Insurance consumers express love for USAA, displeasure with health plans

USAA tops the charts among property and casualty insurance providers in a new survey gauging American consumers’ brand satisfaction, while health insurance plans dwell in the public-opinion cellar.

On a 100-point scale, USAA scored an 83 — the highest mark for any insurance provider covered in Forrester Research Inc.’s Customer Experience Index for 2011. That makes four years in a row for USAA to claim Forrester’s top spot among companies that sell auto, home or life insurance in the United States.

Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, praises USAA. High consumer marks for USAA are “never a surprise,” he says.

USAA takes the crown as the favorite property and casualty insurer among American consumers, according to Forrester Research Inc.

Wayne Peacock, executive vice president of member experience at USAA, says: “Our employees are focused on the mission of the organization and are very passionate about serving our members — the men and women of the military and their families. With those key components as a foundation, we strive to provide exceptional experiences for every USAA member.”

Liberty Mutual’s goal: ‘Delight our customers’

With a score of 76, Liberty Mutual came in second place for 2011 among property and casualty insurers. Close behind was Prudential, which earned a 75.

Forrester qualified the scores for USAA, Liberty Mutual and Prudential as “good.”

Najla Frayha, senior director of marketing at Liberty Mutual, says: “Customer experience has long been a Liberty Mutual priority, and we’re pleased that our employees’ commitment to providing high-satisfaction interactions is recognized by consumers. Whether it’s a consultative car or home insurance quote, the first report of a claim or a ‘once and done’ customer service call, our goal is for every interaction to delight our customers.”

Other Forrester rankings for insurance providers were:

• State Farm — 74.

• AAA – 73.

• Progressive and Allstate — tied at 72.

• GEICO, Nationwide and The Hartford — tied at 71.

• Travelers — 69.

• MetLife — 67.

• American Family — 65.

• Farmers — 64.

Farmers receives ‘poor’ grade

Scores of 65 to 74 were deemed “OK” by Forrester. Farmers’ score of 64 put it in the “poor” category.

“As the fastest-growing multiline insurance company in America, consumers are just discovering what Farmers is all about. This score probably reflects our regional footprint,” says Jerry Davies, a spokesman for Farmers.
“We expect that familiarity and the popularity of our company to grow as more and more people in more states get quotes from Farmers and enjoy the advice of our award-winning training and best advisers in the insurance business.”

Among insurance providers, Nationwide saw the biggest gain in the Customer Experience Index — from 63 in 2010 to 71 in 2011. Meanwhile, Farmers experienced the largest drop — from 72 in 2010 to 64 in 2011.

The average score for insurance providers was 72, tying them with banks and investment firms.

‘Room for improvement’ in health insurance

As a whole, health insurance plans received a “very poor” rating of just 53 points — the worst grade for any industry in the Forrester index. That was one notch below the average score for TV service providers.

“The health insurers scored very poorly — and deserve it,” says Hunter, the Consumer Federation of America representative.

Forrester Research Inc. has taken the public’s temperature regarding health insurance plans — and the news isn’t good for insurance providers.

Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade organization for health insurers, says her industry’s low overall grade may reflect the fact that some consumers mix their opinions of health insurers with their feelings about doctors and hospitals.

Still, Pisano says, health insurers realize they must work on better communication and other consumer issues.

“Customer experience is something that is a growing focus within our community,” Pisano says. “In health care, there certainly is room for improvement in the customer experience.”

TriCare, which covers military members, retirees and dependents, fared best among health insurance plans, with a score of 72. In second place, but well below TriCare, was Kaiser at 65. No. 3 was Medicare, with a ranking of 63.

Following them were:

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois — 54.

• Other Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans and Aetna — tied at 53.

• Cigna and UnitedHealthcare — tied at 51.

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan — 49.

• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield — 45.

• Medicaid — 42 (the lowest score for any brand in the entire index).

Among all industries, the Borders bookstore chain earned the highest score of any brand in the Forrester index — 90.

For the 2011 Customer Experience Index, Forrester questioned more than 7,700 U.S. consumers about their interactions with insurance providers, health insurance plans, airlines, banks, credit card providers, hotels, Internet service providers, investment firms, shipping and delivery companies, computer makers, retailers, TV service providers and wireless service providers. The 2011 index encompasses 154 brands in 13 industries.

–John Egan