The world’s insurance companies would do well to mimic the successful consumer marketing practices of commercial banks, a sweeping new study of insurers has found. A consulting firm, Capgemini, says in its “World Insurance Report” that the industry is often mired in centuries-old sales practices, like door-to-door sales, and must find new ways to stay nimble and competitive in the Information Age.

A key finding by the consulting firm, which is well known for its various financial services industry surveys, is that 71% of customers never or rarely (meaning just once a year) interact with their principal insurance distributor. Yet those same customers interact with their commercial banks some 200 times annually. “There’s clearly a consumer/carrier disconnect,” said the Capgemini spokesman, John Mullen, as he unveiled the survey results today. “Insurers need to find a way to be more like commercial banks in terms of how they interact with their customers.”

A distant relationship between consumer and distributor is the key reason why 40% of insurance customers have switched providers during the last five years, the study found, and that 76% of customers are more pricesensitive above all other factors. Not surprisingly, the Internet has allowed consumers to gather price information more quickly and bargain for policies more shrewdly. One of the recommendations of the study is for insurers and their distributors to work more closely in retaining customers, especially when it comes to sharing up-to-date information and data.

The most successful insurers are tapping into the power of the Internet as they move their consumer marketing efforts forward. “Insurers who have the ability to understand and segment distributors in a meaningful way will have a significant competitive edge,” Mr. Mullen said. “The alignment of enterprise activities to support distributor needs will enable distributors to deepen their customer relationships and effectively align more appropriate products to a broader spectrum of life needs – ultimately extending customer satisfaction into customer loyalty.”

The study, which surveyed 10,000 customers in North America and Europe (and did not include health insurers), discovered that there is little correlation these days between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Recent natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina have shown that insurance customers are overwhelmingly price sensitive, even though distributors believe their customers value advice and counsel above all else.

Indeed, many salesmen peddling insurance are largely stuck in an early-20th-century model of selling door-to-door, with little or no attention paid to customization. Yet their audience can select coverage and rates via the Internet in just minutes.

“Insurance providers are saying: ‘Help me segment my consumers.’ We’re helping them become more focused so they can invest their tools more appropriately,” Mr. Mullen said.

The senior vice president of public affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Joseph Annotti, said his lobbying group is focusing on getting out the message on the changing nature of the industry despite it being large, fractious, and pretty dull. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a simple ‘Got Milk?’ or ‘Beef — It’s what’s for dinner’ catchphrase to market the insurance industry,” he said.