Norwich Union annuities service is a hit with customers

New figures from Norwich Union, soon to be Aviva, show that 95% of customers who take out an annuity through Norwich Union are happy with the service they receive, with three quarters stating they are ‘very' or ‘extremely' satisfied.

The same number of people say they would be happy to recommend Norwich Union annuities to a friend.

Customer feedback also rated Norwich Union highly in terms of its quick response times (90%) its accuracy (93%) and its clear and simple letters (96%). The company's help and guidance processes were also highly commended, as was its ability to understand customer needs.

Darren Dicks, head of annuity propositions for Norwich Union says: "We have been working extremely hard over the last 12 months to ensure that our customers and advisers receive the best possible service when purchasing an annuity. The high level of customer satisfaction underlines the strength of Norwich Union's service and our commitment to our customers.

"Customers are at the heart of everything we do, so these latest results are extremely encouraging. With 95 per cent of our customers satisfied with their overall experience, we will now focus our efforts to ensure that the remaining five per cent are equally happy."

Norwich Union launched a Customer Service Academy at the end of 2007, to provide staff with a qualification which is externally recognised and approved by the CII. To date, more than 30 members of the annuities team are studying for or have passed the qualification, and the company is striving to increase the numbers of staff going through the academy.

Further initiatives in annuities customer service include staff inductions and ongoing training which focuses on creating great service, along with further training to improve and focus skills in relation to call handling and taking personal responsibility to deal with customer concerns and issues.

'Mystery Shopper' calls are regularly done to ensure standards remain high and refresher sessions are held if necessary. In addition, ‘route cause analysis' is also done on verbatim comments received and improvements are made from these.