If commercial insurance providers are pursuing pandemic-fueled efforts to help their small business customers, many are largely unaware of their efforts, J.D. Power determined as part of a new survey.

Nearly 60 percent of small commercial customers reported they were unaware of whether their insurers made an effort to assist them through initiatives such as modified terms and waived fees, the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study found.

It seems that insurers who communicated options to their clients made all the difference. According to J.D. Power, satisfaction scores climbed significantly where they reached out proactively to their customers.

Considering so many didn’t proactively reach out about this key info, overall customer satisfaction declined for the first time in the study’s eight-year history, J.D. Power said.

“The huge financial strain small businesses have been facing throughout the past year is having a negative effect on small business insurance customer satisfaction, particularly when it comes to price,” Robert Lajdziak, senior consultant of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, said in prepared remarks.

He emphasized that insurers would do far better to proactively reach out to business owners with guidance and help. Those that did who were tracked in the study saw their satisfaction scores climb higher, even from customers “under significant financial duress,” Lajdziak added.

Chubb earned the higher overall customer satisfaction rating in the survey, with a score of 853 out of 1,000. State Farm, at 852, ranked second. Tying for third: Erie Insurance and Liberty Mutual, with both scoring 850. Farmers landed after that, with a score of 840.

The industry score average was 836. After that came Travelers (835), Allstate (829), Nationwide (829) and The Hartford (827)

J.D. Power’s study examined overall customer satisfaction among small commercial insurance customers with 50 employees or less. It is based on responses from 854 small commercial insurance customers. The study looked at five factors, in order of importance, from July through October 2020: interaction; policy offerings; price; billing and payment; and claims.

Source:J.D. Power