P&C, Life Insurers Awarded for Online Content, Functionality
February 6, 2013 1:10 PM
Online customer experience is becoming a major priority among insurers. Providing a satisfying, easy-to-use web portal can make or break customer relations, as consumers are more fickle and demanding than ever. Breaking down insurers' web presence into nine categories for P&C insurers and 7 for life insurers, Corporate Insight has ranked contenders by categories such as public site navigation, login security, public education resources, and more. This slideshow highlights the top-ranked, "Gold Monitor" award winners in each of the 16 categories. More insurers were honored with bronze and silver mentions. For a full listing of the P&C insurers honored, click here. To see which life insurers fared best, click here.
P&C: Public Homepage
Gold: Liberty MutualThe insurer's homepage is formatted seemingly in a tablet- friendly design, with large fonts and a spacious layout. It offers a plethora of promotional imagery and quicklinks highlighting the firms products and services, such as customer testimonials and microsites. In addition, the firm utilizes multiple rotating image platforms for promotional content and videos. An expandable customer login field, quote tool and agent locator are also prominently displayed on the left side of the homepage. The firm provides multiple navigation menus with interactive and rollover capabilities on the homepage.
P&C: Private Homepage
Gold: AmicaIn the center of the homepage, the firm offers a good deal of information about the policy in an attractive, outlined box. Here, the firm lists the policy type and number, the period date, status and billing information. Clients can easily sign up for automatic payment plans, or utilize a dropdown box to quickly make a payment, find policy documents or view transaction history. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
P&C: Public Site Navigation
Gold: Liberty MutualBoasting a rollover main menu with promotional ads, a consistently-shown secondary navigation menu, overview pages for each main menu tab, breadcrumbs and quicklinks on every page, Liberty Mutual earned top honors in this category. Organization also was noted as a strong point, with separate tabs for auto and home insurance. Upon rollover of each tab, users can view sub-tabs of the category, a series of quicklinks and a promotional image. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
P&C: Auto Quote Tool
Gold: AllstateUsers can begin an auto quote directly from the public homepage by entering their ZIP code. The firm then includes many features throughout the quote interface, including a progress meter, option to save changes, live online chat tool and agent locator. The tool consists of six steps covering the driver and its vehicle, driving history and current insurance plan. Users can also pull vehicle information from DMV archives based on their address. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
P&C: Find An Agent Tool
Gold: AllstateThe firms easily accessible toolavailable on the homepage, the top static menu and throughout the siteoffers a good deal of search options, including queries by ZIP code, name and city, filters for products sold and an option to find Spanish-speaking agents. The results page displays a good deal of agent information, including name, a photograph, contact information and a note indicating they speak Spanish, if applicable. Allstate also offers a link to the agents website, provides an e-mail platform, and is the only firm offering a Click-to-Call feature.
P&C: Login Security
Gold: USAAThe login bar remains available to users in a static header throughout the website. And once a user ID and password is entered, clients are brought to an interstitial page requiring a four-digit PIN. The PIN, if forgotten, can be reset with a temporary PIN, retrievable via email, text message or by answering specific verification questions.
P&C: Safety Resources
Gold: TravelersTravelers offers a separate Prepare and Prevent site that houses all of the firms auto, home and weather-related safety resources. Links are available to the sitelet throughout the public site, however it is not promoted. Here, separate tabs are available for auto and home/property topics, and a tab describing the firms catastrophe-response protocol. Throughout the sitelet, Travelers offers access to safety tips, worksheets, educational PDFs and games.
P&C: Product Information
Gold: Liberty MutualThe Tools & Resources section of Liberty Mutual's site offers tips on preventing identity theft, fire prevention, and articles and checklists on preventing water damage. The firm also includes a hyperlinked coverage map that leads to individual information for each state and a coverage calculator as well as a quote tool.
P&C: Client Account Information
Gold: ProgressiveThe private site homepage offers a good deal of client information, including the policy number and type, period range and the clients address and e-mail. The firm also offers a policy summary page, which serves as a more substantial view of the policy than the homepage alone. On this page, users can view and edit vehicle information, including loan/lease information, driver information, and coverage amounts. Users can also view their driving history and discount information. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
Life: Public Homepage & Navigation
Gold: USAAAll of the top performing firms in this category shared desired traits: strong promotional imagery, overt login access and easy-to-use, flyout navigation menus. USAA excelled in particular with a dynamic design and intuitive site map. The homepage features one large rotating image platform, along with three smaller rotating image platforms that are arranged under three section headings, which serve as navigation tabs.
Life: Public Education Resources
Gold: Northwestern MutualA cache of educational resources ranging from interactive games to multimedia presentations and videos highlights this category's winner. The insurer also offers the basics, such as product comparison charts and a coverage calculator. Combined, the insurer finds itself ahead of the pack.
Life: Public Life Insurance Product Information Offerings
Gold: Northwestern MutualVisual aids and highly structured product pages were highlighted among all of the companies mentioned in this category, but Northwestern Mutual set itself apart with an innovative tab structure that outperformed the competition.
Life: Client Account Information
Gold: AXA Equitable, MetLifeA high level of contract detail and deft organization of materials separates these two insurers from the crowd. All active contracts are displayed in a convenient table format at the center of the page. Product type, insured parties, policy face amount, values to date and surrender value are displayed, along with a hyperlinked policy number that links to the information for each individual account. Additionally, the account selection screen provides access to account settings and presents clients with a Your Financial Professional section that displays the contact information for the appropriate financial representative.
Life: Client Statements
Gold: AXA EquitableThe annual life insurance statement from AXA consists of 22 pages and provides an extensive life insurance statement, complete with a message from the CEO, a glossary of terms, and a detailed view of key policy information. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
Life: Advisor Literature Order Systems
Gold: Lincoln Financial GroupThe Lincoln Financial Fulfillment Center earned high marks for quality, ease-of-use and providing a supplemental guide for the tools. The report also noted a useful tool that allows advisors to manage contacts, which makes bulk orders to several individuals much easier. Photo courtesy Corporate Insight
Life: Advisor Illustration Systems
Gold: AXA EquitableThe firm provides an illustration system powered by Aegis Illustrations. A few features of this new system include express input, quick links to useful information and distinctive proposal design. Other icons are offered to select a product concept, add a plan, view inforce policies, calculate an illustration e-mail or print reports as well as a few help features and reference guides.