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Although Discovery Life’s SAcsi score improved the most in this round of measurement when it increased from 74.0 in 2016 to 76.3 in 2017, the company is still below par when compared to the industry. Liberty’s score dropped significantly from 78.1 to 73.9 as it struggled to remain consistent and Momentum’s decline in customer satisfaction fell from 77.5 to 74.7 in the same period.

More about the SAcsi for Life Insurance Companies

Now in its sixth year, the SAcsi for Life Insurance Companies offers impartial insights into the South African life insurance industry by measuring customers’ overall satisfaction out of 100. This satisfaction score is based on brands exceeding or falling short of customer expectations and assessing how well a brand is measured against respondents’ perception of the ideal life insurer. The Index also includes, among other measures, a Customer Expectations Index, a Perceived Quality Index and a Perceived Value Index. The 2017 sample included 2696 life insurance customers who were randomly selected to participate in the survey.

What impacted the low scores?

“The two lowest scorers, Momentum and Liberty, were adversely affected by changes in their leadership structures over the past year,” says Schreuder. “For companies to make customer satisfaction a priority, there needs to be consistency in strategic leadership as customer centricity is entrenched in business strategy. Transformation initiatives or subsequent internal programmes should not divert from a customers’ needs and wants.”

“Metropolitan’s customers feel they are provided the best value for money from a product offering perspective, in terms of both a price and quality, which is not always easy to achieve,” says Schreuder. “Although Momentum and Metropolitan both fall under the MMI Holdings Group (since 2010), the same level of customer centricity or connection to customers cannot be seen across both companies.”

Net Promoter Score calculates recommendations

A popular metric for measuring a brand’s performance is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which calculates the likelihood that customers will recommend a brand to their family and friends (promoters) compared to customers who would actively discourage a relationship with the brand (detractors).

Metropolitan achieved the highest NPS of 46.0%, which is 10.2 percentage points higher than the industry average of 35.8%. Old Mutual had the next highest NPS of 39.8%, followed by Sanlam on 31.8%. Liberty and Discovery were slightly behind, with scores of 29.5% and 26.9% respectively, while Momentum lagged significantly with an NPS score of 13.0%.

“Customer affinity is an important metric to gauge, but it needs to be viewed in the context of business outcomes. The SAcsi includes questions on customer loyalty, including the likelihood to renewal and price sensitivity, to ensure that life insurance companies have a true reflection on customer base loyalty,” says Schreuder.

Liberty, Metropolitan and Sanlam had the highest complaint incidence respectively, but Metropolitan followed trend in its past performance in terms of handling complaints better. Liberty, on the other hand, performed below industry on complaint handling. Old Mutual had the fourth highest complaint incidence; however, its handling of complaints was the most satisfactory of all providers.

The SAcsi research revealed that life insurers’ biggest challenges and complaints were related to the benefits and performance of solutions and products, pricing and communication.

Commitment to the fair treatment of clients, or TCF also measured

Life insurers are also measured against the Treating Customer Fairly (TCF) measure, an outcome-based regulatory and supervisory approach designed to ensure that specific, clearly articulated fairness outcomes for financial services consumers are delivered by regulated firms.

Metropolitan delivered the best TCF score, particularly in the area of treating customers with respect and creating an open, win-win relationship. However, the overall industry’s TCF score fell short in the area of making it easy for consumers to change providers, complain, claim or consider another brand.

“As is the case in all financial services measured in the SAcsi, there is a direct link between the perception of being treated fairly and overall customer satisfaction. The higher the satisfaction score, the more likely the provider is to be seen as fair in the eyes of the customer, and the life insurance industry reflected this very closely,” Schreuder adds.

The full SAcsi for Life Insurance report and other SAcsi reports are available from Consulta.

The workshops will run from 09h00 until 13h00 and take place on the following dates and venues:

In the rapidly changing legislative environment, this is a not-to-be-missed event for anyone serious about the future of their business. Reaction to Friday’s mailer suggests that seats will fill up fast. Please do not delay registration.

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DOFA refers to your date of first appointment. For instance, if you were appointed on 1 September 2015, you actually have two years and nine months in which to pass the RE 5 for representatives.

Unfortunately, time is now running out for those who are compelled to pass in less than two months.

1. Remember that bookings close about two weeks before the actual exam, for logistical reasons. For instance, on Friday the 11th we closed bookings for 28 May 2018.

2. Not everyone passes at the first attempt. If you wish to give yourself enough time to re-register in such an event, bear in mind that you should allow for time for your paper to be marked and the results sent to you. This means that you should try and write by 8 June, given that our venues have always been fully booked in the last few weeks of the DOFA deadline.