An eKomi StarInsights Report: Insurance Companies in South Africa

Introduction

In this week’s edition of the eKomi StarInsights, we focus on the insurance companies in South Africa (SA). The insurance sector has become almost mandatory to get a full piece of mind. In light of this, our insight report helps explore issues dealing with the brand, online reputation, digital presence, and consumer feedback.

To be the best insurance company for any need in SA, can be a big difference-maker. There are many factors that can affect an insurance company’s rating, including how well the company performs in terms of service and claims efficiency.

Companies that are successful today build their businesses around the customer. The value of customer reviews goes far beyond their ability to influence purchases. For the customer, experience is the most important factor in determining loyalty.

If you are concerned that you are not dealing with an authorized insurance company, or you have business, home, or car insurance complaints, you may find that reviewing insurance company reviews and ratings online gives you peace of mind.

Customers can gain insight into how insurance companies operate, what prior purchasers had to say, which insurers provide exceptional customer service, and whether they should choose that insurance company by reading reviews.

Industry Overview

It is not surprising that the SA economy has also been affected by the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, which disrupted economies all over the world.

As one would expect, most businesses have looked to their insurance policies for assistance to ease the economic effects. This has, however, left most insurance companies bleeding and crippled by the need to mitigate such events and respond to policyholders.

In spite of the pandemic, the fastest-growing industries in SA are largely tied to various sectors, and it is without doubt that the insurance industry is thriving. Current stats and reports reveal that, in comparison to two years ago, more people are purchasing insurance policies because they have become more educated about the advantages of protecting their possessions and lives. These insurance plans appeal to low-income workers and adolescents, who make up most of SA’s population (The SA National Reserve Bank Report 2021: Insurance Sector Data).

There are a variety of types of insurance to choose from to cover any potential financial need.

• Funeral insurance
• Accident and health insurance
• Unemployment insurance
• Home insurance
• Car insurance
• Travel insurance
• Life insurance
• Pet insurance

With a wide range of coverage options, every insurance provider boasts about their quality of agency and uses anything at their disposal to build and reinforce their brand and credibility.

Insurance companies continue to invest in technology to improve transparency for the benefit of both policyholders and insurers in the long run. However, this well-organized objective can be of no use if insurers do not invest or consider the effect of reviews and ratings.

The most differentiating factor when it comes to this industry is largely on how the insurance company deals with the common challenges faced by insurance customers. These include service issues, claim issues, and admin issues, just to mention a few.

Service issues. On the one hand, it is frustrating when we have to follow up on a claim that has not been processed for months. Even if your provider isn’t the worst insurance company, poor service can lead to a lot of stress, not to mention lack of communication, customer neglect, and poor insurance ratings. On the other hand, if you have experienced great service, you can leave reviews to help consumers find the best insurance companies.

Claims issues. When claims are not processed properly, or not processed at all, the result is a lack of trust in the insurer to genuinely speak for customers. Companies that make big, empty promises to no avail quickly lose their standing, while racking up poor reviews.

Along with claims problems, admin issues can be equally stressful. Unauthorized deductions, debit orders being duplicated or not going off, strange charges, policies not being updated; incorrect details being added to claims, and other similar issues also lead to distrust when they are not resolved by house, car, and business insurance companies.

It is evident that trust is the core of this industry and as such, through reviews, insurance companies can assess their accomplishments, determine what changes might enhance future outcomes, and most importantly, identify the actions they must take to guarantee the end-user receive what they require.

Our StarInsights Report is purely based on official Google ratings and reviews. For analysis purposes, we have considered all the various types of insurance companies. 

eKomi: Top Rated Insurance Company

Insurance Company	Rating	Reviews
Affinity Health	4.7	3959
ABSA	4.5	323
Bidvest	4.4	80
AA Car INSURANCE	4.4	363
Old Mutual	4.2	391
Santam	4.2	205
Standard Bank Insurance	4.0	84
Auto & General	3.9	737
OUTsurance	3.9	702
Liberty	3.9	117
Legalwise	3.5	18
King Price	3.4	702
1Life	3.4	267
AllLIFE	3.4	56
Assupol	3.4	16
MiWay	3.2	1545
Clientele	3.2	755
Budget Insurance	3.2	418
AIG	3.2	45
1st For Women	3.0	329
Hollard	3.0	31
Doves Funeral	2.8	24
IWyze	2.7	432
Discovery	2.7	197
Alexander Forbes	2.7	103
Momentum	2.5	15
Dialdirect	2.4	33
FNB	5.0	2
Avbob	5.0	1

eKomi: Top Reviewed Insurance Companies

Insurance Company	Reviews	Ratings
Affinity Health	3959	4.7
MiWay	1545	3.2
Clientele	755	3.2
Auto & General	737	3.9
King Price	702	3.4
OUTsurance	702	3.9
IWyze	432	2.7
Budget Insurance	418	3.2
Old Mutual	391	4.2
AA Car INSURANCE	363	4.4
1st For Women	329	3.0
ABSA	323	4.5
1Life	267	3.4
Santam	205	4.2
Discovery	197	2.7
Alexander Forbes	103	2.7
Liberty	117	3.9
Standard Bank Insurance	84	4.0
Bidvest	80	4.4
AllLIFE	56	3.4
AIG	45	3.2
Dialdirect	33	204
Hollard	31	3.0
Doves Funeral	24	2.8
Legalwise	18	3.5
Assupol	16	3.4
Momentum	15	2.5
FNB	2	5.0
Avbob	1	5.0

According to the table above, Affinity Health has a commanding lead over other insurance companies in SA that are listed after it, in terms of both the overall reviews and ratings. The results of Affinity Health are all the more amazing because having a good rating with a large sample size is a very desirable feature, with a 4.7 star rating from 3959 reviews.

Kudos to Affinity Health team and CEO Mr. Murray Hewlett for taking a customer centered approach that enables trust in their brand. In this increasingly competitive business, this executive recognized that gaining favourable evaluations and maintaining high customer satisfaction ratings is critical to success.

Credit can also be given to MiWay and Clientele for an impressive number of reviews obtained. Other listed insurers do have a notable rating from a few reviews, it is however, important to understand that more reviews mean more business, sales and growth.

With such an outcome shown above, eKomi wants more businesses to be aware of the correlation between online star ratings and sales. It has been revealed that customers have access to more resources and are more likely to locate a product that meets their specific needs. Therefore, collection of reviews remains the best vehicle to rise up to the top rank for any business.

Conclusion

Given the importance of insurance customer reviews, it’s definitely worthwhile for insurance companies to use them in their marketing plan. They can increase your agency’s credibility, entice leads to contact you, and improve your website’s ranking on Google.

If you haven’t been collecting customer reviews, now is the time to get started. These reviews are powerful marketing tools that can greatly benefit your organization in the long run.

Numerous businesses from numerous industries have benefited from eKomi’s good evaluations and high search engine rankings, which have helped the company’s bottom line. eKomi will essentially increase this sector’s exposure while reducing its risk.