Inappropriate advice a factor in satisfaction drop, survey says

Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris says negative publicity in the past year around life insurance is one of the reasons customer satisfaction has suffered.

“Risk and life insurance have suffered from some negative publicity lately, due to issues such as non-payment benefits, inappropriate advice, complexity and understanding of policies linked to superannuation etc,” Mr Morris said.

“Some providers have also indicated that losses are escalating, and [they] have sold their business or are looking to sell.

“All this bad press is likely to be having an adverse impact on consumer perception of this product and the providers.”

Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey found that, in the year ending October 2016, satisfaction among risk and life insurance policyholders was 67.5 per cent, down from 69.3 per cent over the same period in 2015.

However, satisfaction in 2016 was up from three years ago at 66.3 per cent.

“Satisfaction with risk and life insurance has decreased over the past year and though it remains higher than it was a decade ago, it is still lower than the other major types of insurance … including motor vehicle, household and private health insurance,” Mr Morris said.

The survey interviewed 50,577 consumers over the 12 months ending October and included 16,712 consumers with risk and life insurance policies.