Author: Bill Wilson
In this six-part series, we're going to explore how technology can and should be used to enhance your ability to provide high levels of quality customer service. We'll look at two areas: traditional technologies such as the telephone, voice mail and fax, then emerging technologies such as email and internet web sites. This article examines your web site.
In the Booz-Allen & Hamilton survey cited earlier, 89% of businesses polled have web sites and 56% of them are using their web sites to provide customer service.
For example, AIG, Chubb and Crum & Forster are using their web sites to provide detailed, timely claims information to agents and insureds. Other companies or agencies have implemented processes where customers, with the proper authorization, can generate their own certificates of insurance without human intervention. One agency I'm familiar with has an employee that everyone refers to as the "certificate lady" because that's 80% of her job. The agency specializes in the contracting industry and generates dozens of certificates daily. When standardized ACORD forms will do, think of the time savings when this process is automated via the internet…and think of the unique value of this customer service when a contractor can order, and receive via email, a certificate at 5:00 a.m.
Bob Arowood of the Insurance Service Group in Clinton, Tennessee takes advantage of Reliance National's CyberComp system to quote workers compensation coverage on the internet in 10 minutes or less…if the customer accepts the quote, a simple click on CyberComp's "Bind" button and the selection of a payment plan completes the deal.
These are just a few examples of how the internet can be used to enhance customer service. Does your agency have a web site? If not, why not? If you do, are you using it to its maximum potential?
According to Dr. Ian Morrison, former president of Stanford's Institute for the Future, "By the year 2000, 97% of America's businesses will have a web site. However, only 3% will know why!"
One of the first things your agency should do is develop an internet strategy for marketing and customer service. Much of the dialog today is about whether or not people will buy insurance over the internet and, if so, to what extent they'll buy. My point is, "What's the point?" Even if you never directly sell a single policy exclusively over the internet, you can still use a web site to generate prospects and service existing customers because you can reach your market 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What is your target market and how can you position yourself to provide customer service in a manner that is innovative and unique relative to the competition?
If you look at most agency web sites, you'll find drab presentations that are little more than marketing brochures with a list of companies, staff members, phone numbers, and the like. How does that benefit your customers? Why would it cause a prospect to visit or return to your web site, much less tell others about it? The answers are simple: "It doesn't and it won't." Although this is an increasingly critical issue, we're running short on tape, so in the few minutes we have left, let me give you some things to think about with regard to your web site. If these ideas pique your interest, let us know and perhaps we can devote an entire tape or other informational medium to this subject.
Web site considerations
First of all, if you are outsourcing the development of your web site, you must still play an active role in its development. Don't leave it up to your "webmaster" to determine how your site should be designed…many of them have done little or no research on how a site should be designed to fulfill your unique mission. Take the time to look around the internet at sites who's design, structure and navigation you like -- even if they are noninsurance sites -- and ask that the person designing your web site use these as models. In developing your site, there are three areas that must be considered:
Interface…this involves the architecture of your site and how visitors will navigate from one area to another. Your web pages and navigation schemes should be consistence. Simply put, your site should be intuitive and easy to use…visitors should be able to find what they're looking for quickly and easily.
Appearance…your site should be well designed and laid out, and professional in appearance. Avoid dark backgrounds, garish colors, frivolous animations, and the like. Many web designers, if left unchecked, will be inclined to throw in the latest and greatest web site bells and whistles. Why? Because they can. For the most part, text and tasteful graphics, coupled with good design and layout are all you need to have a very effective web site. Most important of all, your pages should not contain huge graphics that take forever to download. Believe me, net surfers won't stick around to see that beautiful portrait of the founder of your agency on your home page, nor do they care about that. What your visitors care about most of all is….
Content…your site should have ample amounts of unique, important, valuable information that is easy to find and apply to the needs of your visitors. Studies have consistently show that the primary reason that people go on the internet is to do research and gather information. You should position yourself so that your web site provides valuable information for your target market that is available nowhere else on the internet. If you can provide value-added information that benefits your existing customers and leads prospect towards a purchasing decision, believe me, you'll get your share of the business…whether that business is written directly over the internet or through traditional means.
Cater to your clientele. It is important that your site not be an "Everyman" to anyone who might be interested in buying insurance. You probably have a diverse group of existing customers. If so, consider separate web sites or at least separate sections of the same web site for different customer markets. Have a site or an area just for contractors with insurance and noninsurance information that would interest them, links to contracting industry sites, and so forth. If you target jewelers, have a section for them. Have a consumer section for families. You get the idea…focus your attention.
Post FAQ's. As mentioned earlier, post a Frequently Asked Questions section on your web site. This will save you immeasurable customer service time. In addition, it may help your E&O position if you post information on what a customer should do after a loss…there's your documentation for the world to see.
Solicit customer feedback. Be sure to include a customer feedback form on your web site…customers love being asked for their opinion, so give them a "report card" to fill out that has just a few, short questions and allows them to grade you with an "A," "B," "C," etc. Post your customer service "grade point average" (assuming its good, of course!) along with positive customer comments and "success stories"…these unsolicited testimonials bring a human touch to your site.
Solicit customer feedback constantly. Whenever you send a customer an email, include a hyperlink to a customer service survey form on your web site. If you've just solved a problem for a customer, they will be more inclined to give you immediate-and positive-feedback.
Ask for email referrals. According to IIABA's Best Practices study, a key factor in agency growth, retention and profitability is referrals. Email enables a loyal customer to tell someone else about their positive experiences in a matter of seconds.
Have contact information on each web page. Virtually every page of your web site should have a footer that includes every way you can be contacted…postal address, phone and fax numbers, email address, and web site address.
Make your site indispensable…have lots of information, advice, etc. (e.g., policy/coverage summaries, articles on how to lower your insurance costs, disaster preparedness information, and so forth.) Also, don't be afraid to include noninsurance information. At my personal web site, I'm developing what I call the "Ultimate Links Page" which will have links to everything you can imagine, split into categories such as Business, Family, Entertainment, etc.
Provide "live" information. It is easy to add simple features such as the date and time, local weather, a news ticker, and other items of immediacy. If you or your companies have the technology in place, you might be able to provide real-time information on claims or other features of that customer's account. Federal Express permits real-time tracking of shipped items…and, they estimate that this system already saves them well over $1 million a month in customer service phone call inquiries.
Track customer web site navigation. Your internet service provider should be able to provide you with reports about where your web site visitors are coming from and what areas of your web site appear to be of greatest interest to them. That will enable you to know what portions of your site need further development or enhancement and what changes, if any, are needed on how visitors navigate on your site. Amazon.com, the online bookseller, tracks customer buying preferences and directs each visitor to their unique interests…when I visit Amazon, they know what books or CD's I prefer and, besides greeting me on their home page with a "Hello, Bill," they provide me with a recommended reading or listening list. Now, that's service and that's marketing!
Give your customers what they want to see, not what you want to show them. Remember that your customers don't care about you, they care about themselves. So, don't put a big spiel on your home page about the history of your agency…get to the point, and the point is providing easily accessible, valuable information to your customers.
Check your competitors' web sites. Periodically check around and see what your competitors or other agents around the country are doing. Emulate what you like best and try not to laugh at the rest. But, don't forego innovation…remember that you want to provide a unique experience.