Atlanta, January 29, 2004 – Because customer contact is generally infrequent in the life insurance industry, each customer service opportunity becomes critical to the business relationship. With few opportunities for an insurer to recover from bad experiences, negative comments from customers to other people are likely to echo longer than for other types of high-contact businesses. In insurance more than other industries, poor service can lead to loss of existing customers and make attracting new customers much more difficult.

Leading insurers, including Mutual of Omaha, MetLife and AEGON Direct Marketing Services, found that customer satisfaction surveys are the best tool for helping them mitigate problems inherent in infrequent customer contact. Companies like these, which focus strategically on customer service, can strengthen their competitive position by measuring the service policyholders are receiving and determining courses of action based on survey results.

LOMA’s FOCUS surveys are one tool that can be used to effectively conduct these service measurements, helping companies improve their ability to provide excellent customer experiences and to increase customer retention and satisfaction.

"We used our survey results to measure our customers’ satisfaction levels. We baselined our current level, identified areas for improvement, and set goals to increase customer satisfaction going forward," said Patricia Danielsen, lead customer service training consultant at Mutual of Omaha. "Senior management, led by Senior Vice President of Customer Service, John Wells, then asked us to use the results to measure against ourselves on an ongoing basis as we continue to improve satisfaction and build customer loyalty. We learned that overall customer satisfaction and loyalty levels are high and that Mutual of Omaha is exceeding the expectations of its policyholders."

The use of FOCUS for customer service success by Mutual of Omaha and others will be featured in the February 2004 issue of Resource Magazine, LOMA’s monthly publication for life insurance company management. Additionally, Danielsen will discuss strategies for measuring customer satisfaction at LOMA’s Customer Service Conference on March 1-3, 2004 in New Orleans. To read the article or learn more about the conference, visit www.loma.org or call 770-984-6446.