Ten or 15 years ago, simply having a website might have done the trick for insurance agencies and brokerages.
But over the last several years, in the age of mobile devices and ubiquitous connectivity, the average person’s expectations for how a website should look and feel have changed dramatically.
It’s no longer enough to simply have a website; agencies and brokerages need web presences that meet and exceed client expectations. Generally speaking, this means they need to be pleasing on the eye, fast to load, easy to navigate, optimized for each device, and helpful.
Need a little more convincing that web design is more important than ever? Consider these stats:
- 38 percent of customers will stop engaging with a website if it’s poorly designed.
- 75 percent of people determine whether a business is credible based on how its website looks.
- 94 percent of first impressions on the web are design-related, and those first impressions are made within 50 milliseconds.
Has your agency or brokerage’s website evolved alongside the technological revolution? If it’s been a while since you’ve refreshed your website, now may be the perfect time to give it a face-lift.
The good news is that—with the right resources in place—doing so isn’t anywhere near as hard as it might sound. With that in mind, let’s take a look at four things to consider while you improve your insurance agent website.
1. User experience
In the world of web design, the user experience refers to how a person interacts with your site and whether that leaves a favorable impression on them.
If, for example, a visitor lands on your page and doesn’t understand how your site works or how to navigate from one part to the next, you likely have a poor user experience, which is churning clients and would-be prospects away.
On the flip side, if a visitor likes what they see on your site—if the design is pleasing, the architecture is intuitive, and the pages load quickly—you have a strong user experience. The better your user experience is, the more likely your website will be to help you meet your business goals.
2. Fast load times
Your website visitors expect your site to load quickly. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. But you might be surprised by what they mean by quickly—which is less than two seconds.
If your website takes a good while to load, you can be certain that a good number of visitors will give up and look for information elsewhere.
As you go about redesigning your website, be sure that all components—your home page, blog, client portal, and quote and enrolling tool—load lightning-fast. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table.
3. Mobile friendliness
By the end of 2019, it’s predicted that mobile devices will account for a whopping 63 percent of all web traffic. As such, it’s more important than ever for websites to deliver a mobile-optimized experience. In fact, 43 percent of consumers are unlikely to return to a slow-loading mobile site, and 40 percent will seek a substitute following a bad mobile experience.
How exactly do you make sure your site is mobile-optimized? It starts with picking a responsive web design that automatically scales to accommodate the size of the screen being used to access the site. You also need to compress images and remove images that aren’t mobile-friendly. For even more ways to optimize your mobile site, check this out.
4. Easy-to-access quotes online
In today’s digitally driven world, users expect instant gratification. Simply put, they don’t have the patience to wait around for any extended period of time to find the information they need or sign up for a service.
To this end, one of the more important things agencies and brokerages can do while redesigning a website is integrating real-time quoting and enrolling functionality into it. That way, potential prospects can enroll in the insurance plans that work best for their specific situation at the most convenient times.
As an added bonus, your team members won’t have to manually process every application that comes in. As a result, they will be able to reclaim a good chunk of time each week, which they can then invest in other revenue-generating areas of operations.
Are you ready to take your insurance agent website to the next level?
With the right approach, redesigning your website can pay tremendous dividends for your agency or brokerage. By improving the user experience, ensuring your website loads quickly and is mobile-optimized, and packing tons of useful information and features into your site, you can go a long way toward attracting new prospects and keeping existing clients engaged. Over time, this translates into happier website visitors, more conversions, and a healthier bottom line.
For more information on how you can transform your agency or brokerage with modern tools, read our new CRM Productivity Report.
