Impact of Relationship Marketing Dimensions on Word-of-Mouth Communications in the Insurance Industry in Nigeria

Insurance plays a prominent backbone in a country’s economic growth through its financial intermediary role. Although previous researchers have examined the different factors that influence customers’ satisfaction and patronage of insurance such as corporate image, fair premium, prompt settlement of claims, etc., not much has been achieved as demand for insurance still remains at a low ebb. Thus, insurance industry in Nigeria has achieved below its potential in its one century years of existence. This paper examines the impact of relationship marketing on word of mouth (WOM) communication in the insurance industry in Nigeria. Population of study comprises all insurance consumers in Lagos metropolis. Data was collected through the completion of questionnaire distributed to a sample of 400 policy holders selected via convenience sampling technique. Correlation and regression analyses were applied on the data collected using SPSS version 20 software. Findings indicated that relationship marketing components were positively correlated with WOM communication. The R-squared statistic revealed that 67.5% variance in the dependent variable was explained by variances in the independent variables collectively. The paper therefore recommends that insurance firms in Nigeria should adopt relationship marketing strategy to earn customer satisfaction whose consequences are both customers’ positive WOM communication and loyalty.