We have data from over a dozen leading insurance websites and tens of thousands of customer engagements each month and we’ve seen almost every type of mistake insurers are making. Uniquely with many successful clients we also have seen what works locally, so based on what we know works and what we know doesn’t work we’re ready to reveal the top 5 mistakes you could be making. 

Firstly it depends on your objective for most insurers they want to know ‘How can I get more leads and new sales through our website?’ Many insurers don’t realise that they are losing hundreds of potential new sales every month on their website and so our first response is ‘fix your website to ensure you’re capturing new business effectively and then start improving your marketing. 

Fact: We’ve seen insurers grow new leads online by up to 342% with no additional marketing spend. Why is this? Because they were losing too many customers in the sales funnel and on their website. 

Fact: In January 2021 we compiled a study of more than 80 insurer’s websites across the Caribbean and in fact only 7% of websites  are ‘fair’ or ‘good’ at converting website leads and only 4% being ‘excellent’.  

Fact: if your website is only converting 10% to 25% of potential clients to sales you could be literally wasting up to 90% of your digital advertising and social media marketing investment. 

The biggest mistakes: 

1. Complexity 

 So many insurance websites in the region have two complexity flaws: (1) they have ‘text walls’ or pages of text that customers never read but the insurer assumes they need first and puts this above getting quotes or speaking to an agent, and (2) a lack of clear navigation and simple call to actions which makes is hard for customers to find what they want fast, especially on mobile. A good example is decide on the top 2 things users visiting your website need and put them one click away - this could be ‘Get A Quote’ or ‘Renew A Policy’ for example. 70% of customers could be looking for these so put them clearly at the top of your homepage and everything else below.  

2. Slow Journeys 

We’ve seen it all - insurer websites with 11 steps to buy insurance online and insurers with 39 questions to issue a quote taking 3 or 4 minutes or more to get a quote. These are killers and guaranteed to lose a huge % of customers through the funnel. Customers need speed, quick access to quotes, quick response times and also quick page load times and while you might love your process, almost certainly customers don’t unless it's lightning fast.  

3. Unanswerable Questions

Believe it or not in 9 out of 10 online ratings forms there are questions that over 50% of customers can’t answer or will struggle to answer. This means out the door you could be losing 50% of customers and making it unnecessarily hard for the rest. Put the customer first and see the questions through their eyes, do you need to ask the engine CC? What if they don’t know on the spot?. Is my model an EX, Sport, LX or other? Would most people know?  If you don’t need it then don’t ask, you can always get this information later over the phone or email if essential to bind if you don’t need it now to quote. 

4. Mobile 

Up to 87% of customers visits are made on mobile - Make your website ‘mobile first’ which is industry speak for making it mobile friendly by designing it for mobile first. Particularly on small smartphone screens customers need clarity with simple messages and intuitive customer journeys that avoid confusion and clutter to offer a good digital experience. On a small screen you can’t promote 10 products and features at once, so sit down with your marketing team and rank your priorities and select your top ones to promote those on your homepage.

5. No Online Quotes 

This is the biggest mistake in generating new leads. If you can’t give your clients a quick and easy quote you’ll lose 90% of customers out the door. 72% of customers aged 25-39 expect online quotes and won’t fill out ‘contact us forms’ or request a call-back. They are used to buying online and expect a quote and expect it fast. For car insurance many insurers ask 10-12 questions in a contact us form and are only 2 or 3 questions away from issuing a quote (even if only indicative and non-binding). Others are asking 30 to 40 questions to issue a quote when they only need 10 or so to underwrite and offer a quote. Most insurers can offer accurate car insurance quotes within 6 to 10 questions and by doing this can grow the amount of new leads by 3x or 4x. 

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