Muda Yusuf, others harp on customers’ satisfaction to grow insurance, pension industries

The Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf has charged operators in the Insurance and Pension industries to maintain excellent customer satisfaction to improve the sectors.

Yusuf gave the charge while delivering a paper with the theme: “Customer Satisfaction in Deepening Penetration in Insurance and Pension Sectors” at the 7th edition of BusinessToday National Conference held on Thursday in Lagos.

He said that an excellent customer satisfaction remains a brand-maker and would help the sectors to increase revenue, maintain customers loyalty and contribute meaningfully to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to him, customers’ expectations are critical to their satisfactions and it is important to meet their desires and needs.

“Operators of both sectors must treat their customers the way they would like to be treated, and not the way the operators think they should be treated.

“There are risks in companies making assumptions about their customers’ expectations and developing features and services that their customers do not find valuable,” he said.

According to him, 68 per cent of consumers claimed that they are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer services.

Yusuf listed some of the expectations from customers of insurance companies to include: prompt claims settlement, quality products, fair premium, prompt attendance to customers’ complaint, simple policy documents, timely and effective communication of renewal notices.

He also said that customers expect the insurance firms to offer minimum bureaucracy, deliver services as promised, display good disposition to solving customers problems, offer technology driven services and good brand positioning, among others.

The economist advised the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to ensure that their employees were never too busy to respond to customers’ requests.

Yusuf said PFA’s employees must be transparent on deliverables, give prompt and responsive services, ensure safety of financial assets, among other services that instills confidence in customers.

“A good customer service experience heavily affects recommendations, as consumers who rate a company’s service as ‘good,’ are 38 per cent more likely to recommend that company.

“Investing in new customers is between five and 25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones, as 83 per cent customers agree that they feel more loyal to brands that respond and resolve their complaints.

“Businesses can grow revenues between four and eight per cent above their market when they prioritise customer service experiences,” he said.

According to him, customer experience management market worldwide is worth as much as $7.6 billion in 2020, which is 16.9 per cent year-over-year increase from its value of $6.5 billion in 2019.

Yusuf warned operators of the two sectors against bad customer experience, noting that it takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience.

In her welcome address, Managing Editor, BusinessToday Communication Ltd., Mrs Nkechi Naeche-Esezobor, said it was important for the two sectors to adopt excellent customer satisfaction strategy to drive growth.

Naeche-Esezobor described consumer as the vehicle through which insurance and pension sectors could achieve their target of deepening penetration in the market.

She noted that good consumer experience was critical to achieving the financial inclusion goal of the country.

At a round-table discussion, panelists emphasised the need for the two sectors to develop products that meet the needs of their customers and internalise a culture that will translate to good customer satisfaction.