Although three-quarters of consumers believe they have a general grasp on insurance knowledge, 33 percent think homeowners' and renters' insurance will cover the cost of replacing family heirlooms lost to building damage, and 57 percent of customers think Personal Inland Marine Coverage insures boats rather than high-value personal property. Also, half of respondents say they don't know how to file a claim with their insurance agent after an incident.

“We need to aggressively de-mystify insurance for our members,” says Pizzi. “'Inland marine insurance is a great example: it's a term we bandy about internally in the industry, among regulators and our court system, but it's irrelevant to the average person.”

Nationwide's marketing department has been working with customers and agents to shift policy terminology: for example, “Extended Replacement Costs” has been changed to “Brand New Belongings” to describe coverage for things inside homes that have been damaged, destroyed or stolen.

Building a bridge is a two-way process, however, and less than half of customers have read their insurance policy in its entirety over the past year while 31 percent have never completely read it. But the majority of consumers also say insurance language is “confusing” and show overwhelming (92 percent) support for a law that would mandate companies to provide one-page policy summaries in plain language.

Pizzi says, “We advocate using a one-page policy summary across the industry. It's going to take collaboration between regulators, legislators and the industry to make it happen, but it absolutely can. Our customers will appreciate it. We do have to make sure it is not considered as the contract language used to make determinations in the court of law.”

The survey shows customers support multiple avenues of engagement with insurers, including one-on-one conversations with agents (11 percent), the ability to purchase policies online (6 percent), and insurance details explained in a foreign language (1 percent).