As you know, J.D. Power & Associates does a lot of studying about how consumers view insurers. Studies range from auto to business to homeowners and more. This particular study has to do with small business and is titled, J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study.
As always, the ratings go from 0 to 1,000.
Small businesses — it appears — are feeling pretty good about their commercial insurance providers. In fact, J.D. Power says the good feelings are now at a record high.
Insurers scored 847 out of 1,000.
Stephen Crewdson is the senior director of global insurance intelligence for J.D. Power. Crewdson noted small business commercial insurers showed “substantial progress” in three of the five factors it uses with each study.
Those five factors are:
- Billing and payment
- Claims
- Interaction
- Policy offerings
- Price
The good news is that the positives are rising while rates are also rising — and rising at significant levels.
“While the overall satisfaction numbers are high, there are some important variations based on the size of the small business,” Crewdson said. “The trend is really being driven by businesses in the ranges of five to 10 employees and 11-50 employees, as opposed to the micro businesses with fewer than five employees. That variation should inform more targeted small business strategies on the part of insurers.”
Here are key points from the study.
- Customer satisfaction rose 5-points from 2022 and is up 70-points over the last decade
- Satisfaction rose in all factors of the study with claims, price and interaction seeing the most satisfaction
- The smallest small businesses are the least satisfied and produced an 823 score
- Medium-sized small businesses scored insurers at 855
- Larger small businesses were even more satisfied at 857
- Proactive communication from insurers impressed small businesses and helped mitigate the impact of rising prices
- Collaboration to help minimize the high impact and somewhat reduce premium prices also helped
- The 36% using the collaboration to change coverages to lower costs added 84-points to their satisfaction scale
- The 25% making changes to business practices via that collaboration added 135-points to their satisfaction scale
- Social media — it seems — helped with that communication
- Small businesses appreciated tips on reducing costs, information about new products and updates on federal and state regulations
- Micro business customers following insurers on social media rated insurers 88-points higher than those that don’t
Here are the top-3 ranked commercial insurers for small businesses:
- Nationwide — 883
- State Farm — 877
- Cincinnati Insurance — 870
One last odd factoid. A recent study by J.D. Power on auto insurers had exactly the opposite outcome. Close to one-third of auto insurance customers the company talked with saw a rate hike last year. Customer satisfaction — as a result — dropped to historic lows.
Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/45KxzeV
