Insurers have spent years and years enduring negative criticism. Consumers may be changing their tune, at least according to 10,000 U.S. consumers surveyed for the 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings.
As in years past, Temkin Group asked consumers about three areas of their most recent interactions with companies:
• Functional Experience Component — To what degree were you able to accomplish what you wanted to do?
• Accessible Experience Component — How easy was it to interact with the company?
• Emotional Experience Component — How did you feel about those interactions?
While consumers rated many companies, the research and consulting firm limited its analysis to the 206 companies across 18 industries for which it had responses from at least 100 consumers. Although the insurance industry average still falls behind seven other industries, the news is good for P&C and life insurers. Across the industries examined, eight earned higher scores in 2012, and these insurers are at the top of the list of gainers with an increase of 5.3 percentage points from last year. USAA leads the industry on the list, obtaining a 73%, which is 7.7 percentage points about the industry average. State Farm with a rating of 72%, also outperformed the industry.
Health insurers didn’t get such good responses. Health insurers are the bottom of the ratings, receiving poor scores on average at approximately 53%. Kaiser Permanente and TriCare outperformed the industry with scores of 68% and 59% respectively.
Unfortunately there were many insurers — Highmark (BCBS), 21st Century, Travelers, Health Net, MetLife and American Family — underperforming compared to their industry’s average.
Insurers listed in the ranking were:
35. USAA
45. State Farm
62. The Hartford
67. Kaiser Permanente
75. Progressive
89. (tie) Nationwide
89. (tie) Farmers
102. (tie) Allstate
102. (tie) GEICO
111. AAA
129. Liberty Mutual
134. (tie) American Family
134. (tie) TriCare
134. (tie) MetLife
151. (tie) Travelers
151. (tie) 21st Century
171. (tie) United Healthcare
171. (tie) Aetna
178. Humana
193. Empire (BCBS)
198. Blue Shield of California
198. CIGNA
200. Anthem (BCBS)
202. Health Net
204. Highmark (BCBS)
Carrie Burns writes for
