NU Online News Service, May 25, 11:37 a.m. EDT

A good customer website experience can lead to increased sales and recommendations for auto insurers, but a poor website experience can drive consumers away, says a J.D. Power study.

The Westlake Village, Calif.-based information-services company released its 2012 Insurance Website Evaluation Study yesterday, which indicates that with 34 percent of auto-insurance consumers preferring to shop online, the website experience “impacts the likelihood to shop and recommend the insurer” to others.

According to the study, of consumers who said they were “delighted” with their website experience, 63 percent say they are more likely to shop with that insurer.

Conversely, of consumers who were disappointed with their experience, just 14 percent say they were likely to shop with the insurer.

Of those delighted with the website experience, 50 percent say they would definitely recommend the insurer to someone else, compared to only 2 percent that would definitely recommend the insurer when they were disappointed with the experience.

Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power, says in a statement, “Insurers have a fantastic opportunity to gain shoppers, and their referrals, by providing a website that is easy to use, has a professional and engaging appearance, and is a great resource for the shopping process.”

J.D. Power says there are five factors that contribute to shoppers' overall satisfaction:

Ease of navigating the website.
Appearance of the website.
Clarity of information provided on the website.
Range of services that can be performed on the website.
Speed of the website.

The ease of getting a quote is a key aspect of the shopper's experience online, says J.D. Power. Many insurers streamline the process by minimizing the number of questions asked and using prefilled information. However, not all insurers do this well, says the firm.

Only 72 percent of shoppers requesting a quote online received one immediately, while 18 percent had to wait for a follow-up response. Ten percent were unable to get a quote.

In an interview, Bowler says this is the first time J.D. Power has evaluated customer satisfaction with insurance company Web sites. He says J.D. Power has done evaluation of other industry Web sites for 11 years. Using the auto industry as an example, he says automobile manufacturer's score 50 percent higher than the insurance industry. But, he adds, the auto industry has taken years to develop these sites. He also recognizes that insurance carriers have a challenge developing online underwriting platform integrates the myriad of information and discounts that go into producing a quote.

Four insurers' websites performed very well in shopper satisfaction:

Allstate.
Esurance.
GEICO.
Travelers.

The J.D. Power survey, conducted in March, polled 1,650 auto insurance shoppers.

This story was updated at 1:56 p.m. EDT with an interview with Bowler.

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Survey: Quality of Website Can Make or Break Auto-Insurance Sale

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