Erie Insurance Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Small Commercial Insurers
- Overall satisfaction with small commercial insurers rises, driven by improvements in digital capabilities and price
- Largest gains in customer satisfaction focused among micro businesses with fewer than five employees
- Specialized understanding of business needs drives higher levels of satisfaction
As the pace of rate increases has slowed, small business owners have grown increasingly optimistic about the future of their businesses and more satisfied with their commercial insurers. According to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study,SM released today, overall satisfaction with small commercial insurers rises 15 points (on a 1,000-point scale), driven largely by improvements in digital solutions that make it easier to manage policies and improved perceptions of the price paid for a policy.
“The fact that fewer businesses are experiencing insurer-initiated rate increases is certainly helping to improve customer satisfaction, but the real story here is the trend toward significantly improved satisfaction with insurers’ digital channels,” said Stephen Crewdson, managing director of global insurance intelligence at JD Power. “Insurers have spent heavily on improved digital tools that make it easier for customers to engage and manage their polices any time, day or night, and those efforts are paying off in the form of higher levels of overall satisfaction. The trend is most significant among the smallest small businesses, which are now able to access a level of service that was not previously available to them.”
Following are some key findings of the 2026 study:
- Small business customer satisfaction rises: Overall customer satisfaction with small commercial insurance providers is 713, up 15 points from last year, with the biggest gains coming from improved digital channels (+29 points), price for coverage (+16 points), problem resolution (+16 points) and product/coverage offerings (+16 points).
- Fewer small businesses experienced rate increases: Just one-third (33%) of small commercial insurance customers experienced a rate increase this year, down one percentage point from last year. Among those who experienced a rate increase, 52% were attributable to insurer-initiated rate taking, as opposed to a change in coverage or exposure. That number is down four percentage points from last year. Insurer-initiated rate increases are tightly correlated with declines in customer satisfaction.
- Digital improvements give a boost to micro businesses: The sharpest year-over-year gains in customer satisfaction are in the micro business category, which includes businesses with fewer than five employees. This increase is largely attributable to improvements in insurers’ digital capabilities, which give smaller businesses better access to policy information and the ability to make policy changes without speaking to an agent.
- Domain experience matters: Overall customer satisfaction scores are highest (750) when both the insurer and the agent completely understand the customer’s business, vs. 547 when neither does. This 203-point gap underscores the critical importance of business understanding.
