Molding Growth, Up And Down the Channel
Insurance Networking News, March 1, 2009
Before the economy began its southward spiral, insurers were already improving the Web and multichannel customer experience. In today's economy, however, they have placed a new focus on surpassing the competition by reinforcing the value of the entire chain.
"The economic crisis has placed a renewed spotlight on the value of insurance agents," notes Chad Mitchell, senior analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc., and author of Forrester's "Trends 2009: Insurance eBusiness and Channel Strategy" report. "In turbulent times, many customers want to connect with another human being. Despite the increase in online insurance research, we know that in-person visits generate higher conversion."
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Mitchell points to GEICO, the U.S. direct-to-consumer insurance giant, which is communicating the value of local agents in mass advertising to deliver a true multichannel distribution model with Web, call center and agents.
Like GEICO, Progressive has made an art out of the direct-to-consumer model. Yet, Progressive takes more of an agnostic approach to where dollars are spent to increase sales, says Director of Information Technology Alvito Vaz. Along with the usual advertising, the Mayfield Village, Ohio, insurer is putting its money into technology.
"We obviously try to focus on the end consumer, but we are indifferent around the purchase process," says Vaz. "Some like direct, some like agents, so we try to provide both with the same level of technology."
That level of technology includes an agent portal that allows Progressive's representatives to customize their individual Web sites, create links that enable consumers to obtain real-time quotes transparently, and service the business once it's acquired.
WHAT AGENTS WANT
Heading up the team that customizes Web facing for both agent and consumers, Vaz estimates that Progressive is the broadest distributed carrier in the agent channel. Therefore, the company is mindful of what its more-than-30,000 independent agents want: the ability to sell and service their business. "We've focused on delivering the technology that enables agents to build relationships with their customers over time. And over time, we are seeing that customers want to interact differently with agents than they did in the past. It's still a relationship business, but how those relationships are established and maintained are different."
For example, in the past a customer may have walked into the agent's office to get a quote, pay a bill or make a change to a policy. "In the future," says Vaz, "they may have that conversation over a [Cisco] WebEx. We know today many customers want to be able to pay their bills electronically at any given time. Our technology enables them to do this securely through the agent's site."
Vaz admits that to some degree, technology adoption at the agent level is currently uneven, but points to leaders that take full advantage of it. One such leader is a Progressive agent based in Texas who equipped his Web site with a transparent link to Progressive's quote engine. To the customer accessing the agent's Web site from the outside, it appeared as if the agent was there and available to them.
"The agent happened to be in Cleveland at an Indians baseball game when he got a text message from us saying someone just requested a quote, so he was able to contact that potential customer and close that sale from the ballpark. We are starting to bridge time and space with tools that an agency, on its own, could not develop."
Richard Cantu, president of Texas Life & Health, Round Rock, Texas, represents health insurers such as Aetna, Banner Life, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, Unicare and United Healthcare. Conducting business solely in the state of Texas, Cantu has increased sales using technology that promotes independent consumer-based research and a lack of dependence on the agent.
"When people have been downsized and their COBRA plan is running out, they want to see options, and they want to research those options on their own time," he says.
Those options are made available from Chicago-based Norvax, a provider of health insurance quoting tools. "We act like the Travelocity of health insurance," says Jeremiah Desmarais, VP of marketing. "We only offer quote data from carriers who give us approval first. The carrier supplies the rates, and agents must be appointed by the carrier before they can access the data. Our goal is to make it easier for both parties."
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