Insurers have treated terminations and complaints extremely poorly for many decades. In 2018, only 7 percent of those surveyed who terminated their contracts said they were satisfied with the response to their termination.
The response to complaints was assessed as slightly better: 9 percent of complainants reported a satisfactory response from the insurance company in 2018. This was the conclusion reached by the Sirius Campus team at the time.
Today, things are looking better: Currently, 32 percent of those who canceled their policies and 25 percent of those who complained rate the insurance company’s response as “excellent” or “very good.”
41 percent of policyholders are dissatisfied with terminations
On the other hand, however, there is still an explicitly dissatisfied majority: 41 percent of those who canceled their contracts and 47 percent of those who complained are clearly disgruntled. They rate their insurer’s reaction as “mediocre” or even “poor.”
The Sirius Campus team came to these conclusions in a recent survey. In 2,000 representative online interviews in April and May, the team from the Cologne research institute questioned people between the ages of 18 and 69 about cancellations and complaints with their insurer.
Further results from the study at a glance:
- Terminations and complaints are more of a men’s issue than a women’s issue. The proportion of men who have considered or carried out a termination is 9 to 11 percentage points higher than among the women surveyed.
- Overall, the number of cancellations and complaints has been declining slightly for years. At the same time, overall satisfaction is also increasing. From Sirius Campus’ point of view, this could be related to the increasing leniency of an overall aging customer structure.
The following three reasons in particular led respondents to cancel their insurance:
- Amount of contributions,
- Scope and quality of services
- lack of or poor care
Only then do further problems arise, such as errors made by clerks when dealing with claims, incorrect information and dissatisfaction with the settlement of a claim.
More on the topicDigital customer portals increase customer satisfaction
Customers can now handle their concerns more digitally. This leads to greater satisfaction. Fewer and fewer customers cancel or complain in person, by phone or by post – email or customer portals are used more frequently instead.
Find out here which issues policyholders prefer to use their insurer’s customer portal for.
This gives insurers the opportunity to respond to terminations and complaints promptly and systematically.
The insurer’s reaction is particularly positive when the insurance employees show understanding towards the customer – i.e. express regret or apologize. Attempts to persuade customers by emphasizing the importance, quality or necessity of the contract, however, do not dissuade those who cancel their contract from their intention.
Insurers should react quickly to terminations
In principle, terminations require quick reactions. If the customer plans to switch, he or she concludes the new contract within a week in around half of the cases.
Only in 40 percent of cases do people who cancel their policy report that their insurer tried to win them back, although every second person who cancels their policy would be open to this possibility.
In total, this means that for 27 percent of those who cancel their policy, no one tries to win them back, even though it would have been possible. Sirius Campus believes that this would often be possible, especially for older customers. This applies in particular to property insurance. In the experts’ view, it already works better in practice for life and health insurance.
