Insurer Trust & Small Businesses

J.D. Power’s annual small commercial insurance study is out. The 2024 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study finds most small businesses trusting their insurer and 81% saying they’ll definitely renew when their policy is up.

Company spokesman Stephen Crewdson said the survey — now in its 12th year — also found 79% saying they’d recommend their carrier to others. As always, the survey measures trust, coverage pricing, the number of products offered, the ease of doing business, problem resolution, digital channels and customer service.

This year insurer satisfaction and trust are going head-to-head with sometimes large premium increases. This year 36% of small businesses saw premium hikes. That’s up just a bit from 34% last year.

• 51% of increases came from the insurer raising prices
• 16% came from what the business needed
• 13% are from changes customers made

A big plus for trust is when the customer is notified in advance of a rate hike and understands the reasons behind the change. Trust is 142 points higher when that happens than when the company is not notified in advance.

Personalized products rank really high with small businesses. However, only 55% of those surveyed said they get personalized information from their insurer. Personalization drives an average trust score of 761. Trust is 106 points down for those that did not receive personalized information.

Here’s how insurers did in this year’s survey:

American Family — 727

State Farm — 719

Allstate — 716

Erie insurance — 706

Chubb — 703

Philadelphia Insurance — 702

Nationwide — 701

Survey average — 697

Liberty Mutual — 696

The Hanover — 692

CNA — 690

The Hartford — 695

Farmers — 683

Travelers — 679

AIG — 675

Auto-Owners Insurance — 665

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3zaSywI