A majority of independent agents and brokers in a good position to know say insurance carriers do an acceptable job marketing to the Latino community, although as many as 40 percent also rate carriers’ efforts as poor.
More than half—56 percent—rate carriers’ Latino marketing as good or very good, in a limited Insurance Journal survey of 25 members of the Florida-based Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies.
None rated carrier efforts as excellent.
The members do not market exclusively to Latino customers but they do represent a healthy segment of their business. More than 80 percent said 50 percent or more of their customers are Latino.
Asked to cite specific companies that do the best job marketing to Latinos, several agents named Progressive, Allstate and Travelers. Other insurers cited included Zurich, Safeco, Infinity, Hartford, Nationwide, Mercury, First Protective and Coral.
How to do Better
The LAAIA agents offered some suggestions for how carriers might do better. The highest-rated suggestion was for them to use more Latino media and advertising outlets (rated extremely helpful by 60 percent). Insurance companies could also sell more to Latinos by emphasizing customer service in their appeals and by appointing more Latino agents, according to the agents surveyed.
Rated less important were customizing policies for the Latino market and creating subsidiaries with Spanish names. In fact, half said having Spanish-named companies would not be helpful at all.
Business Referrals
While they urged carriers to use more Latino media outlets to advertise, the agents themselves say referrals from their community are the single most important source of new business for them—more than 70 percent ranked it as the most important.
These agents are optimistic about growth of their Latin business in the next five years. A plurality (44 percent) see about 25 percent growth and another 28 percent are even more optimistic, projecting 50 percent growth.
Rating OIR
The LAAIA members were also asked to rate two organizations that play major roles in the Florida market: the main property insurance writer, Citizens Property Insurance, and the regulatory agency, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
Both came out with basically good marks. A sizable 75 percent said the OIR is doing an overall good or very good job. About 20 percent rated OIR’s performance as poor; while only about four percent said it is doing an excellent job.
Rating Citizens
The rating of Citizens was based on various criteria. Citizens got high marks for its pricing, and claims service. Ease of doing business, overall customer service and adequacy of coverage were somewhere in the middle. Its lowest rating was for its producer compensation, with 88 percent calling it poor.
Citizens is clearly an important property market for Latin agents, with 28 percent using Citizens for from 25 percent to 50 percent of their property risks with Citizens and another 28 percent placing more than 50 percent with Citizens.
The survey was answered by 25 members of the LAAIA. Just more than half (52 percent) of respondents report property/casualty premium volume of $5 million and under. More than a quarter (28 percent) have between $5 million and $10 million in agency premium, while 20 percent write more than $10 million.
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