Case Study: A Major Insurance Provider

Maritz virtual customer research evaluates the sales and service approaches of client and competitor insurance agents.

Maritz virtual customer research evaluates the sales and service approaches of client and competitor insurance agents.

Situation

In 2006, a major insurance provider received an “About Average” overall experience rating by J.D. Power during their National Auto Insurance Study. In particular, the study cited the provider as below average when it came to “Contacting the Insurer” – a critical element of the agent/customer engagement. The provider recognized a need for change and turned to Maritz for assistance with understanding its agents’ sales and account service levels and identifying specific areas for improvement.

Solution

Maritz recommended identifying gaps and best practices through a mystery calling program targeted at the provider’s front-line agents and those of a key competitor. The combined Maritz/Client team realized this required a two-pronged program with a separate focus on sales and service.

To effectively engage front-line agents, mystery callers must be capable of accurately “role-playing” prospects or existing customers. A basic requirement for performing a sales mystery call was ownership of a car. However, for a service call, callers with existing accounts were required. Maritz quickly polled the existing database of over 90,000 mystery shoppers/auditors and identified qualified candidates for the tasks.

Sales Mystery Call Program
120 mystery callers, who owned a vehicle for personal use and were not current customers, made calls to assess the agent’s sales approach. To ensure objectivity and reduce bias each caller was limited to one call and no more than 6 calls were made within the same state. Callers were required to provide personal information and request an auto insurance quote to measure the responsiveness of the sales representative at the local office during his or her calling experience. To validate accuracy statistical testing was conducted between the provider and key competitor‘s results at the 95% level of confidence.

Service Mystery Call Program
Again, 120 mystery callers, consisting of current provider and key competitor’s customers within Maritz’ shopper data base, made calls to assess the agent’s service approach. To ensure objectivity and reduce bias each customer made one call to his or her local service office employing a variety of call scenarios, to include:

  • Quote on a new vehicle
  • Request an ID card
  • Request a copy of declaration page for mortgagee
  • Going on vacation/borrowing a friend’s car
  • Going to call another insurance provider for a quote (to see if the agent would try and retain the business)

Program Management
Throughout the process a dedicated Maritz Account and Project Management team stayed in close contact with the provider program team, monitoring execution, identifying issues, and providing ongoing program support.

Results

Maritz captured and processed all mystery call data, presenting the results and conclusions in the form of a detailed executive summary. Significant findings and trends were further articulated through graphical data analysis (e.g., plotted values, bar graphs and pie charts). Finding highlights:

  • Callers’ overall ratings of their experience were not significantly impacted by the time they called, suggesting that agent availability is not one of the reasons for customers having lower satisfaction.
  • Most competitor customer calls were handled by a live attendant while provider customers were handled by a menu of options. Of those handled by an attendant, the wait time was significantly better for the competitor customers in both service and sales.
  • For service, although the sample size was too small for statistical analysis, there does seem to be a trend for higher experience ratings among those whose calls were handled responsively.
  • Within sales, the competitor’s responsiveness was significantly higher than the providers. With responsiveness being a key indicator of satisfaction, this should be a focus area for the provider.
  • When connecting with a sales representative, the callback time after leaving a message was shorter for the competitor’s customers when compared to the providers’ customers.
  • Providing guidance, knowledge/expertise and information on other products are key drivers of an “excellent” experience with both the provider and the competitor. However, competitor callers had an “excellent” experience even if the representative was not an “expert”. This same pattern exists for guidance and providing information, though not to the same degree. Still, the pattern hints at some underlying difference between the two companies, such as different expectation.
  • Not surprisingly, a representative’s level of courtesy and friendliness has a significant impact on a caller’s rating of their experience with both the provider and the competitor.

The results of this study will be felt throughout the provider organization as sales and service practices are modified to ensure better customer service. The provider recognizes the challenge will not only be making the necessary changes - but also maintaining the course. Maritz will be available to ensure continued compliance with sales and service practices through periodic compliance monitoring.