Policies and customer service are more important to consumers

Home insurance customers are not motivated solely by price, according to research from Consumer Intelligence. 

The market research company surveyed more than 4,000 home insurance customers and found that policies and customer service topped the list of what consumers thought insurers needed to improve, with price third. 

Consumer Intelligence chief executive Ian Hughes said: ““In this rush to go direct, cut out the broker, and drive the issue to be about price, somewhere in there the relationship and the understanding of the consumer as a person has been lost. 

“[Consumers] are saying: ‘I wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more for peace of mind’, and you look at that and question how a direct insurer is going to do that. It’s going to be very difficult, and probably the way to do that is through a broker or some other form of intermediary.” 

Full analysis of the research is available for subscribers here.