Life insurance providers are losing ground with a generation they can least afford to alienate, according to new research.
The JD Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study found that trust satisfaction fell 9 points industry-wide compared with a year earlier, even as overall customer satisfaction held relatively flat at 649 on a 1,000-point scale. Among Gen Z customers (those born between 1995 and 2008) trust scores dropped 39 points. Among customers with poor or fair credit scores, the decline was 28 points.
The findings carry direct implications for financial advisors and wealth managers who sell or recommend life insurance products. As life insurance becomes an increasingly important component of holistic financial plans, the research suggests that advisors operating through distributor channels - agents, brokers, and financial advisors - are in a stronger position than centralized providers, but the industry's overall trust problem is becoming harder to ignore.
"Life insurance has really moved from a transactional relationship to a long-term relationship, and while many providers are succeeding at building engagement through increased use of digital channels and more frequent communications, others are struggling to forge those meaningful connections that really stick with customers," said Meaghan Hafner, senior director of health and life solutions at JD Power. "Customers who say their providers offer seamless interaction across multiple channels are driving the highest levels of overall satisfaction, trust and advocacy."
The data draws a sharp line between distribution models. Overall satisfaction with individual life insurance plans delivered direct-to-consumer through call centers, websites, banks, or third-party websites, fell 12 points to 684.
Policies sold through a distributor such as an agent, broker, or financial advisor improved 6 points to 645.
The gap between the two channels narrowed but remained instructive: centralized providers still score higher on pure satisfaction, but their trajectory is moving in the wrong direction. The trend underscores the value of the human relationship, particularly when navigating clients through a product category that many Americans find opaque.
The study found that a single negative experience - difficulty reaching a representative, an unexpected fee change, or a reduction in service - caused overall trust satisfaction to drop 96 points. That figure alone represents a business risk for any advisor who allows the insurance component of a client's plan to be managed by a carrier operating below expectations.
The research identified contact frequency as a key trust driver. Trust satisfaction was highest (at 757 on the study's 1,000-point scale) among customers who interacted with advisors, agents, mobile apps, and websites.
Among customers who had no interaction at all with their provider, trust fell to 581. The 176-point gap between engaged and disengaged customers is among the most actionable findings in the study for practicing advisors.
Cross-channel coordination amplified the effect. Customers who strongly agreed that their life insurance delivers a seamless experience across digital, phone, and in-person interactions had trust scores 148 points higher than those who only somewhat agreed. That gap suggests that fragmented communication, even when frequent, fails to build the kind of trust that retains younger clients.
The findings align with broader InvestmentNews coverage of client engagement and advisor practice management that has consistently shown younger clients expect coordinated, personalized service across all touchpoints, not sequential or siloed interactions.
The erosion of trust among Gen Z policyholders is the study's most pressing finding for advisors building long-term books of business. Younger clients are entering the insurance market with higher digital expectations and lower tolerance for friction than prior generations and they are encountering an industry that has not fully caught up.
Gen Z customers who experience poor service or unclear communication are likely to disengage entirely, not simply switch carriers. That dynamic creates an opening for advisors who position themselves as translators and advocates between their clients and providers, rather than simply as product sellers.
In a ranking of individual life insurance providers by overall customer satisfaction, Nationwide finished first with a score of 701. State Farm ranked second at 692, and Mutual of Omaha placed third at 680. The study measured eight dimensions: trust; value for price; ease of doing business; people; product offerings; ability to get service; problem resolution; and digital channels.
The 2026 study was based on responses from 6,145 individual life insurance customers surveyed by JD Power from July 2025 through July 2026.
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