Customer experience in private pension provision does not inspire customers

The result: the customer experience is only satisfactory and fails to inspire. The most important touchpoint is still personal advice, although this has a high potential for optimization. Over 800 customers from more than 24 different banks and insurance companies who have taken out private pension plans in the past were surveyed. The companies surveyed included Allianz, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse and PostFinance.

With this study, Namics launches the customer experience series "Durchblick", which reports on the status and weaknesses of the customer experience in various sectors. It starts with banks and insurance companies. The results of the study are divided into three parts. The first is dedicated to the questions: "What customer needs and customer types are there?", "What does the customer journey look like?" and "How satisfied are customers?".

Part I: Concern about digital provision?

The study analyzes the customer journey and the customer experience when purchasing a private pension product. It looks at the performance of banks and insurance companies as well as the needs, behavior and expectations of their customers. It shows that the current customer experience is satisfactory at best, but not inspiring.

Customer needs: Fear of poverty in old age and lack of individual offers

Financial service providers must understand the needs and requirements of their customers and be able to respond to them. The study shows which goals customers pursue with a private pension plan and what triggers them to deal with this topic:

Those who define such clear needs also demand correspondingly personalized products. This is why more than 80% of respondents want to take out a product that best meets their individual needs. However, these products are often lacking, as the study shows: 42.0% of customers state that their current product is not tailored to their needs.

Customer types: Active and passive behavior patterns

The study shows clear differences in customer behavior with regard to interaction with companies. These are particularly evident in the search for information within the customer journey. Two types of behavior can be identified:

The "multimedia active" actively inform themselves via all channels and prepare themselves for a conversation. They are receptive to advertising via both traditional and online channels and need advice as a supplementary touchpoint. The "Personally Passive" hardly inform themselves and expect to receive all information during the consultation. They are not receptive to advertising and need to be made aware of the topic by the advisor or people close to them. Here too, the consultation is the central touchpoint - this is where all information is obtained and decisions are made about possible approaches.

Customer journey: The most important touchpoints and channels from trigger to conclusion

The two types go through the same customer journey. However, they sometimes differ greatly in their choice of touchpoints and channels. For example, 60.6% of "multimedia active" customers cite online advertising as the touchpoint that triggers them to find out about private pension provision. Among the "personally passive", the figure is only 12.9%. The choice of touchpoint also differs in the information phase. While 79.8 percent of the "multimedia active" use bank and insurance websites for information, only 19.3 percent of the "personal passive" use this touchpoint. When it comes to contact, however, both types are in agreement: at over 77%, direct contact with the customer advisor is a key channel. Both also agree on the desire for personal advice. There is another major difference when it comes to closing the deal, especially when it comes to sending documents. Here, 52.6 percent of the "multimedia active" are in favor of the online portal, compared to only 28.2 percent of the other group.

larger representation

Customer satisfaction: enthusiasm looks different

According to the study, the customers surveyed are satisfied overall, but not enthusiastic. This was determined by the Customer Experience Index (CXi), which measures general customer satisfaction. This shows a solid performance of 72.9 percent for the industry as a whole. In comparison, the perception of insurance companies with a CXi of 75.6 percent is slightly higher than that of banks (cf. 68.8 percent). Customers therefore experience the conclusion of a private pension product as "moderately positive".

If you look at the distribution of the ratings at provider level, you can see a wide spread. The majority are in the solid midfield, some perform poorly and only a few providers can create a truly inspiring customer experience.

Outlook: Part two of the study

The second part, entitled "Is the advisor being digitized away?", is dedicated to the questions "What role does the advisor play, where is the advice lacking?" and "What does a successful advisory meeting need?". The complete study is here available.

About the study

The study "Customer experience in private pension provision - will personal advice remain indispensable in the digital future?" conducted by Namics examines customer expectations when purchasing private pension products online. It is the first analysis in the "Durchblick" series, which is dedicated to the digital customer experience in various sectors. The data was collected in summer 2017 on a qualitative and quantitative level: in the first step, seven people in Switzerland and seven people in Germany were surveyed who had taken out a private pension plan with an insurance or banking institution in the last six months. The focus was on the customers' goals, needs and frustrations. In order to verify these findings quantitatively, the next step was to survey 797 people who had purchased a pension product in the last twelve months. Customers from the following companies were surveyed: Allianz, AXA, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ERGO, Generali, Helvetia Versicherungen, PostFinance, Sparkasse and UBS. The study is available here.