I had an interesting conversation with one of those life insurance telemarketers a few years back.

He was one of those enthusiastic types who talks a mile a minute so that you can’t politely decline.

Midway through his rambling, I told him that I wasn’t interested and didn’t plan on dying anytime soon.

His response? “That’s what you think”.

Back then I was annoyed (and a little freaked out), but the guy had a point.

Life insurance, and finding the right life insurer, is important.

That’s where resources like the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-csi) for life insurance come in.

The latest index, conducted by Consulta shows which companies have the highest (and lowest) customer satisfaction in SA, reports BusinessTech.

Life insurers face their biggest battleground yet in South Africa – a heavily constrained economy, high unemployment, a growing burden of disease and technology and distribution disruption that is upending traditional channels.

Added to this, changing customer expectations, social media and citizen journalism can quickly amplify an adverse experience – rightly or wrongly – when a dissatisfied customer feels they have been treated unfairly or when trust is breached.

The index provides highly scientific insights into the overall level of customer satisfaction pertaining to SA’s major life insurers – 1Life Insurance, Absa Life, Discovery Life, FNB Life, Liberty, Metropolitan, Momentum, Old Mutual and Sanlam.

FNB Life leads the pack at 83.7 and well above the industry par of 78.3. Metropolitan follows also in an above industry average position with 81.1. Both FNB Life and Metropolitan increased their overall satisfaction index scores compared with 2017 – a notable achievement considering they were operating off a high base which is typically challenging to improve upon, said Consulta.

Old Mutual (79.6), Sanlam (79.2), Absa Life (78.2), 1Life Insurance (77.7) and Discovery Life (76.8) all follow on par.

Liberty (73.8) and Momentum (72.9) follow below par and with a significant gap between their closest competitors. Both insurers have faced a three-year downward trend in customer satisfaction scores.

Ya, it’s official. Momentum is at the bottom of that list. ‘Below par’ doesn’t quite cut it and here’s why:

Customers have high expectations given that life insurance is a product they or their families will possible need at some point in future where an unforeseen crisis arise either as a result of death, disability or illness, Consulta said.

…“In an industry that is run on numbers and statistics, it is easy to overlook the fact that at the end of it all, a human being is involved whose life and livelihood is affected by the decisions made. Context matters for South African consumers and following the letter of the law is simply not enough.

“Tough decisions can no longer be made based on numbers only, without giving deep consideration to the human element, goodwill and doing the right and fair thing,” said Schreuder.

A reminder that Momentum is the life insurer that refused to pay the widow of a man who died protecting his family during a hijacking.

What’s interesting to note here, is that FNB Life has been the top-performing brand for the last two years, even though it’s a bancassurance provider and not a traditional life insurer.

You can read more about Consulta’s findings here.

[source:businesstech]