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Customer Impact Survey

By now, all companies participating in the Customer Impact survey will have received their own results benchmarked against around 85% of the life and pensions industry. Your results will also include a peer group analysis to enable you to compare your company’s performance against that of your competitors.

The ABI will publish a report on the aggregated industry results on 28 February. LIC Management Committee agreed the text of the report in its meeting in early February. The report will be posted on the ABI and Customer Impact websites. A press notice will be issued, and separate briefings will be held for trade press and stakeholders.

Members are asked to note that publication of company or industry results is embargoed until 28 February.

The results of the 2006/07 survey show that there are some areas where customers feel the industry performs relatively well, such as the sales process and claims handling. But the results also highlight the areas where customers are less satisfied: products; post-sale communications; and complaint handling. Some of the key findings are:

• Satisfaction with the industry

85% of customers ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that their company was ‘easy to do business with’ and ‘treats customers fairly’. 53% of customers said they were ‘extremely’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the service they had received.

• Customer Advocacy

55% of customers said they would be ‘extremely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend their company. 20% of customers said they would be ‘not at all’ or ‘not very likely’ to recommend their company.

• Sales

58% of customers rated the sales process overall as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. Of the different aspects of a sale, customers rated highest the time taken to arrange a policy. Clarity of information at point of sale scored lowest.

• Products

43% of customers gave their product an overall rating of ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. Customers rated the choice of products available most favourably, while return on investment was viewed most negatively.

• Complaints

Around 4% of the customers surveyed had made a complaint to their provider in the past 12 months. 14% of these said the way the company had handled their complaint was ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. 50% said their complaint had been handled in a ‘poor’ way.

The key messages that the ABI will be promoting at the launch of the report are:

• The survey is a key part of a wider Scheme, based on the customer commitments.
  
• The survey shows the industry is serious about improving the customer’s experience, and is willing to face the difficult questions.
  
• There is cause for optimism in some of the high scores. But clearly there is much still to be done in the areas where the scores are lower e.g. complaint handling. Practical action is already in hand, and members will be working proactively to improve their performance. 
  
• Insurers will also be working with their intermediary partners to improve customers’ experience.
  
• This is the beginning of the process, not the end. It will take time, because customer perceptions are often slow to change.