The Roy Morgan survey of customers in the year to December 2016 found Allianz was the top performer, with 75.7 per cent satisfaction, followed by Insuranceline with 75.2 per cent and Suncorp-owned Asteron with 74.4 per cent.
ANZ’s OnePath had the lowest satisfaction with 64.2 per cent, followed by TAL with 64.4 per cent and AMP with 66.6 per cent.
Only four of the top 13 risk and life companies showed an improvement in satisfaction over the last year – Asteron (up 5.6 percentage points), AIA Australia (up 2.6 percentage points), Westpac (up 2.4 percentage points) and MLC (up 0.1 percentage points).
Roy Morgan said the findings were based on its Single Source survey of more than 50,000 consumers per year, and includes detailed coverage of over 9,000 risk and life insurance policyholders.
Roy Morgan Research industry communications director, Norman Morris, said the channel used to purchase insurance impacts satisfaction levels.
“Purchasing in person from an insurance company – whether in person at a branch, online or by telephone – results in higher satisfaction than other channels including brokers,” Mr Morris said.
“Using an intermediary, whether it’s a broker, financial planner or employer, results in lower satisfaction with the insurance company.
“Companies operating mainly through intermediaries need to understand why this is so, as it may be dragging down their overall satisfaction.”
This Roy Morgan survey will be known as the biggest joke of the century survey. Go get a real job Roy Morgan.
Sounds like FSC sponsored statistical garbage
Morris, please supply the questions used for the alleged 50000 consumers. Also define “risk products”. Won’t happen of course, whoever paid Morgans has taken a leaf from the practices of the FSC to ensure advisers disappear as soon as possible.
I had to laugh reading this. The best result they found in terms of satisfaction going direct was 75.7%. I would also suggest that those same people be checked for their satisfaction levels after they have been through the claim process on their own with those policies that are riddled with non-standard exclusions. Not to mention they also pay more when going direct. I’d like to see Roy Morgan’s research which shows that going through a broker or adviser turns up with a lower score. I doubt it even exists.
RA – you’re fake noos!!!
None of this makes sense, 50,000 consumers in one year, humbug! That would require 50 surveyors talking to 1000 respondents each. A tiny percentage of consumers talk directly to insurance companies, unless of course they are complaining about the insurance company. Alliance is primarily general insurance, so they have their wires crossed there. The FOS figures of client complaints shows 90% consumer satisfaction when policies are advised. The APRA figures show that consumers have a higher levels of claims being paid by insurance companies when advised. The final, but most ridiculous is the direct insurance satisfaction levels. With 40% cancellation rates in the first year and only 30% of claims paid, this survey is obviously both scant on detail and highly inaccurate. Let me guess, it was sponsored by a direct insurer?? Dear Risk Adviser could you please do a fact check and report accordingly??
If you do it direct you generally complete next to no paper work whereas through an adviser you complete mountains of paperwork, including a large amount of compliance documents which add no value. Therefore it is no surprise that initially Allianz and Insurance Line provide satisfied clients as they are easier to deal with. They however have issues at claim time due to the simplified process at commencement – if ASIC was serious they would reduce the unnecessary compliance required for advisers given it is realistically a fairly simple transaction.
Oh well, let’s get rid of advisers all together then. People are less satisfied with insurers when they are used… Maybe because advisers actually run through all the ins and outs of the products and not just flog them the in-house product face to face, online or over the phone… Can we have a similar survey of claimants to see how they prefer to have their claims administered?
A Roy Morgan survey on “customers” since when does a “customer” have any interaction with a Life Insurer, Sounds a bit suspect. The adviser, is the one that interacts with the Insurer, not the customer, The mere fact Allianz and Insuranceline topped the charts, is also suspect, these two mainly interact in the direct space which receives the most complaints to FOS. Yes they may provide a piece of paper saying the the customer that they have a policy, But they mainly underwrite at time of claim.
Why would using an intermediary result in lower satisfaction with the insurance company? Maybe because the policy holder has no direct contact upon which to make a judgement. What an irrational comment! Maybe those of us who give detailed personal advice to people about their personal protection are being set up yet again by vested interests who wonder why providers need or use intermediaries. Look out for more negative political attacks on us as a group!
Difficult to believe,..”A recent survey shows”,, = rubbish results.
In my opinion, the only level of satisfaction level of insurance companies that matters is the experience that the policyholder (or their family) have at claim time. I wonder if the same satisfaction levels were asked of claimants how the results would vary? The fact that a policy is easy to take out over the phone and premium payments are deducted from the policyholders bank account efficiently means nothing when it comes to the bigger picture.
Spot on Pete. My clients very rarely speak to an insurance company as they call me for all servicing and claims requirements. Some of them have multiple insurer policies and would struggle to name the respective companies for each type of cover but they all remember who I am and the quality of service my business provides.
Is this another stick to the risk adviser survey? Statistics show the amount of claims paid by insurers is significantly higher when you deal with an adviser versus the direct and group business channels. Getting a claim paid successfully is a high priority for my clients and my business. I would also love to see the questions asked to arrive at the results.
Agree with Peter’s comment on the “dragging down of satisfaction level.” Since the client has chosen to deal with an intermediary where they have a trusted relationship rather than an unknown call centre person, it’s hard to rate the company’s services as they aren’t using them…..
Allianz who?
Errr… a little more info for the reader on the criteria used to base these ‘scored’ results might be useful! Come on RA. Not a very informative article is it? “Using an intermediary, whether it’s a broker, financial planner or employer, results in lower satisfaction with the insurance company” – really?!