October 23, 2020 – The willingness of insurance customers to recommend has apparently not suffered due to the Corona crisis. Survey data from Telemark Marketing see the “NPS” in the insurance sector, unlike in banks, at a stable level. More than half had been in contact with the consultant since mid-March.
Dissatisfied customers are unlikely to recommend their insurer to others, satisfied customers are much more likely. How did the Corona crisis affect the willingness to recommend?
Pollsters have that from Telemark Marketing together with the Financial Marketing Association Austria (FMVÖ) and compared the results from the third quarter of 2020 with those from the first.
The basis is the well-known “Net Promoter Score” (NPS), which is also the key figure for the annual “Recommender” award (VersicherungsJournal 16.5.2019).
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The respondents can indicate their willingness to recommend on a scale from 0 (“very unlikely”) to 10 (“very likely”). Anyone who answers with 9 or 10 is considered a “promoter”, whoever answers with a number from 0 to 6 is a “detractor”. The calculation “Proportion of Promoters minus Proportion of Detractors” results in the “Net Promoter Score” (NPS). Level 7 and 8 answers will not be considered. |
Willingness to recommend constant
Result of the survey: The willingness of insurance customers to recommend is fairly constant.
The proportion of promoters has decreased marginally from 41.4 to 40.7 percent, that of detractors even more, from 24.7 to 23.0 percent. However, both are within the statistical fluctuation range, says Robert Sobotka, Managing Director of Telemark Marketing.
As a result, the NPS has risen slightly, but it does not reveal a significant difference between the two survey dates. “All in all, the corona crisis, at least in terms of customer ratings, has no impact on the industry,” Sobotka concludes.
- NPS compared over time (graphic: Telemark Marketing). Click on the graphic to enlarge it.
Differences between insurers
However, there was a tendency to discern differences between individual institutes. Due to the size of the sample, however, no valid statement can be made about individual houses. Such would only be possible in the spring with around 8,000 recommender interviews.
Nevertheless: “There are many indications that, from the customer’s point of view, not all institutes have mastered the crisis equally well.”
By the way, the banking industry has lost a lot compared to the insurance industry, namely almost five percentage points. “It is now on par with the insurance industry for the first time,” reports Sobotka.
The contact process
Around half of the respondents had “personal / telephone” contact in the six months since mid-March, be it with the employed field service or with the independent agent. A “significant increase” had only been recorded since September, ie towards the end of the second survey date “.
According to the survey, a third of the personal conversations took place via video telephony – a proportion that Sobotka considers to be quite high. It remains to be seen whether this was simply an inevitable consequence of restricted person-to-person contact or whether this form of conversation will establish itself in the insurance industry.
43 percent had no contact
A good quarter were in touch via email. 43 percent of those surveyed had no contact with the consultant at all during the six months.
17 percent turned to the advisor about a claim. 15 percent signed a new contract; it can also contain conversions.
As a matter of principle, Sobotka states: Increasing intensification of customer care could have a positive effect on the Recommender survey in 2021, “as prompt personal support has a major impact on the NPS”.
- Contacts in six months Corona (graphic: Telemark Marketing). Click on the graphic to enlarge it.
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