Quoting and Selling Insurance Online - Don Hobdy Jr., ITC
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From ITC Agent Conference 2015... Recent studies show that 83% of online insurance shoppers obtain quotes from more than one company. How are they doing this? By entering their information over and over into the websites of multiple companies. Sound familiar? That's what independent agents did before the comparative rater. Learn how to meet the needs of these online insurance shoppers by offering a portal right on your website where they can enter their information once, obtain multiple quotes, and buy a policy instantly.
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Quoting and Selling Insurance Online - Don Hobdy Jr., ITC
- 1. Quoting and Selling Online Don Hobdy VP of Sales
- 2. Rule #1 It’s Not What You Like; It’s What the Consumer Likes.
- 3. Getting Found • Internet marketing • Referrals • Client • Affiliate partners • Social media
- 4. How to Track Online Leads • Google Analytics • Pass lead source via a query string https://[yourlink].quotes.iwantinsurance.com/welcome.aspx ?partner=JoesCarDealership
- 5. Traits of an Online Consumer • Wants • Easily find what they are looking for • Easy to complete forms • Don’t want • Guesswork • Do own underwriting • Get thrown on another website
- 6. Why Are You Independent? • Value proposition • Shop for the client • Compare coverage/price • Companies have to earn your business • Commissions • Contingency bonus • Service • Rate stability • Competitive rates • Claims service
- 7. Best Practices • Keep it short • Break it up • Number of questions
- 8. Customizing with CSS • What is CSS? • Cascading Style Sheets • Used to style a document (website) • CSS resources • FAQs in admin console • Beginner’s guide • ITC design team
- 9. Mobile Experience • Mobile stylesheet • View on desktop • ?mode=mobile • Warning to non-ITC website agents – if website not mobile- friendly, turn off mobile view on TurboRater for Websites
- 10. Rates via Our API • Want to create your own user interface? • Get the rates through our API
- 11. iFrame Security • Clickjacking • Vulnerability in many browsers • Client side • Malicious technique to trick an online visitor • Used to access vulnerable confidential information • Activate this feature in admin console on the security tab
- 12. Selling the Policy • Act on lead quickly • Client requests contact • Display agency contact info at all times • Sell it online • Bind online services through TurboRater for Websites
- 13. Questions
- 14. Thank You Don’t forget to fill out your surveys! Don Hobdy VP Sales
Editor's Notes
- Play Joe Dirt Clip I think everyone knows the importance of having an online presence, but as I go through this presentation, I want each of you to keep a very simple, but often forgotten philosophy in mind. Play Joe Dirt clip “It’s not what you want, it’s what the consumer wants.” It is not what you want – it is what the consumer wants. I hear from several agents and carriers, they don’t want to sell insurance online – too much trouble, costs money to build the technology, things have always worked the way they’ve always done it But here’s the problem – it is not what you want, it is what the consumer wants And more and more consumers want to shop and in some cases, they also want to buy insurance online. There are independent agents that believe if they just continue doing business as they always have, they will continue to get business as they always have But the market is changing Consumers are changing Technology is changing Consumers want flexibility More and more every day want the ability to get a quote online, at their convenience For an independent agent to survive, they MUST be where there consumers are
- Internet Marketing – we have several classes on this topic Referrals Affiliate partners – what other businesses do you work with or may presently be getting business from? Car dealers Car part stores Financial institutions – anywhere from check cashing to banks, depending on your target market Auto warranty companies Get creative They all have websites – link your online quoting solution to their website. It’s that easy
- So you get links on multiple sites from multiple referrals, how do you track who is sending you what? Google Analytics In our consumer rating solution, TurboRater for Websites, query string
- Disclaimer - the websites I am about to show are actual live websites. However, the names have been changed to protect the innocent… So what do Online Shoppers Want ? (click) Easy to Find – prominently display a call to action button (click) Forms should be easy, clean, clear (click) Don’t want (click) To guess which button to click next (click) …which one do I click…. (click) Really do not want to underwrite themselves (click) Even more – they Don’t Want to be sent off to some other site For example, back to this site, nice green and purple colors. Again, I removed the name to protect the innocent, but this agent’s facebook page, business cards, website, logo, all look the same. They’ve spent a lot of time and money on their branding so they could offer a consistent experience to their clients and prospects. Absolutely everything any successful agency would do (click) but when I click “Get a Quote Without a License” (click) a new window opens with a completely different look It’s a whole different site Online client is left confused afraid they were hijacked and now are at risk for a virus Agent can’t track this - since it opens in a new window, the agent can’t monitor what the client does anymore. Google analytics will not track if that button was clicked. Google analytics will not report back if/when that customer dropped off Just like someone walking into your agency, asking for a quote, and then POOF – they’ve disappeared and you have no clue why or where Problems with too many choices: Confuses online visitor – so they go somewhere else
- Why Are You an Independent Agent? Value Proposition – why a client should use your agency versus a captive – choices Companies have to earn your business – how do they do that? Commissions Service Rate stability Claims Service Any one else have a reason why they are independent? If you just represented one company and only one company, does that company have any incentive to compete for your business? If you just represented one company and that company was not competitive, do you think the client is going to buy from you anyway? Let me ask this – is there one insurance company that you represent that meets all of your client’s needs? They are competitive on every risk in every territory all of the time? They offer all the coverages/plans all of your client’s are looking for? So why would an agent only want to quote ONE company on their website if they are Independent? Speaking of value proposition - We did a study Of websites that offered a consumer a choice: Get quotes with multiple insurance companies – in this case 15 insurance companies Or Quote and have the ability to BUY now with one of our insurance companies Consistently – study after study we saw 80% or more of the visitors choose the button that offered quotes from MULTIPLE COMPANIES Online insurance shoppers do not want to enter their information multiple times into multiple different sites to obtain multiple quotes No more than insurance agents do They want to enter it once And get multiple quotes That’s exactly what TurboRater for Websites does
- Keep it short (click) This year we decreased the steps required to get a quote from 7 steps to 5 (click) Review the number of questions asked compared to your conversion We all know – the more questions you ask, the more accurate the quote But also know – the more questions you ask the less more likely they are to become frustrated and quit So we give you control of the questions Here for example is the minimal number of questions for a driver (click) Here are all of the questions for a driver Every company is different though – some rate on minimum factors, some have an extensive list It is important to talk to your reps about this, to get a full understanding of what they want to rate the policies you quote Many agents just “assume” they know and throughout the years as things change, for whatever reason they are not kept up to date on what is really needed, all of the discounts and surcharges available - so TALK to your reps and find out Then customize your quote screens for that perfect balance – a balance of accuracy and conversion (completion)
- STILL TO DO: To add screenshots displaying power of CSS
- For those that run TurboRater for Websites in an iframe, this year we added a feature that will help prevent click jacking. Click jacking is a malicious technique of tricking an online visitor into clicking on something other than what they perceive they are clicking on. In doing this, the site could be vulnerable to revealing confidential information. So if you are running TFW in an iFrame, we recommend you activate this feature.
- Introduce Mark Volckmann as Carrier Relations Director for Bind Online carriers.