Insurance companies reputable compared to industry at large

Aside from service, social responsibility and management are the factors which make trusted, individual insurance companies stand out from the industry as a whole, according to a new Ipsos survey of insurance company reputations.”We found that the best performers are both market leaders and smaller companies that occupy a niche,” Nicolas Boyon, a senior vice president with Ipsos public affairs and author of the study, says. “What they have in common is a strong rapport with the public. They’ve regularly and consistently communicated their social values and contributions. They are seen to care about the community, about their employees and about being ethical.”After Hurricane Katrina devastated many parts of the Gulf Coast in 2005, Ipsos began the continuous tracking of the insurance industry’s (over 30 companies) overall reputation.The Ipsos study reports that while the reputation of the insurance industry as a whole is relatively poor, every single individual company is doing better, Boyon says.More Americans hold an “unfavorable” opinion of the insurance industry at 44% than a “favorable” opinion at 21%, while 35% are neither favorable nor unfavorable, according to the study. The area the insurance industry is perceived to be the best at is “being profitable and providing a good return to shareholders,” according to the report. However, the report also indicates that the industry is still suffering a poor image around social responsibility, which has a much greater impact on public favorability. “More Americans rate the individual insurance industry’s performance as “poor” for being trustworthy, having ethical practices and for caring about communities than rate it as “good”,” according to the report.However, the study indicates that the image of individual insurance companies contrasts with that of the industry. Some of the 30 leading companies studied are viewed favorably by As many as 50% of the American public view some of the 30 companies studied as favorable, while 12% don’t have an unfavorable view of any of the 30 companies. The study indicates that insurance companies with the highest favorability scores are those with the most policyholders and/or the better known ones. These findings indicate that market share and awareness are major predictors of favorability.However, favorability scores are also largely driven by perceived performance related to service, social responsibility and management, the report says. “The best-regarded insurance companies also capitalize on the favorable opinion of their policyholders and can count on their active support as advocates,” according to the study. “The best-rated companies, many of which are market leaders, receive a favorable opinion from over 80% of their policyholders.”