For Auto Insurers, a Good Website Attracts Business Even When Rates Are Higher

While the battle for auto-insurance consumers seems to largely center around price, a good website experience can go a long way with consumers as well, a recent survey shows.

"A positive online experience for customers has measurable benefits for insurers, both in terms of existing customer satisfaction and attracting additional shoppers to their websites," says Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the global insurance practice at J.D. Power & Associates after J.D. Power released its "2013 Insurance Website Evaluation Study."

According to J.D. Power, price remains a significant factor for auto-insurance consumers, but a majority of shoppers will still choose a carrier that offers a positive website experience even if the quoted price is not the lowest. "As would be expected, a higher rated site that also offers a lower price quote tends to close the shopper's business a majority of the time (90 percent)," J.D. Power says. "However, a higher rated site that provides a higher quoted price still closes a majority of the time (60 percent).

Of course, the opposite is also true, J.D. Power notes. "More than one-half of all insurance shoppers today use the web to scout their options, and many further seek to obtain quotes online," Bowler notes. "Since policy shopping frequently includes the tasks of finding policy information and requesting a quote, it is understandable that customers who did not find those tasks to be particularly easy tend to abandon one brand in favor of others, often providing a low rating for that site."

J.D. Power's study measured online customer experiences while performing shopping and servicing tasks based on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being "very difficult," 3 being "neither difficult nor easy," and 5 being "very easy." 

The study examined functional aspects of websites rather than aesthetic aspects, such as look and feel, J.D. Power says. 

J.D. Power notes that customers indicated that, in general, using insurer websites to service an existing policy was easier than shopping for a policy.

The study's shopping evaluation included: requesting a quote, comparing policies, finding policy information, finding discount information and finding company contact information. After customers rated these tasks, J.D. Power says each task was weighted to determine "the extent to which it influences the website's overall usability." 

The two most heavily weighted tasks—finding policy information and requesting a quote—were the hardest tasks to perform, J.D. Power says, with customers providing ratings of 3.6 and 3.8, respectively. Finding company contact information is the easiest task to perform, with a rating of 4.2.

Based on a 500-point scale, the industry average for the overall shopping index was 347, and 414 for the average overall servicing index. 

Among the 20 websites included in the study, J.D. Power calls out Esurance, GEICO and Progressive for performing "particularly well in the ease of use for both shopping and servicing with their websites."

The 2013 Insurance Website Evaluation Study (IWES) was based on more than 7,000 evaluations in March and April 2013.