Even if purchasing insurance online, consumers expect personal contact throughout the policy lifecycle

Canadian consumers are increasingly exploring their property and casualty options online, but they still demand direct personal contact throughout the policy lifecycle and at renewal, an Ernst & Young report found.

Ernst & Young surveyed more than 24,000 insurance consumers around the world for its Global Consumer Insurance Survey 2012.

Canadian consumers are for the most part loyal to their property and casualty insurers, with 66% reporting they were “relatively unlikely to switch providers in the next five years,” the survey found. But, those that did switch said they felt their insurers made little or no effort to retain them.

“This is particularly unfortunate, given that in all but one of the countries we surveyed, more than half of consumers indicated that they would have been more likely to renew had they been contacted by their insurer or agent,” the report said.

In fact, 83% of Canadian consumers reported they had received little to no contact prior to renewal.

Across the Americas (Canada, United States, Brazil and Mexico), 31% of consumers expect to make more use of comparison websites in the future. But consumers in the United States and Canada indicated they are the least likely to consider actually purchasing insurance through an online site. Only 7% of the respondents from the Americas said they would consider an online purchase, compared to 14% for both Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Within the Americas, Latin American respondents were 20% more likely than those in the United States or Canada to consider an online purchase of an insurance product. But once an online product was purchased, Canadian consumers, for the most part, expected direct personal contact throughout the life of the policy — especially when a claim is made (about 52%).

“Direct personal contact…remains important during virtually all critical phases of the product life cycle, particularly when customers are extending coverage, making a claim or dealing with other customer service issues,” Ernst & Young reported.

“Customers clearly voiced a desire for both improved online access and continual personal contact when it matters. In our opinion, a true multi-channel approach to servicing the customer is essential, not just today, but in the years to come.”