Online marketing, like all marketing, is about standing out. It’s differentiating from the crowd – showing off what makes your business and product unique.
Online insurance agency marketing demands time and resources to achieve this, yet agencies too often neglect marketing efforts. Independent agencies have distinct value points and culture, yet their online branding efforts take a backseat. With over 38,000 independent insurance agencies in the U.S., communicating your value proposition is critical. But, all value is lost in a cookie-cutter, template-based website. You’ve worked so hard to build your agency’s brand – why let it get lost in a sea of sameness?
Take a moment to make your agency website stand out.
Start by clearly defining your value. What is it that makes you stand out in your industry and locality? It could be a niche market, like serving small business owners or emergency service vehicles. Maybe you pride yourself in utilizing the latest technology, or you have great customer service stories. Whatever it is, make it front and center on your website.
Next, show your agency’s personality. Add elements to your site that show off not only what you do, but who you are as an agency. This can be candid photos of staff or even quirky “About Us” descriptions for your leadership. Show off your local team spirit or share a joke – something to show prospects that you’ve got a distinct company culture.
Find out how to make your site engaging, informative and more in our “4 Essential Elements” post
Once a prospect or customer finds your agency website, they shouldn’t have to fumble around to get connected. The first step is optimizing your site for all devices. Web searches are no longer confined to a computer: phones, tablets, and other devices now display web pages, too. Make sure your website is easy to read on each.
If you have a social presence (and you should!), integrate social media with your website. Have links to your social profiles on the footer of each page and include social sharing buttons on any relevant content.
Your agency website should also include intuitive, easy to find forms. Prospects and customers alike will appreciate simple, straight-forward methods to request information. Include ways to file a claim, request policy changes and ID cards, and access certificates of insurance. These easily accessible services not only streamline your operations, they boost your customer connection.
Get tips on how to organize your site for ease of use here
Nothing is worse than a static site. The nature of the online world is that it’s always changing. Stay relevant with new content. Whether it’s sharing industry news or managing a blog, keep things fresh. Switch out photos and mix up your homepage’s featured content. These little updates show your agency is present and dynamic.
It’s also important to use the latest technology. This doesn’t mean you need a cutting edge, highly stylized site. Focus on elements like modern design, navigation widgets, and sticky menus. Look around at other agency sites for ideas and start integrating what works for you.
Is your website up to date? Find out if it’s time to update
Agency websites may be a common thing, but doing the common things uncommonly well is critical to your insurance agency website success. Give your virtual storefront the time and care it deserves. The payoff will be huge.
At SIS, we know and value taking time to craft a quality product that is uniquely “us.” That’s why we continually connect with our clients to improve our Partner XE management system. Each Partner XE update is full of enhancements requested and tested by our clients.
Want to find out what makes SIS and Partner XE unique? Check out our about us page or contact us at [email protected] to get connected today.
This phrase has become commonplace – the answer for everything from “what are those song lyrics?” to “which car should I buy?”. The internet is now the number one source for information gathering and decision making. This means your insurance agency website design is critical: it is where most of your prospects and customers will interact with your brand. It may even be how they find you in the first place.
Your insurance agency website design plays an important role in gaining new business and retaining customers. So it needs to make an impact – and a positive one at that.
An effective insurance agency website is one that is attractive, informative, useful, and engaging.
Use pleasing elements, such as a “sticky menu” that stays glued to the top or side of the screen. A sleek design– something clean and bright – provides a positive user experience. Stick to one or two colors and minimal graphics, all of which should communicate your agency’s brand. Less is more here. Don’t overload pages with text. Get to the point using bulleted lists or other methods to break things up. Finally, stick to one or two font styles as anything more makes your site seem chaotic.
People come to your agency website to learn: about your team, your services, and what makes you stand apart. Bring the most important information to the forefront such as links to your contact, about, services, and request a quote pages. Users should be able to navigate to these pages from anywhere on your site. Include a search bar at the top of each page to allow users to easily find the relevant information they need.
Your insurance agency website design must serve users’ needs. Prospective customers need access to online quotes and your service list, but they will also look for ways your site serves your current customers. Online payments, access to policy information, printable ID cards, and online claims processing are appealing. Any way to make service faster and more convenient is a plus.
Users should be able to interact with your agency website, and access your agency through it – from anywhere, at any time, on any device. The first step is a responsive design, meaning your site will adapt depending on what is used to view it: phone, tablet, laptop, or another device. Adding social streams (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) increases users interaction. Finally, an interactive help center can help your customers troubleshoot issues faster. The ability to live chat with agents or get an immediate email response to resolve issues creates a positive user experience.
Your website is an important part of your agency’s brand and a valuable marketing tool. SIS has a multitude of resources to help you build your brand, including more tips on how to continually improve your online presence. Check out our other agency resources here, or contact us to find out how our team can help your agency grow.
As technology is evolving and updating at a rapid pace, what was popular yesterday is out of date today. This is especially relevant with websites, as new and innovative designs, styles, and techniques are popping up each day. It can be difficult to sift through what’s “for today” and what’s here to stay, but your agency needs to get in the game by updating your website.
Our latest eGuide addresses current industry standards for an up to date, relevant website as we look at 5 Signs Your Agency Website is Outdated. From searchability to responsiveness, we review the most important elements for getting your website up to snuff.
Download the eGuide here! While you’re there check out some of our other great resources, including FAQ and demos on our latest Partner XE 2015.
You’ve put a lot of time and effort into your agency’s website, crafting a great sales and service tool for your customers, partners, and employees. It’s out there and it looks good, but your work is not done. To make your website great, you need regular maintenance and updates. Just as you constantly check in and update your customers, you must do the same with your website to stay relevant and competitive.
The key to a quality site is a positive user experience. Your agency’s website must be intuitive, clean, and easy to navigate. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if it’s up to snuff, so look for signs that it’s time to update. You’re due for a re-vamp when:
Mobile compatible websites are a must for any business. If your agency isn’t mobile ready, this should be your first order of business. Creating a mobile friendly website is easy and with platforms such as Squarespace, your site can go mobile with the click of a button. However, you should always preview and test first, working out any kinks before making it live.
It’s okay to have some static elements of your website, but it should have dynamic aspects as well. Current CSS updates make it easy to add elements such as videos and social media feeds, making your page come alive to users. Look into responsive designs offering roll over and other interactive elements to keep users interested.
If it’s been over two years since you created your agency’s website, you’re overdue for a redesign. Trends change and your existing and potential customers will be looking for a site reflecting the current style. This means changing colors, menu navigations, and other aspects of page design. New technology quickly makes what was impossible yesterday, possible. Check out some recent design trends at 99designs.com.
Part of making your website dynamic is keeping the information fresh. This means updating your agency’s address, phone, employee information, and including an aspect that is always changing. Include a blog, “tip of the day”, or customer testimonial to keep things current and relevant.
Check out other agency and industry sites to see how yours compares. By taking a look at other designs, you’ll get a sense of what you want in your own website.
The sispartnerplatform.com is always growing and changing to keep up with our clients, providing the resources needed to run a top-of-the-line agency. Check out some of these resources for yourself, or contact us at [email protected] to get connected.
Your independent insurance agency’s website is your storefront to online insurance shoppers. If your “storefront” looks stale and dreary, you won’t have any customers. But, if you use your website right, it can be an excellent sales and service resources for you and your clients.
In our latest eGuide, A Great Sales and Service Resource: Your Independent Insurance Agency Website, we share some great tips on how to make your website attractive to current and potential clients. We cover how to make your website attractive, findable, actionable and educational as well knowing how your website is performing. These tips will help you:
This is only one of our many useful eGuides. Check out our others, which focus on topics like Effective Marketing on a Limited Budget and Improving Agency Communication with Cloud Apps. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, contact us today!
When Lara Moffitt began as CEO of MHJ Insurance, her first order of business was to find a new agency management system. She knew their old system was complicated, expensive, and had poor customer service. It was clearly time for MHJ to make a change.
So, Lara rallied her team to start their search for a new agency management system provider. The three-month-long project included a series of interviews, demos, and plenty of internal discussions about what was working and what wasn’t.
Innovation is key to longevity in any industry, and the insurance industry is no different. Insurance revolves around people and relationships, making it an inherently dynamic field.
Digital insurance demands seem to change by the day to keep up with evolving customer and agency needs. That’s why we at Partner Platform partner with various tech partners to stay up to date with changing conditions. We as an organization can only be experts in so many areas, so we recognize the need to partner with outside specialists to fill our gaps.
We work with industry groups and tech companies to cover areas like digital document processing and cyber security, among others. Below are a few of our recent posts highlighting these valuable tech partnerships.
Insurance tech advancements are making everyday processes faster and more efficient, and customers are demanding more digital interactions than ever before. Despite the benefits and increasing customer demand for insurance tech, your team may be hesitant to adopt new technology.
This hesitancy is understandable. Change is difficult, and introducing a new process or system to an individual’s workflow can be frustrating. But, the benefits of integrating insurance tech into your agency far outweigh the challenges of overcoming change.
Here are a few ways we’ve seen agencies work to be more receptive to new technology and system updates.