Insurers Lead on Billing but Still Miss What Policyholders Want

“The Service Commerce Performance Gap: Insurance Providers Playbook,” a PYMNTS Intelligence report produced in collaboration with Paymentus, explains why. It draws on March 2026 surveys of 686 U.S. property and home insurance bill payers and 60 insurance providers, and it compares the billing and payment experience insurers believe they deliver with the one policyholders describe.

Insurers are grading themselves on the parts of billing that already work. Bills arrive on time and look right, and half of insurers keep investing in bill delivery. The parts policyholders complain about get far less attention: slow refunds, disputes that drag on and too few ways to pay. Fifteen percent of policyholders say refunds are too slow. Only 1.7% of insurers agree.

That gap has a price. Eighteen percent of policyholders delay payments because they’re unhappy with their insurer, which puts roughly $2.6 billion in monthly premiums behind schedule. The report shows which billing problems drive that unhappiness and which warning signs insurers tend to miss.

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In “The Service Commerce Performance Gap: Insurance Providers Playbook,” you’ll learn:

• Why feeling understood is the number that predicts who stays. It’s the weakest relationship score insurers earn, and only 44% of policyholders say the billing experience strengthened their relationship with their provider.
• Where billing budgets go, and where they should go. Half of insurers invest in bill delivery, an area that already performs well. Just 6.7% invest in payment options, the thing 44% of policyholders say drives their choice of insurer.
• Which warning signs insurers watch, and why they still get blindsided. More than seven in 10 track billing disputes and late payments. Fewer than one in five can explain with data why policyholders actually leave.

The playbook is written for insurance executives and the billing, payments and customer experience teams who own the policyholder relationship. It looks past overall satisfaction scores to the specific billing moments that decide whether a policyholder renews and whether a premium arrives on time.

Download the playbook to find out where your billing experience is losing policyholders you don’t know you’re losing.