Many of us – perhaps uncharitably – think of call center workers as dead-eyed, monotone script-readers who, when we finally make it through the maze of automated messages, are wildly unhelpful at resolving our questions.

That perception may linger, but consumers are at least feeling better about call centers for the insurance industry, according to a new survey.

Michigan-based business consultants CFI Group say the insurance industry got relatively high marks from survey respondents, third in line for highest customer satisfaction behind retailers and hoteliers.

Insurance was comfortably above cable and personal computer companies’ lowly rankings, but 17 percent of insurance respondents said their issues weren’t resolved through the call centers. And as CFI noted, “Customers with unresolved issues are four times more likely to defect from their insurance provider.”

Still, Sheri Teodoru, author of the study, said insurance industries have a leg up because they do not usually outsource their call cen-ters abroad.

And only about 4 percent of insurance call centers are overseas, she said – that might be more expensive initially, but Teodoru said offshoring leads to the biggest killer of customer satisfaction: Not being able to communicate easily with the person on the other end of the line.

“The highest scoring industries have the lowest levels of [outsourcing]. It definitely has an impact,” she said.

What a Difference

But last year’s survey wasn’t so kind to insurance companies. Last year’s first-ever such study put insurance near the lowest rung, above only personal computer call centers. Teodoru said she couldn’t account for the rapid jump upward, but said it was unusual among CFI’s surveyed industries.

The Hartford Insurance Co. set about reforming its call centers about five years ago, said Greg Brown, senior vice president of service operations for the company’s property/casualty division.

It was seen as something the company could use to stand out in customers’ eyes. The industry’s heavy regulations make it tough to differentiate yourself with new products, he said, so the Hartford decided to focus on call centers.

Overall, the bar was pretty low for call centers, Brown said. But the company retooled hiring and training processes for its roughly 5,000 call center workers, and is pretty happy with the results. Brown said The Hartford has won a J.D. Power and Assoc. award for run-ning the best call center out of thousands of companies.

Dan Rickwalder, director of consulting services for call center consultant company International Customer Management Institute, said he’s had more insurance company clients in the past few years.

Not only that, but insurance companies seem to be shifting from a “what’s cheaper?” mentality to one that’s focused more on customer service.

But while some companies have changed their views on call centers, Rickwalder said many consumers haven’t – the perception is still pretty sour on call centers generally.

“While we keep saying we’re doing better and better as an industry, customer satisfaction on the whole is going down across the coun-try,” he said.