Nationwide, LV= top household insurance websites survey

Independent research into customers' online satisfaction has shown that AXA has the best website for health insurance, LV= and Nationwide the best websites for home insurance, and LV= and Legal & General the best for life insurance.

Customer research company Global Reviews has rated the customer experience of health, life and home insurance websites for the last 10 years to produce the research.

To meet basic customer experience requirements, websites must achieve a score of 55%.

Home winners: LV= and Nationwide

The home insurance section measured customer experience on the AA, Aviva, Barclays, Churchill, Direct Line, Halifax, LV=, Lloyds TSB Insurance, More Th>n, Nationwide, RIAS, Saga and Tesco Insurance websites.

LV= and Nationwide both scored 57%, against an industry average of 53%.

Health champion: AXA PPP

The health insurance section rated customer satisfaction on the Aviva, AXA PPP, Bupa, PruHealth, Saga and Simply Health websites.

This year, only AXA PPP scored above the 55% threshold, with a rating of 57%. The industry average is 45%.

Life leaders: LV= and Legal & General

The life insurance section rated customer experience on the Aviva, AXA, Direct Line, Legal & General, LV=, Marks & Spencer, More Th>n, Sainsbury's and Tesco Insurance websites.

LV= and Legal & General scored 55%, against an industry average of 50%.

Meticulous research

Global Reviews assessed the insurer websites against more than 500 criteria, including information available to prospective policyholders, customer support and how easy the website is to use.

The criteria are set using independent research into online best practice along with feedback from surveys asking what customers want from an insurance website.

Getting the message across

With industry averages well below the 55% benchmark, the health and life insurance industries are struggling to explain and promote their products to customers online, according to a Global Reviews spokesman.

Global Reviews general manager Harvind Bhatti comments: “Life and health insurance products are complex, but the overall low scores highlight that there is a lot more that brands can do to overcome some of the industry-specific issues around product explanation and education.

"A closer look at the 32 sub-categories within all three benchmarks highlights that the brands vary in performance in different categories, which reveal that individual brands can learn a lot from other providers in their industry.”