South African consumers’ satisfaction with the life insurance industry, declined for the second year in a row, according to the latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi).

Local  life insurers were given a score of 75.7 out of 100, 2.7 points lower than the score recorded in 2014, which had also declined from the previous year.

The survey involved a sample of 2,070 randomly selected customers of SA’s top life insurers by market share: Sanlam Life, Old Mutual, Momentum, Liberty Life, Discovery Life and Metropolitan Life and a category called ‘other’ which included smaller insurers.

Sanlam and Momentum emerged as leaders with scores of 78.4 and 78.2 respectively, SAcsi said, while the scores of Old Mutual (77.5), Liberty Life (76.7), Discovery Life (74.8) and Metropolitan Life (74.0) were statistically on par with the industry average.

Prof. Adré Schreuder, founder of the SAcsi and CEO of Consulta Research, says that Momentum Life was the only brand which showed an improvement (+1.2) from 2014, while Sanlam and Old Mutual maintained their scores.

The greatest decline in customer satisfaction was recorded by clients of Discovery Life (-3.3),  Metropolitan Life (-2.4) and Liberty Life (-1.8).

“Interestingly, both Discovery Life and Liberty Life have embarked on intensive communication and marketing campaigns.”

“It is not unusual to see drops in satisfaction and customer loyalty following acquisition drives; the downward shift in their scores may be as a result of a lag between the brand promises made since last year, versus actual customer experiences,” said Schreuder.

Customer expectations are higher in 2015 for Momentum, Old Mutual and Sanlam customers.  Metropolitan Life clients have the lowest expectations, which Prof. Schreuder says is likely a factor of the lower income segments that form part of its portfolio.

Although the overall perceived value score declined marginally in 2015, Metropolitan Life customers said they received good value, with a score that is 2.5 points higher than a year ago. Momentum and Old Mutual also had improved value scores.

Perceived quality was higher for Metropolitan, Momentum and Old Mutual, whereas Discovery Life customers gave the brand a lower score than in 2014.

SAcsi also tracks the well known Net Promoter Score (NPS), which describes the likelihood of customers recommending a particular life insurer.

“Although the overall score is 8% lower than last year, Old Mutual has the most promoters and the lowest detractors. Old Mutual and Sanlam customers were most likely to recommend these brands,” said Prof. Schreuder.

The international life insurance industry benchmark is set by the USA at 80 (83) out of 100. South Africa is currently at 75.7 and is often compared to countries like South Korea (74) and Singapore (66.1).

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