An easy way to get more business from independent agents
A simple and easy user experience for agents will lead to more placement of business with a specific carrier partner. If there is one major takeaway from the second annual J.D. Powers Annual Study, it is that simple premise.
“A strong partnership between Trusted Choice independent insurance agents and their carriers is critical to achieving a great consumer experience,” said Bob Rusbuldt, president & CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. “Carriers that focus on ease of doing business achieve high satisfaction scores from agents. Ultimately, carriers that invest in their agent platforms benefit from a distribution force that has more time to spend providing value-added service to customers rather than back-end administrative tasks.”
The second annual J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Independent Insurance Agent Satisfaction Study, done in conjunction with the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA), surveyed approximately 1,466 P&C independent agents to gauge their thoughts about their personal and commercial lines carrier partners in a survey from September through November 2018.
In measuring the overall satisfaction of agents with respect to carriers, the survey reviewed the agent’s overall business outlook, management strategy and overall satisfactions with respect to the following areas:
- Quoting—underwriting process
- Claims process
- Product offerings
- Risk appetite
- Servicing policies
- Support and communication
- Commission
- Demographics
- State and regional information
- Product line satisfaction
What was learned…
According to J.D. Power’s, these are the most important findings from this years study are the following:
- Independent agent satisfaction with carriers linked to placement rate: There is a strong relationship between higher levels of independent agent satisfaction and a greater number of business relationships with insurers. Likewise, independent agents that are more satisfied with the service they receive from insurers are more likely to recommend that carrier and place a greater number of products with that insurer.
- Independent agents cite low satisfaction with carriers: Overall independent agent satisfaction with personal lines insurers is 733 (on a 1,000-point scale). For commercial lines, that score falls to 720. These are among the lowest overall satisfaction scores in any business study currently conducted by J.D. Power, lagging even financial advisors (737).
- Support/communication and quoting are keys to agent satisfaction: As the most important factors in determining agent satisfaction, the support/communication factor in personal lines and the quoting factor in commercial lines are key areas for insurers to focus to increase satisfaction.
Liberty Mutual came out tops on the commercial insurance side of the study
Liberty Mutual received the highest marks in the commercial lines sphere for the second year in a row, claiming an overall satisfaction score of 749. Both Chubb and The Hartford tied for second place with agents with a score of 720.
With respect to Personal Lines, Auto-Owners Insurance got the highest marks, with an overall satisfaction score of 800. Progressive came in second at 762, followed by Safeco and Travelers, who tied for third place with a mark of 737.
