POST PURCHASE EXPERIENCE OF CONSUMERS IN LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

In the era of digital world, customers are equipped with sharing their experience with whole world in few seconds and their responses are crucial for companies brand image as it reflects their experience and satisfaction with company services and process. The consumer evaluates the product performance after purchase and compares it with that of the competitor product. This comparison leads to developing their perceptions towards the companies. While a satisfied customer leads to positive word of mouth, dissatisfied customers display cognitive dissonance through bad reviews. No company would like to have dissatisfied customers which in turn create negative perception toward its brand. Many of the previous researches highlight the importance of studying post purchase experiences of customers. Mangold, Miller, and Brockway (1999) found that high level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction were important factors in word of mouth stimulus. Service innovation and quality generates positive word of mouth, customer satisfaction and repeat purchase. Dhar and Dhar (2007) discussed that globalization leads to competition and existing companies have to be ready to face the competition from new players. New life insurance companies have to focus on the latest and rising customer requirements whereas old companies have to also focus on their existing customer services and requirements; new practices; enhancing service quality with new benchmarks in the global scenario. Kumar and Eldhose (2008) have recommended that insurance companies need to have quick service culture and quality environment. They compared public and private sectors customers regarding service quality, products and grievance handling. Mis-selling, hidden charges and long process of claim settlement are some of the problems faced by the private sector customers. There was dissatisfaction found in public customer over the grievance redressal mechanism adopted by Life Insurance Company (LIC), a government owned player with a long standing in India. Sahu, Jaiswal, and Pandey (2009) evaluated the factors responsible for consumer perception towards life insurance policies. The consumers’ perception towards life insurance policies was found to be positive. The correlation test revealed that the customer loyalty, easy procedure, quality of service, satisfaction, the relationship between the company and consumer and lastly image of the company were mainly responsible for developing consumer perception towards Life Insurance. Chen et al. (2011) examined the moderating effects of customer expertise and price orientation on customer loyalty and relationship loyalty in life insurance companies in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling SEM, regression were used for analysis and establishing a relationship. It was found in the research that customer‘s price orientation moderates the relationship between relationship quality and customer loyalty. Firms should focus on maintaining customer relationship. Mrinmoy and Bhusan (2012) investigated satisfaction level of customers towards their life insurance policy. The study revealed huge gaps in satisfaction level of the customer in all main attributes of a policy, hence there is the scope of innovation and creativity in the life insurance market. Gautam and Kumar (2012) suggested a significant influence of the source of information on selection of life insurance policy as well as the post-purchase behavior of urban and rural consumers. Sinha (2013) descriptive research measured the service quality of life insurance by a survey of 400 respondents who bought life insurance policy from various life insurance companies. The factor analysis derived five factors for service quality, i.e. sincere and prompts services, compassion and courteous, meticulous and accommodative, customer orientation & flexibility and tangibility. Out of these factors for service quality, courtesy factors’ mean value was found higher than other factors. Gizaw and Pagidimarri (2014) the study analysed the influence of service quality on customer loyalty in the insurance sector of Ethiopia. Results indicated that service quality and customer satisfaction had a direct role in affecting customer loyalty. Positive relationships were found between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The mediation analysis result showed the mediation link between service quality and customer loyalty. Kaur and Kaur (2014) study found seven factors namely company reputation, employee loyalty, department efficiency, disciplined employee, timely service, customer convenience, additional facilities affecting consumer satisfaction. Out of these company services and reputation were found to be the most important factors. The study recommended that insurance firms should consider these factors while implementing any marketing strategies to retain existing customers. Lee, Tsao, and Chang, (2015) studied the customers’ attitude toward life insurers’ mobile app services and its effect on customer satisfaction. Their study based on 538 respondents indicated significant variables like compatibility, consumers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use affecting customer satisfaction. They recommended reinforcing better CRM to build positive satisfaction. Yu and Tseng (2016) investigated factors affecting relationship quality on in Taiwan life insurers and their customers. By using structural equation modelling approach their findings confirmed that customer loyalty was affected by the salesperson characteristics and relational selling behaviour whereas relationship quality mediates this effect. Result suggested that the life insurers need to establish and maintain long-term relationships with customers in order to create corporate innovation value. Gera et al. (2017) evaluated direct and indirect effects of life insurance services quality, customer satisfaction and service value on customer loyalty and post purchase behavioral intentions. Result revealed that sales agent quality and service delivery were the most crucial factors in forming service quality perceptions. It had both direct and indirect effect on positive behavioural intentions with the moderating effect of service value and customer satisfaction. Rahman et al. (2018) confirmed significant positive influence of customer satisfaction and service quality on customer patronage decision for buying health insurance policies.