Internet Sale Forecast: Slow Growth

By E.E. Mazier

NU Online News Service, June 18, 3:06 EST?Don't expect any spikes in the sale of insurance products over the Internet, an insurance industry consultant who has studied Internet commerce advises.

That forecast came from Ted Devine, a principal of the New York-based management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company in an interview with National Underwriter. He said that pure Internet sales of insurance will grow gradually but steadily, like the sale of insurance through call centers.

His firm provides consulting services on marketing, logistics, product development and other areas to clients such as insurance companies and life insurance brokerage firms.

In survey results reported last year on the online buying habits of more than 1,000 randomly selected U.S. consumers, McKinsey found that the impact of the Internet varies according to the line of insurance.

Even today, the lines most likely to be sold purely over the Internet without an agent are automobile and term life insurance, Mr. Devine stated.

The more complicated lines, such as homeowners insurance and whole life insurance, are being sold through agents, even if customers use the Web for their initial research.

While insurance company Web sites get thousands of consumer hits a day, the insurers most likely to gain a competitive advantage are those that use technology methodically and thoughtfully, rather than aggressively, to more effectively deliver their business model, he suggested.

"What you're seeing is most insurance companies setting up some vehicle where the consumer can get information and in many instances agent and rating information on the Internet," Mr. Devine said.

He added that "the better companies are providing a self-directed mechanism" that allows consumers to decide how they want to make the purchase.

As an example, he cited Progressive Insurance Co.'s successful leveraging of Internet technology and call centers in both personal and small commercial lines. Mr. Devine also noted that The Hartford, Travelers and Zurich have managed to gain an advantage on the small commercial lines side by leveraging technology.

Mr. Devine places the current percentage of the population that actually purchase online without the help of an agent or call center at 1 percent to 2 percent.

He doubts that figure will rise to 15 percent in the next five years, as predicted in some quarters. "That would be more than the direct-response ?[percentage] after 25 years of call centers being an effective means to deliver insurance," he noted.

Mr. Devine believes that what is more prevalent than selling via the Internet is that the more astute insurers are leveraging Internet technology "to better squeeze costs out," --such as by reducing interaction expenses --and "to enhance customer service delivery."

Mr. Devine said he thought that the people who three years ago said that the Internet would "take over the world" were wrong then. But those who in the face of the recent "dot.com implosion" are saying that the Internet is "completely dead" are wrong now, he said.

For those insurers who use the dot.com implosion as an excuse to not take advantage of Internet technology, this is "probably not the smartest long-term answer," Mr. Devine said.

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Internet Sale Forecast: Slow Growth

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