NTT Docomo Business X Announces Results of NPS® Benchmark Survey 2026 for Life Insurance; Sony Life Ranks First in NPS Recommendation Ranking

NTT Docomo Business X Co., Ltd. (formerly NTT Com Online, headquartered in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Shuji Inaba, hereinafter NTT Docomo Business X) conducted the NPS Benchmark Survey 2026 targeting life insurance companies. As a result, Sony Life recorded the highest NPS. Industry-wide, the most significant decline in satisfaction was related to efforts to prevent scandals, which became a major factor inhibiting loyalty. Particularly for companies with lower NPS scores, evaluations of their stance on scandal prevention and brand image dropped sharply, negatively impacting loyalty. Details of the survey results can be viewed here. [NTT Docomo Business X NPS Benchmark Survey 2026] Future release schedule: Life Insurance Claims Experience Survey, Life Insurance After-Follow-up Survey, Electricity, Banking, Automobile Insurance, Regional Banks 1. Sony Life Ranks First in Life Insurance NPS Recommendation Ranking Among the 13 life insurance companies surveyed, Sony Life topped the NPS ranking (-27.5), followed by Tokio Marine & Nichido Anshin Life (-28.7) in second place, and AFLAC (-36.8) in third. The average NPS for all 13 companies was -42.9. 2. NPS Gap Widens Between Top and Bottom Companies; Scandals and Misconduct Impact Loyalty Recently, the life insurance industry has seen continued reports of financial fraud. Consequently, some companies experienced significant drops in NPS. The scores for bottom-tier companies decreased by 9.5 points, widening the gap between top and bottom companies to 39.6 points compared to the previous year. Comparing the factors driving loyalty this year with the previous year's survey, the item showing the greatest decline in satisfaction industry-wide was "Efforts and corporate initiatives to prevent scandals." Its correlation with recommendation likelihood also strengthened, becoming a factor that inhibits loyalty. For companies that ranked lower in NPS, satisfaction with "Efforts and corporate initiatives to prevent scandals" dropped by -2.70 points year-on-year, and "Good corporate image/brand image" dropped by -2.16 points. This suggests that damage to corporate image and trust due to scandals and misconduct adversely affects loyalty. 3. Digital-Driven Service Quality Improvement is Key to Enhancing Loyalty Analysis of loyalty drivers across 20 items for the entire industry revealed that corporate image-related items such as "Good corporate image/brand image" and "Company's empathetic attitude/valuing customer voices" were factors fostering loyalty. Additionally, items like "Attractiveness of insurance products" and "Proposing insurance services suited to me" also contributed to improving NPS. Conversely, items identified as priorities for improvement included "Efforts and corporate initiatives to improve service quality using digital technology," "Efforts and corporate initiatives to prevent scandals," and "Initiatives to promote health improvement and health awareness." Other areas where future improvement is expected include "Enhancement of special clauses (optional coverage added to the main contract)," "Cost performance (balance between coverage and premiums)," and "Clarity of product explanations on the website (coverage details, claim conditions, etc.)." Sony Life, which ranked first in NPS, received high evaluations for items related to agent capabilities such as "Good agent response" and "Agent's extensive knowledge," as well as "Thorough after-sales follow-up after enrollment." For Tokio Marine & Nichido Anshin Life, which ranked second, in addition to agent-related items, factors like "Company's empathetic attitude/valuing customer voices" and "Efforts to prevent scandals" were key. For AFLAC, ranked third, in addition to "Company's empathetic attitude/valuing customer voices," high evaluations for "Cost performance" contributed to fostering loyalty. 4. Users Who Achieve Their Goals Independently on My Page Have Higher NPS A survey on the usage rate of My Page services provided by the respective life insurance companies for policyholders showed an overall rate of 13.9%. When asked about the purpose of using My Page, the most common response was "Checking enrolled insurance/coverage details" (46.2%), followed by "Changing payment methods/withdrawal accounts" (16.1%) and "Filing benefit claims" (15.6%). Among My Page users, 63.5% reported that they "achieved their goal independently and immediately," while 3.0% reported they "could not achieve their goal." Analyzing NPS by achievement level showed that the NPS for those who "achieved their goal independently and immediately" was -6.7, whereas the NPS for those who "could not achieve their goal" was significantly lower at -72.2. Furthermore, when My Page users were asked about difficulties encountered, the most common issue was "Could not find the target menu or page" (15.9%), followed by "Could not remember ID/password" (13.4%) and "Did not know the required documents or information for procedures" (10.3%). These results highlight the importance of improving screen clarity and navigation on My Page to help users achieve their goals smoothly. 5. Higher Recommendation Likelihood Correlates with Higher Intention to Continue Using When asked about their intention to continue using their current life insurance on an 11-point scale (0-10), "Promoters" (respondents with a recommendation score of 9-10) averaged 9.4, "Passives" (score 7-8) averaged 7.8, and "Detractors" (score 0-6) averaged 5.7. This indicates that a higher recommendation likelihood is strongly associated with a higher intention to continue using the service. [Life Insurance] Target Companies (alphabetical order): AFLAC, AXA Life, Dai-ichi Life, Japan Post Insurance, Meiji Yasuda Life, MetLife, Nippon Life, ORIX Life, Prudential Life, Sompo Himawari Life, Sony Life, Sumitomo Life, Tokio Marine & Nichido Anshin Life Target Respondents: Internet research monitors who are policyholders of the above life insurance companies Survey Method: Non-disclosed internet survey by NTT Com Research