Zywave’s 2026 Broker Services Survey asked employers a simple question: What does it take for a broker to keep a client’s business? More than 1,400 employers weighed in on both their broker relationships and the current commercial insurance and employee benefits challenges they face. Zywave’s Josh Bradford and Ben Knapp broke down the results in our August 5th webinar.
Employers value their broker’s expertise highly, and brokers are largely delivering on it. The pattern holds regardless of the line of business. What’s inconsistent is everything built on that foundation, including proactive outreach, strategic guidance and steady communication between renewals.
High Satisfaction, but a Silent Churn Risk
As noted in the survey results, 84% of employers say they’re satisfied or very satisfied with their broker, near an all-time high. However, beneath that number can be a silent churn risk. While most respondents are happy with the services of their broker, the number of clients who report they’re very dissatisfied more than doubled year over year, from 1.1% to 2.6%. Most clients don’t actively look for a reason to leave their broker. Only 26% evaluate the relationship annually as standard practice, while nearly a third re-evaluate only after a service failure, and another 16% rarely evaluate at all.
A book of business that looks secure on paper can be quietly at risk. In today’s fast-paced environment, slow response times and ineffective service top the list of reasons an organization would drop its broker. Increasingly, clients also cite an unwillingness to act as strategic advisors as a reason.
P&C: Expertise Is Landing, Other Service Gaps Remain
Commercial clients treat technical knowledge as essential, and it’s where brokers perform best. 90% call coverage and policy language expertise very important, and 89% say their broker fully delivers it, one of the tightest matches in the dataset.
However, there’s still a noticeable service gap in place. 99% of those surveyed say proactive outreach ahead of renewal is important, but only 74% say their broker fully delivers it. Strategic risk management guidance is wider still, as 96% call it important, and just 58% say they fully receive it. Both of these are process problems.
Benefits: Cost, Compliance and a Warning Sign for Open Enrollment
The benefits data tells a similar story. 99% of employers say guidance on managing rising healthcare costs is important, and for the third straight year it ranks as their No. 1 benefits challenge. Only 69% say their broker fully delivers it, the widest gap of any benefits service measured.
Compliance is the notable year-over-year mover. It has climbed back to the No. 2 benefits challenge, its highest urgency since 2021, after falling as far as fifth place in 2023. A new administration and expanding state activity on pay transparency, leave and ACA enforcement pushed it back up the list.
With open enrollment approaching, one more finding stands out. Employee-facing benefits education and wellness materials are the only service in the survey that declined year over year, even as 62% of employers say they’ll need help communicating benefits during open enrollment or onboarding in the next 12 months.
Clients Are Lowering Their Expectations
75% of employers want guidance at least monthly, and 95% want renewal conversations starting at least three months out. Delivery hasn’t kept pace, with monthly communication slipping from 32% to 29%. More telling is what clients now ask for: desired weekly contact fell from 41.9% to 33.4% in a single year.
According to the data, clients are adjusting expectations downward to match what they receive. That’s silent churn risk in its clearest form, because a client who has stopped expecting more from you has usually stopped seeing you as a partner long before they start shopping.
Three Moves for Every Line of Business
The webinar highlighted three key principles that apply for both commercial insurance and employee benefits clients:
- Be proactive rather than waiting to be asked.
- Lead with strategic guidance, not just a quote or plan comparison.
- Keep contact consistent rather than concentrated around renewal.
None of this replaces expertise. It puts that expertise in front of clients often enough to matter.
Purpose-built resources, like Zywave’s Content Cloud and Client Cloud, help agencies deliver that consistency at scale across both P&C and benefits, giving every client self-serve compliance answers, risk insights and benefits education, all without adding headcount.
Want the full breakdown? Watch the on-demand webinar or download the full 2026 Broker Services Survey Report.
