Study: Auto Insurer Web Sites A User Disaster

Study: Auto Insurer Web Sites A User Disaster

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, March 23, 4 :15 p.m. EST?Many auto insurers' online quote systems are so bad they are steering business away from the carrier, a testing firm said after researching popular Web locations.[@@]

In a study of 14 leading auto insurance Web sites, byWeb Mystery Shoppers International Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, .nearly half the 476 testers reported receiving error messages when they tried to get a quote.

Mystery Shoppers said more than a third of the testers were put off by the sites asking for personal information that should not be required just to get a quote, such as whether they own or lease their home.

"There's huge potential for auto insurers to increase sales and lower selling costs by making their Web sites more shopper-friendly," said Tema Frank, president of Web Mystery Shoppers International Inc.

"The differences between the best sites, such as American Family, and the worst were enormous ? much bigger than what we typically see in our industry studies," Ms. Frank said. She noted that only 11percent of Web Mystery Shoppers testing American Family's site got error messages, versus 70 percent at the worst site.

"The shoppers told us that they want to comparison shop -- most of them said they'd get quotes from at least three or four sites before deciding who to go with. But if you can't even get through an insurer's online quoting form without problems, you've got to wonder how painful it would be if you ever had to make a claim!" commented Ms. Frank.

Web Mystery Shoppers said it studied the following companies' Web sites: AIG Direct, Allstate, American Family, Esurance, Geico, GMAC, Insure.com, InsWeb, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, State Farm, Travelers, Unitrin Direct, and Youdecide.com

The study is available for purchase from Web Mystery Shoppers International Inc. online at www.webmysteryshoppers.com or toll-free: 1-866-211-7027.

Web Mystery Shoppers International Inc. said its services help companies increase sales and lower selling costs.

The company said it uses large numbers of trained, paid testers, who work from their own computers and provide detailed, page-by-page feedback, about their experience, to give clients insight not only about the Web site, but about differences in user perception based on variables like computer and browser systems and Internet experience.

Ms. Frank said the names of the poorly rated firms were only being released to buyers of the survey. "Our purpose is not to badmouth the bad companies but to help companies," she said.

"We're not a rating service," said Ms. Frank, "we're one that helps companies improve in what they are doing."

She said that her company wants to avoid the perception that if a firm contracts with Mystery Shoppers "you go higher on the list," adding that "the reality is that different companies are good on different things and vary on where they are worst."