Online customers report insurers improved service.

Insurers such as Western & Southern Financial, Amica Mutual Insurance Co., Phoenix Cos. and Progressive Corp. are faring well with customers who surf their Web sites, according to a recent survey by the Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online. In contrast, some insurers' scores dropped since the prior study, including American National Insurance, AmerUs Group, Loews Corp., Massachusetts Mutual, Mercury General and Protective Life.

The study, which is the second report the organization published on insurers this year, looked at the Web sites of 72 Fortune 1000 insurance companies, spread across four sectors--life/health (mutual), life/health (stock), property and casualty (mutual) and P/C (stock). The study assigns a Customer Respect Index rating to each company on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score. The index is a qualitative and quantitative, in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet, according to Customer Respect Group. Several elements are evaluated when measuring the index, including simplicity, responsiveness, transparency, principles, attitude and privacy.

According to the survey, Western & Southern Financial scored highest among mutual life/health providers, while Knights of Columbus scored lowest. Phoenix Cos. topped the stock life/health list, while Lincoln National Corp. was last. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. ranked first among mutual property/casualty insurers; Auto-Owners Insurance Group fared worst. Progressive Corp. scored highest among stock property/casualty firms, while Old Republic Life Insurance Co. scored lowest. Progressive increased its overall score to 8.5 and became the highest-scoring insurer in the study, due largely to its high scores achieved in the responsiveness, attitude, principles and simplicity scales.

Other insurers that improved scores from the last study included Prudential Financial and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans by adding new privacy policies to their sites. Thrivent Financial improved both its privacy scale and transparency scale scores. Prudential also improved its privacy score and increased its transparency scale score to a 10. Other companies that performed well in individual indices were Amica, Safeco and Commerce Group, according to the study.

The overall customer respect index average for all firms was 5.7. The averages for the four industry sectors were: life/health (mutual)--6.3; life/health (stock)--5.6; property/casualty (mutual)--5.0; and property/casualty (stock)--5.8.

Other findings in the survey included:

* 93% of firms said they have a privacy policy on their site.

* 93% of firms mentioned how they use personal data--17% only use it for the purpose it was provided; 9% use it for internal marketing purposes; 24% share data with affiliates or subsidiaries; and 2% don't collect or use data.

* 86% of companies allow users to submit data online.

* 78% of respondents provide e-mail forms for online inquiries; 18% provide e-mail addresses and 4%, provide no online contacts.

* 60% of firms' sites use cookies.

* 39% of sites provide a frequently-asked question section, a site map and a search facility.