NU Online News Service, Feb. 11, 2:41 p.m.EST

Independent agents give the bulk of their business to insurerswho provide contact people, prices, products, and other factorsthey like, according to a survey released by marketing informationfirm J.D. Power and Associates.

The Westlake Village, Calif.-based firm's findings werecontained in its "2010 Insurance Agency SatisfactionStudy--Personal Lines" based on a survey that asked 2,316 insuranceagents and their staff to evaluate up to three personal propertyand casualty insurance companies their agency dealt with.

J.D. Power reported that there is more than a 150-point gap inagency satisfaction between insurers who receive 5 percent or lessof an agency's business and those who receive more than 60 percentof an agency's business (661 vs. 821 on a 1,000 point scale).

In addition, 77 percent of highly satisfied respondents(satisfaction higher than 950 points) say they intend to increasebusiness with an insurer, while only 24 percent of thoseless-satisfied (satisfaction score of 600 points or less), say thesame.

"Individual policyholders are more likely to be loyal to theirindependent agent than the insurer that writes their policy," saidJeremy Bowler, senior director for insurance practice at J.D.Power, in a statement.

"This strong bond between policyholders and insurance agentsmake it essential for insurers to satisfy their appointed agents inorder to grow their business," said Mr. Bowler

The report examines six factors, which are, in order ofimportance to agents: key carrier contacts (28 percent); policyoffering (20 percent); technology (17 percent); claims (17percent); price (14 percent), and compensation (6 percent).

Agency principals, the survey found are less satisfied withtheir carrier relationships than producers and customer servicerepresentatives. Kara Steslicki, senior research manger with J.D.Power, told NU Online that the dissatisfaction may have todo with the individuals they deal with or utilization oftechnology.

Concerning business contacts, agency principals' satisfactionscored a 778 while for agents or producers the score was 808.

"The more frequent the contact the more satisfied the agencyis," she said, adding that agencies desired to be contacted atleast once a month by the carrier, if nothing more than to see howbusiness is.

On the technology end, principals gave carrier technology ascore of 735, while customer service representatives gave asatisfaction score of 764. Ms. Steslicki said this difference heremay be due to the differing expectations about what technologydelivers.

One way to increase satisfaction is by providing marketingdollars, Ms. Steslicki noted. Only 23 percent of agents reportedreceiving such support in the 2010 report, compared with 43 percentlast year. The satisfaction rate stood at 751 for agents whoreceived that support compared to 628 for those who did not.

Satisfaction with compensation appeared to have increased,rising to 671 in 2010, compared to 628 last year. Commissions andcash rewards are the types of incentives that motivate agencies,the report said.

"There is a strong correlation between agent satisfaction andthe amount of business that is sent to an individual insurer," saidMs. Steslicki.

"Agents that are satisfied with a particular insured not onlysend a larger percentage of their current business, they alsointend to send more of their future business to that particularinsured.

"It really serves the insurer to look at these differentpractices that satisfy agents and try to implement as many of themas possible in order to receive more of an individual agent'spremium," Ms. Steslicki observed.

The satisfaction survey, now in its second year, was conductedby e-mail between November and December.

In the future, J.D. Power is considering tackling commercialmid-market and business owners policies (BOP) Ms. Steslickisaid.

Copies of the entire results are available to carriers from J.D.Power on a subscription basis.