There are high-quality Web sites in the insurance industry, andthere are some poor ones. A study of the online presence of 11leading national carriers offering personal auto insurance found awide disparity among carriers, report representatives of KeynoteSystems, which conducted the study.

Keynote selected the largest and most prominent onlinecompetitors in the insurance industry for its study, according toSteve Foster, director of competitive research for Keynote. "Whenwe look at the overall index, the number-one performer last yearand this year is Progressive Insurance," he says. American Familyranked second this year, up from third a year ago. Allstate climbedto third from fifth place a year ago. GEICO was second in 2006 butslipped to fourth this year. The remaining carriers, in order, wereTravelers, Nationwide, MetLife, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, GMAC,and AIG.

The study uncovered some major issues insurers need to addresswith regard to technical quality. While studying the sites over a30-day period, Ben Rushlo, a senior manager for Keynote, discoveredsome sites were down for between 20 and 40 hours, eliminating anyopportunity for customers to get a quote online.

Rushlo also found varying levels of performance quality in termsof download speeds. "The industry always is pushing for newinteractivity, but you can't leave the basics behind–the site hasto work when the user comes to the site, or all the money spent onbranding and usability will go for nothing," he says. "A couple ofinsurer sites, at least in the month we measured them, were not upto quality in providing the basic level of service tocustomers."

Speed of the Web site and the ability to be error-free are thetwo main issues insurers have to conquer, indicates Rushlo. "Thereare lots of things underneath those two buckets, but those are thebasics," he says. "If sites aren't doing those two things, usersare going to be frustrated. Users have high expectations based onthe belief the Internet is pretty mature. If those issues aren'tmet, it's going to be a problem."

There are huge differences between the top carriers on Keynote'slist, Rushlo contends, and those on the bottom. Some sites, such asProgressive and GEICO, did not have any outages over the one-monthstudy, while three sites had more than 10 hours of outage and twosites had more than 30 hours. "That's like saying, 'I'm supposed tobe open Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, but this week I've decidedto be closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday' and not let you know,which basically is turning business away," he says. "People acceptthat more on the Internet because it is technology, but somecompanies are turning people away. In a competitive industry,people will go somewhere else."

The worry over privacy and security on insurance Web sites hasdiminished in the last year, notes Foster. "Insurance companieshave done a good job of assuring visitors to their sites privateinformation won't be compromised," he says.

Contact information is a key factor on an insurance Web site,Foster believes. Insurers are able to deliver information to a sitevisitor on policies and rates, but they then need to hand off thevisitor to someone who can deliver more information and consummatethe transaction. "[Visitors] have questions, and the reason[contact information] is rising in importance is because [insurers]are doing a good job at intriguing the interest of visitors to thesite," he says.

Most visitors prefer the option to call someone and speak with ahuman being, but Foster contends carriers should offer options,including the ability to instant message, e-mail, or phone someone."All the options should be in place," he says.

Foster also is impressed with how insurers are getting the quoteand research process down. "Effectively delivering a reasonablequote fairly quickly was the toughest thing to accomplish forinsurers," he says.

Rushlo points out doing business on the Web rides mainly on theassumption the Web site will be available when a user goes to it,and there is some level of technical quality and performance."Users are less likely to accept poor quality today than they werefive years ago when the Internet was more of a neat thing to haverather than today where it is regarded as a utility," heconcludes.