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Why Do Market Research Consultants Need Professional Liability Insurance?
Working in market research, you’re responsible for collecting valuable information on target audiences. If your clients claim your analysis is wrong or causes them to lose money, they can sue you. That’s why professional liability insurance for market research firms is so important.
We can help you get the coverage you need to protect yourself, your business, and your clients. In fact, we’ve been providing insurance to businesses like yours for over 200 years.
Risks Market and Survey Research Consultants Face by Not Carrying Professional Liability Insurance
You and your marketing consultants have many ways to collect information, including:
- Focus group research
- Polling
- Market studies
- Research surveys
- Customer feedback
- Online surveys
Your clients expect this information to be accurate and to help their business grow. If your research is wrong or you make a mistake, you could face an expensive lawsuit. Professional liability insurance can help protect your firm from lawsuits if your:
- Client loses money by following your inaccurate analysis
- Employees use unethical methods to gather data
- Firm forgets to complete a service you agreed to provide
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?
Professional liability coverage, also known as errors and omissions insurance, can help protect your firm from claims alleging:
- Professional negligence
- Inaccurate advice
- Violation of good faith and fair dealing
- Misrepresentation
If your firm gets sued by a client, market liability insurance can help cover:
- Court costs
- Attorney fees
- Settlements and judgments awarded to your client
- Loss of earnings for time spent at depositions or trial
- Personal injury for claims alleging libel or slander
What Does Professional Liability Insurance for Market Research Not Cover?
Professional liability insurance can help protect your business against lots of claims, but not all of them. Some situations that aren’t covered by professional liability insurance include lawsuits for:
- Illegal acts including purposeful wrongdoing and fraud.
- Patents and trade secrets your business gets without the owner’s permission.
- Bodily injury or property damage caused by your firm or your employees. General liability insurance can help protect you from these claims.
- Loss of personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers. Data breach insurance would help cover you for this.
- Injured or ill employees from a work-related incident. You would need workers’ compensation insurance for these claims.
- Employee disputes including harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination. Employment practices liability insurance helps covers these claims.
How Much Does Professional Liability Insurance for Market Research Firms Cost?
You can expect to pay between $500 and $1,000 per employee for professional liability insurance. There are several factors that can impact errors and omissions insurance cost, including your firm’s:
- History if you’ve had many claims or lawsuits
- Location if your state has higher liability coverage minimums
- Industry because some industries tend to face more lawsuits than others
- Revenue because the more money your marketing research firm makes, the higher your cost may be
- Size because your rate can change depending on how many employees you have
To get a personalized estimate for your market research firm, get a quote today. You can also call 855-829-1683 to speak with one of our insurance specialists.
Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) for Market Research Firms
To help make sure your business has protection against claims that professional liability doesn’t cover, you should consider a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP). BOP combines three coverages into one, giving you:
Commercial property insurance which helps protect the physical location of your market research firm. This insurance covers equipment you use to run your firm such as computers and printers.
General liability insurance to help protect you from claims alleging bodily injury or property damage. For example, this coverage can help pay your client's medical bills if they fall and break their arm in your office.
Business income insurance which helps you recover lost income if it can’t operate due to covered property damage. This might happen if a fire or storm hits the building where your office is.
Protect Your Consulting Business With Professional Liability Insurance from The Hartford
It’s important to work with an insurance company you can trust. We’ve been helping protect small business owners like you for over two centuries. We know small businesses are unique, so we created a small business insurance team with specialists to help you find the right insurance program, product or service. Get a quote today.