SMEs value customisable cover when choosing an insurer

GlobalDataFinancialServices

Wed, December 24, 2025 astatine 7:14 AM CST 2 min read

Industry research indicates that SME customers take security providers based connected a operation of price, work quality, transparency, and flexibility. This is progressively important successful competitory SME and idiosyncratic lines markets, wherever pricing vantage is harder to sustain, and differentiation progressively depends connected lawsuit acquisition and merchandise design.

GlobalData’s 2025 UK SME Insurance Survey shows that argumentation terms remains the astir important factor, with 39.5% of SMEs ranking it successful their apical 5 factors erstwhile selecting an insurer. However, pricing transparency (37.3%) and easiness of accessing and knowing argumentation accusation (35.8%) travel intimately behind, signalling beardown request for clarity, simplicity, and spot successful insurer communications.

The information besides highlights the increasing value of tailored insurance. 31.2% of SMEs ranked the quality to tailor cover to their circumstantial needs among their apical 5 determination factors, ahead of marque designation (26.2%) and anterior relationships with an insurer (20.8%). This suggests that flexible, needs-based merchandise plan whitethorn beryllium displacing bequest marque loyalty arsenic a root of competitory advantage, reinforcing the strategical worth of modular and customisable insurance propositions. As a result, the marketplace creates a wide accidental for smaller insurers and MGAs to disrupt: if they tin present competitory pricing, wide and transparent argumentation terms, and highly tailored, modular screen (often enabled by faster merchandise iteration and specializer underwriting), they tin triumph SME customers contempt having little marque recognition. In this environment, execution connected clarity and customisation tin outweigh marque strength, allowing newer oregon niche providers to vie much efficaciously connected proposition alternatively than reputation.

This accent connected tailored screen is accordant with 2025 probe published by AXA UK, which points to mounting pressures connected SMEs, including rising nationalist security contributions, precocious concern rates, and expanding operating costs, that are reshaping hazard priorities and security demand. AXA’s findings bespeak that SMEs progressively privation screen that reflects their concern exemplary and sector-specific risks, alternatively than standardised, one-size-fits-all policies.

AXA’s probe and GlobalData’s surveying item a wide accidental for insurers to deepen SME engagement done transparent pricing, simplified communications, and flexible, needs-based merchandise design. While terms remains critical, the rising prominence of customisation, clarity, and work prime suggests that insurers that accommodate their propositions and organisation accordingly volition beryllium amended positioned to thrust maturation and retention successful the SME segment.