An exploratory study of customer centricity perceived by customers of South African sort-term insurance organisations

Abstract

South African legislation requires insurance organisations (insurers) to adopt a ‘market conduct’ focus in their businesses and to adhere to the principles of Treating Customers Fairly to ensure they consider customers throughout the customer-product lifecycle. Current literature shows that organisations that adopt customer-centric strategies outperform their less customer-centric rivals across industries, reaping the rewards of increased customer loyalty and retention, and utilising customer lifetime value to maximise customer revenue and profits. Accordingly, this study aimed to determine the customer centricity displayed by South African short-term insurers as perceived by their customers, and the effects of adopting a customer-centric organisational focus. Research participants completed an anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire that focused on 21 insurer business functions (metrics). The research findings indicated that insurers display a high degree of customer centricity within these metrics, and insurers’ performance will influence respondents’ willingness to insure new assets and retain their current policies. However, respondents indicated that improvements in all metrics were necessary.