Most of the auto insurance buyers turn to the internet to obtain a quote and they are no longer going through the traditional channels such as the insurance agents or other call centers, states J.D. Power and Associates in its recent report.
For the first time, states the Westlake Village, a California-based marketing information services company, there are over 50% of the insurance buyers who are obtaining their quotes online. In the US Insurance shopping study conducted this year, at least 54% of insurance shoppers had turned to the net to get their first quote. But there are many who continue to do their insurance shopping either through call centers or through their local agents.
According to J.D. Power, these results have underscored the fact that since the last five years during which period the study has taken place, there has been a steady increase in the use of the insurer’s website to purchase new insurance. These websites have helped generate new business amongst buyers and there has been a steady increase in online shopping as against the call centers or local agents.
This transition from the traditional channels to the insurer’s websites is a very dominant and lead-generation channel and shows the obvious shift which insurers must recognize while addressing their strategies in sales and marketing, states Jeremy Bowler who is the senior director at J.D. Power and Associates. At least 50% of the web quotes that are accepted are then either closed by the insurance agent or the representative at the call center.
There are more and more buyers who appear to be keen on shopping for a new insurance policy every year, as per the results of the survey. The average shoppers have increased to 33% when compared to 30% the previous year, while it was 27% during 2009. Out of all these insurance shoppers at least 40% had made the switch to a new insurer, this is up from 33% last year.
Bowler also observed that the insurance companies had spent around $5 billion last year on the advertising and marketing and $2.6 billion amongst the top 4 insurers. Hence, we may assume that this could have contributed to the insurance shopping, but more often than not, people shop around due to some life event or when they want some better deals. Customers generally make the switch only when they are unhappy with the services that provided by their insurers.
