Customer dissatisfaction with insurance providers on the rise, reveals survey

Life insurance was the weakest link.

Customers grew more dissatisfied with insurance providers in 2015, according to the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG).

The index was conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at the Singapore Management University (SMU). The fourth-quarter figures for the finance & insurance sector showed that customer satisfaction dropped by 2.0% year-on-year to 70.9 points.

In particular, the life insurance sub-sector saw the bigger year-on-year fall, declining by 4.1% to 70.6 points.

This was followed by the health & medical insurance sub-sector, which saw a 3% decline in satisfaction to 70.2 points.

Meanwhile, satisfaction with the banks sub-sector dropped by 1.6%, while satisfaction with the motor and other personal insurance sub-sector slipped by 1.4%.
A common observation for the lower customer satisfaction levels across the finance & insurance companies was lower satisfaction with customer touchpoints.

“The Banks subsector analysis has suggested that personal bankers and branches are important touchpoints that have the potential to positively impact customer satisfaction if managed well,” said Chen Yongchang, lead CSISG researcher.

“Similarly, with a majority of insurance policyholders having interacted with a financial advisor within the past year, it would be prudent to shore up the ratings for this high-touch channel,” he said.