Increased number of employers feel optimistic about organizational performance, satisfied with insurance broker
Zywave, a leading insurtech provider, released the results from its 2024 Broker Services Survey, an annual survey of employers from across the U.S. that provides valuable insight into their top business challenges, as well as the expectations those employers have for their insurance brokers.
Broadly, sentiments around both business outlook and insurance broker relationships skewed positively, with nearly 92% of employers noting their performance outlook in 2024 was either about the same or better as last year’s, and nearly 86% of respondents indicating they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their insurance broker’s services.
“Today’s consumers are demanding, and insurance buyers are no exception,” said Patrick Noonan, vice president of content development for Zywave. “The encouraging news is the majority of survey respondents reported satisfaction with their broker’s services, meaning many brokers are meeting those high expectations. Of course, it’s still vital they stay informed of their clients’ evolving challenges and needs to maintain strong relationships and retention numbers.”
Additional findings from the 2024 survey remain fairly consistent with previous years’ results, with employee attraction and retention, compliance and technology playing important roles. Most clients continue to seek information on a consistent basis from their brokers—nearly 83% of respondents wanted to hear from their brokers weekly or monthly for information on certain insurance topics—and have high expectations for prompt and effective service or answers to their questions.
Most Valued Broker Services in 2024
In a broker-client relationship, employers most valued client service and a broker’s level of expertise. When selecting a broker, looking for someone who provides prompt, effective service, and timely answers to questions (57%) were the most important criteria for employers. Employers’ second most important selection criterion was that brokers are “trusted advisors rather than insurance salespeople” (53%). Other broker criteria that were highly valued by employers included being able to challenge or negotiate the renewal (48%) and offering compliance resources (33%).
What Are Clients’ Biggest Business Challenges?
Each year, the survey asks employers to name their top business challenges relating to insurance. In today’s hard market, financial considerations and policy coverage and packages were top of mind from both an employee benefits and commercial insurance perspective.
When asked to select their top three employee benefits challenges, participants identified the following:
- Mitigating health care costs
- Offering a competitive benefits package
- Attracting and retaining employees
When asked to select their top three commercial challenges, participants identified the following:
- Understanding the level of insurance needed
- Affording insurance
- Implementing risk management and employee safety strategies, policies, and procedures
“The responses to this year’s survey suggests that employers continue to deal with many of the same challenges as they have for the last few years,” added Noonan. “However, challenges within the insurance market are turning up the pressure on brokers to bring a new level of industry knowledge and business expertise to their clients.”
Zywave has produced its Broker Services Survey for over 10 years to help brokers understand what is most important to their clients so they can prioritize their offerings and address their clients’ most pressing business challenges. For additional insights, download the full 2024 Broker Services Survey.
About Zywave
Zywave leads the insurtech industry, fueling business growth for its partners with cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content, and analytics solutions. Zywave’s all-in-one platform provides customizable, user-friendly options that enable insurance professionals to build a unique solution to fit their specific growth goals—their own Modern RevOps Machine. More than 15,000 carriers, agencies and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 U.S. insurance brokerages—use Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth and promote greater health, wellness, risk management and safety. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com.
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Editor’s note: The 2024 Broker Services Survey was completed in June 2024, by more than 375 employers in all regions of the United States.