In the insurance sector, reputation is everything. Insurance companies sell promises, and the mere perception of a broken promise can elicit a negative response. That's why insurance companies need to not only build strong brands, but also protect and strengthen positive perceptions of their organization the marketplace. They need to build reputation leadership.
Reputation strength for insurance companies depends on the extent to which stakeholders trust the company to deliver on its promise. For policyholders, the claims moment of truth "can turn customers into stalwart promoters or detractors of the carrier", according to Bain & Company.
Strengthening brand reputation starts with an understanding of how key stakeholder groups really feel about the brand. Stakeholders in the insurance industry can include agents, brokers, regulators, investors, legislators, employees, policyholders, and others.
At Allstate we prioritized our most important stakeholders, then worked with the Reputation Institute to develop a proprietary reputation measurement tool. We relied on that tracking data to measure the effectiveness of campaigns, like the Allstate Safe & Secure Communities program, among a variety of stakeholder groups. We found that the brand isn't perceived the same among all segments. As such, we developed specific communications strategies to target each stakeholder segment with relevant and timely messages.
In today's connected world it's critical for insurance companies to acknowledge, address and engage the multitude of stakeholders they do business with in order to establish and maintain a strong #brand #reputation.