IIARI INK
MAY 2019 | VOLUME 2 ISSUE 5
INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS OF RHODE ISLAND Insurance News & Knowledge
NEWS & NOTICES
UPCOMING CLASSES
06/05/19 @ 9:00AM ACSR #5 - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IIARI Members Gather in Washington for Big I Conference On Thursday, May 9, eleven IIARI members, including leadership, made the annual trek to Washington, D.C. to call on Congress. No surprise was the list of issues raised in meetings with staff and elected officials. They included advocating for a reauthorization of flood insurance program, insurance regulatory reform, crop insurance, terrorism insurance, health care, taxes and cybersecurity. The attendees included: IIARI President John Kaull, President-Elect Denise Smith, National Director Bill Hunt, Sr., Government Affairs Committee Chair Ernie Shaghalian, PAC Co-Chair Ed Bishop, Past President Roger Messier, Marcia Berthaiume, Bill Hunt, Jr., Melanie Lambert, Bruce Fisher-Messier, and Mark Nadeau. All members encouraged to participate at the annual conference in DC as we advocate agent and consumer issues along with 800+ others from around the country. Mark your calendar for next year to join us on May 13-14 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill!
This “INTERMEDIATE LEVEL” seminar overviews insurance business including, principals, nature and organizations as well as legal issues, risk management, and insurance sales and account development. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE >>
06/06/19 @ 9:00AM AAI 82 B - OTHER COMMERCIAL INSURANCE
This “ADVANCED LEVEL” program includes commercial crime, business owners, farm insurance, workers compensation, and various other miscellaneous commercial coverages including business life insurance. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE >>
06/10- 6/12 IIARI ANNUAL CONVENTION
Join us for Golf, CE, Exhibitors at our biggest event all year. You can find the full schedule on our website. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE >>
IIARI INK
MAY 2019 | VOLUME 2 ISSUE 5
INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS OF RHODE ISLAND Insurance News & Knowledge
Direct and Independent Agent Sales Channels Become Ground Zero in Auto Insurers’ Battle to Win New Customers, J.D. Power Finds COSTA MESA, Calif.: 25 April 2019 — With just 2-3% of new customers entering the personal lines auto insurance market each year, insurers have only one option when it comes to growing their business: taking market share from competitors. According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, SM success in driving new customer acquisition comes down to having a strong brand and meeting customer expectations of convenience and competitive price—for which direct and independent agents are best positioned. Meanwhile,insurers who are largely reliant on exclusive agents for new business growth are facing headwinds. “We’re entering a new era of consumerism in the auto insurance marketplace, in which customers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to the shopping and servicing of their policies,” said Tom Super, Vice President of Insurance Intelligence at J.D. Power. “That trend is having a profound effect on the relationship between insurers and customers. A more empowered customer increases the importance of factors such as choice, personalization and maintaining a strong reputation to win and keep their business. That puts significant pressure on insurers to get their customer models just right with the proper mix of selfservice tools, strong brand awareness and an engaged distribution network.”
Following are some key findings of the 2019 study: Shopping and switching rates put strain on loyalty: While very few new customers have entered the auto insurance marketplace this year, the number of existing customers shopping for new policies has increased by 4 percentage pointsto 33 shops per 100 policies. Likewise, the rate of switching among insurance shoppers has increased from 31% to 35% during the past year. These two factors have driven down overallinsurance customer retention by 2 percentage points to 88%. Price and financial outlook related to shopping behavior: Price is the leading factor that triggers a customer to shop, with 64% of insurance shoppers citing price as their primary reason to look for new insurance and competitive pricing (33%) is the most influential driver of the decision to close with a brand. When customer satisfaction with price is lower, shopping rates are higher the following year. Conversely, when satisfaction with price is higher, shopping rates are lower the following year. Shopping rates are also higher when customers have a more positive personal financial outlook. Direct and independent agent models resonate with customers: The direct and independent agent channels continue to show increasingly higher levels of customer satisfaction, while the exclusive agent channel is falling behind. In the shopping process, top-performing insurers are operating as customer facing brands. For instance, insurers that achieve the highest consideration and quote rates among
profiled insurers also achieve strong unaided awareness and are perceived as havinglikeable advertising, competitive pricing and being innovative. Unaided brand awareness critical for attracting insurance shoppers: Insurance shoppers obtain an average of three to four quotes when shopping, making it critical for insurers to be top-of mind to make it into the consideration set. Brands recalled on an unaided basis are twice as likely to be considered and quotedthan brands that are only recognized on an aided basis. High-value customers become next frontier: High-value shoppers, a segment of the marketplace that represents preferred risk profiles, better credit scores, fewer traffic violations and more insurance products, account for 22% of all insurance shoppers identified in the study. Currently, very few insurers are gaining more high-value customers than they are losing, underscoring the importance of attracting and retaining this lucrative subset of the market.
Study Rankings Erie Insurance ranks highest among auto insurers in providing a satisfying purchase experience, with a score of 917 (on a 1,000- point scale). This marks the seventh consecutive year Erie Insurance has ranked highest in the study. Amica Mutual (885) ranks second and Auto-Owners Insurance (883) ranks third. Now in its 13th year, the U.S. Insurance Shopping Study measures auto insurance shopping, purchase behavior and purchase experience satisfaction among customers who recently purchased insurance. Satisfaction is measured in three factors (in order of importance): price; distribution channel; and policyofferings. The study is based on responses from more than 14,400 insurance customers who requested an auto insurance price quote from at least one competitive insurer in the past nine months and includes more than 38,800 unique customer evaluations of insurers. The study was fielded in April, July andOctober 2018 and January 2019. For more information about the U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/jdpowerus-insurance-shopping-study J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power has offices serving North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
NEW! Trusted Choice Distracted Driving Campaigns
Trused ChoiceÂŽ has created and updated a Disracted Driving Campaign to help raise awareness about this important issue. There are new video and magazine content pieces now available. Utilize your membership and build your brand and start acampaign with your Insureds! Get started here: https://cobrand.iiaba.net/made-for-you/distracteddriving
CAR INSURANCE RATES BY STATE, 2019 EDITION
(FROM INSURE.COM)
This year, the national average is $1,457, which is only a $92 increase from last year ($1,365).
Most Expensive States
Least Expensive States
1. Michigan ($2,611) 2. Louisiana ($2,298) 3. Florida ($2,219) 4. Oklahoma ($1,966) 5. Washington, D.C. ($1,876) 6. California ($1,846) 7. Rhode Island ($1,834) 8. Delaware ($1,828) 9. New York ($1,789) 10. Texas ($1,779)
1. Maine ($845) 2. Wisconsin ($951) 3. Idaho ($1,040) 4. Iowa ($1,047) 5. Virginia ($1,063) 6. New Hampshire ($1,087) 7. North Carolina ($1,095) 8. Vermont ($1,100) 9. North Dakota ($1,164) 10. Ohio ($1,175)
Read the full article here: https://www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-rates.html
IIARI INK
MAR 2019 | VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3
PROMOTIONS & AGENCY NEWS
ACORD and The Big “I” Announce Partnership To Develop Digital Standards In Support Of Independent Agent Community Industry organizations to extend ongoing collaboration in order to effectively meet the needs of agencies for efficient next-generation data exchange
Esten & Richard Agency in Woonsocket is pleased to announce that four staff members have become partners in the agency.
ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, today announced that it will be aligning its efforts to develop new Digital Standards for efficient data exchange with members of the independent agent distribution channel via a partnership with the Agents Council for Technology (ACT).
They are:
Timothy Richard
Justin Ciombor
The ACORD Digital Standards will complement existing ACORD standardized forms and electronic messages, enabling streamlined data exchange capabilities which are optimized not only for mobile devices, but also the “Internet of Things,” distributed ledger technology, and other emerging technologies. ACT, a Big “I” program, will provide an additional forum for independent agents and other ACT members to participate in the development of the ACORD Standards.
Steven Thibault
In addition to contributing to the development of ACORD Standards, ACT will collaborate with ACORD on education and advocacy on behalf of the agent community. ACORD will offer discounted registration to independent agents at its annual conference, ACORD Connect, taking place October 29th-30th in Boston.
Barbara Kirby
IIARI INK CALL FOR NEWS We invite you to submit your agency news for publications in the association’s monthly digital newsletter: IIARI INK (Insurance News & Knowledge). The following agency news would be appropriate material for publication: • • • • •
Staff promotions Staff retirement New hires New innovative agency practices Charity sponsorships/fundraisers/events
The cutoff date for each month’s publication is the 15th. All news submitted by the 15th will be published on the 30th of each month in INK with editorial approval. Please send all news and notices to tdrowne@iiari.com.
IIARI INK is published by the Independent Insurance Agents of Rhode Island (IIARI). Statement of fact and opinion is made based on the responsibility of the authors alone and does not imply an opinion on the part of IIARI, it’s officers, directors or members. Reprint requests should be referred to IIARI. Copyright © 2019 Independent Insurance Agents of Rhode Island Independent Insurance Agents of Rhode Island • 2400 Post Road, Warwick, RI 02886 • Phone: 401-732-2400 • www.iiari.com