worrisome. Banking call centers scored a 77. Catalog retailers earned the highest marks, with a score of 80. The index was based on a 100-point scale.

The study showed that customer satisfaction was closely tied to call resolution. Within insurance, the 73 percent of respondents that reported that their issues were resolved also expressed overall call center satisfaction, awarding insurers an average satisfaction score of 80. For the 22 percent (the remaining 5 percent didn't know if their issue had been resolved) whose issues were not resolved, however, the average satisfaction score dropped to an abysmal 29.

Further, insurance sector customer service representatives (CSRs) scored well overall but again dropped the ball when it came to call resolution.