Although Individual life insurance and annuity providers have been trying to be more consumer focused, customer satisfaction still lags far behind that of most other financial and insurance providers, according to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Life Insurance Study.
The overall satisfaction score for providers of annuity products is 776 on a 1,000-point scale and the average score for providers of individual life insurance products is 761, the report said. These products rank near the bottom when compared with financial industries such as retail banking (807), full-service inveting (835) and auto insurance (831), the study found.
Robert M. Lajdziak, senior consultant of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, said life insurance and annuity providers have been trying to address the issue by striving for better and more frequent interactions and better online access to policy information.
“These are important steps for the industry because customer satisfaction with life insurance and annuity products is directly linked to the value customers perceive," he said in a statement.
The study found that Northwestern Mutual ranked highest in satisfaction among individual life insurance providers with a score of 810. State Farm followed with 808 and Mutual of Omaha came in third with a score of 795.
At the bottom of the list were Brighthouse Financial with a score of 729, Midland National Life at 723 and AIG at 722.
As for annuity providers, RiverSource was top ranked with a score of 814. New York Life followed with 808 and TIAA was third with 804.
The bottom three in the satisfaction index among annuity providers were, Athene with a score of 744, Transamerica (AEGON) at 742 and Brighthouse with a score of 716.
The results were based on performance in six categories: application and orientation; communications; interaction; product offerings; price; and statements.
The report, conducted June to August, was based on a survey of 6,249 individual life insurance customers and 3,586 annuity customers.