Best Practices For Insurance Websites

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Here are some proven best practices for Insurance Websites
1. Supporting the research process-Online insurance statistics indicate that most prospects research several products before buying insurance products. Insurers need to ensure that their sites are not just information rich but also offer ‘differentiating’ content that makes their products stand out from others.

2. Understanding the buyer’s lifecycle-Life insurance products are usually not as aligned towards online sales as auto insurance. Ensuring that your channels are enabled – the Web acts as a lead generation channel for Life Insurance and eCommerce for Auto Insurance will help drive maximum ROI.

3. Making buyers act-To enable higher conversions, Insurance sites must facilitate customer action. Every user has a goal-the design of an insurance site has to speak to these goals. Calls to action with every piece of vital information & clear, need based navigation are just some practices that reduce the number of clicks needed to make a customer act & significantly increase conversion rates. The Metlife, US website is a prime example ...
... of this practice.

4. Helping your buyers-The call center is always a resort. However, if your site provides complete information to help make a choice, you are helping your cause considerably. Live chats with sales agents could be a very good option to avoid people reaching for the phone as practiced successfully by Norwich Union, UK. Coverage information related to policies should also be available..

5. Making it easy for buyers-If I am in the process of buying a policy, then I should have the option to ‘save’ my details once I have finished. Even if I need to stop midway, I should be able to return & complete the process from the point I left. In either instance, I should get an email from the Insurer with all details. This practice drives high usability & again enhances conversion online as Tesco, UK has experienced.

6. Use offline modes to strengthen online-For those users who may be researching online but are not yet mature enough to buy on the Web; offline modes can greatly complement your site. For instance, if I am applying online but want to complete the process offline, the site should make it easy for me by giving me an application tracker which I can use to finish the process offline. This practice has been used to good effect by several insurers, notably Lloyd’s TSB Insurance.

7. Closing the loop-Some products generate leads online but are sold offline. Ensuring that processes and technologies are connected so that leads are generated, acted on by Sales teams and tracked by your Customer Relationship Management applications will provide maximum ROI. It is critical to achieve end-to-end tracking of leads - from acquisition to conversion. To know more visit,
http://edynamic.net/home/login.aspx?id=insuranceWebsite&path=/upload/pdf/Insurance%20Websites_Best%20Practices.pdf