|
June 21, 2006
PRESS RELEASE
Progressive Leads the Pack in Online Auto Insurance Industry, Reports Keynote
- Auto Insurance Web Sites Examined from Two Unique Perspectives: Online Customer Experience and
Implementation of Best Practices
- Competition for Auto Insurance Customers Increasingly Driven by Online Quotes
- 72% of Consumers Use the Web to Obtain Auto Insurance Quotes
- Progressive Top Ranked Site in Customer Experience and WebExcellence
- GEICO Leads Customer Acquisition Rankings and Ranks Third in WebExcellence
- Esurance Ranked as Providing the Best Online Quote Process
SAN MATEO, Calif., — June 21, 2006 — Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN),
The Internet Performance Authority®, announced today the top line results of two unique
competitive intelligence studies that provide a comparative examination of online customer
experience and best practices implementation by leading automobile insurance Web sites.
Progressive Insurance ranked as the number one site in each study.
The two studies provide an unprecedented amount of valuable data that brings into sharp focus
the state of the online auto insurance industry and underscore the importance of customer experience
monitoring and best practices implementation as critical factors for competing successfully in
today’s competitive market.
Keynote’s customer experience study shows that consumers are turning away from obtaining
auto insurance quotes over the phone and increasingly turning to the Web for those same quotes.
The study uncovered that in the highly competitive $158 billion auto insurance industry, price
competitiveness and the online quote process are the leading indicators of success in landing
new customers online.
The Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Auto Insurance Web Sites examines
the online experience of 1,500 prospective auto insurance customers as they interacted with
leading auto insurance sites. The study measured 250+ metrics for each site including ease
of use, satisfaction, brand appeal and customer acquisition impact during April 2006. A companion
study, the Keynote WebExcellence Insurance Carrier Scorecard, measured and ranked insurance
sites for online excellence according to their use and execution of 240+ industry best practices in
online policy sales and servicing. That study was conducted in May 2006 and was based on the collection
of nearly 4,000 pieces of competitive data for each of 16 sites included in the study.
The AIG (NYSE: AIG), Allstate (NYSE: ALL), American Family, Esurance, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, MetLife
(NYSE: MET), Nationwide (NYSE: NFS), Progressive (NYSE: PGR) and State Farm sites were evaluated for the
Customer Experience study. Most of these sites plus the Amica, Electric Insurance, The Hartford AARP (NYSE: HIG),
Safeco (NasdaqNM: SAFC), Travelers Insurance (NYSE: STA), Unitrin Direct (NYSE: UTR), USAA and 21st Century
(NasdaqNM: TCHC) sites were included in the WebExcellence Scorecard study.
Progressive and GEICO Ranked as Leading Sites
The Progressive, GEICO and American Family sites were deemed the best auto insurance sites on the Web,
topping the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings, an overall measure of customer experience and
customer satisfaction across the more than 250+ metrics measured in the study. Progressive (included Progressive
and Progressive Direct sites), GEICO, along with USAA, also ranked atop the Keynote WebExcellence Scorecard
based on their performance across the 240+ best practices evaluated in the study. The overall success of these
sites also translated into increased customer acquisition impact.
Keynote Customer Experience Rankings
(Overall Customer Satisfaction and Experience) |
1 |
Progressive |
2 |
GEICO |
3 |
American Family |
|
Keynote Customer Acquisition Rankings
(Overall Success in Driving Quote Requests and Policy Applications) |
1 |
GEICO |
2 |
State Farm |
3 |
Progressive |
|
Keynote WebExcellence Scorecard
(Overall Online Excellence and Implementation of Best Practices) |
1 |
Progressive |
2 |
USAA |
3 |
GEICO |
|
GEICO, State Farm and Progressive topped an important ‘driver’ of the Customer Experience
study called Customer Acquisition Rankings, a measure of success in driving site visitors to obtain a quote
and/or obtain an auto insurance policy from the company. Their success in the online competition for customers
is particularly significant given the fast growing importance of the online quote process in driving the auto
insurance business.
Web Channel Key to Growth in Auto Insurance Industry
Close to three-quarters of online consumers (72%) report that they use the Web to obtain quotes when evaluating
auto insurance coverage options; a five percent increase since last year’s study. By comparison, the number of
persons reporting they obtain a phone quote decreased by six percentage points, dropping from 55% to 49%.
“We have seen a steady trend upward in the number of consumers using the Web to obtain quotes and a
corresponding steady drop in those using the phone for quotes,” said Lance Jones, associate director of
Internet research for Keynote. “The online channel continues to grow in importance and will be the key
driver of sales growth in the auto insurance industry. The companies that provide a strong online customer
experience, such as GEICO and Progressive, will ultimately benefit from this trend.”
The single most influential driver of a consumer’s decision to purchase auto insurance is price, with
more than three-quarters of consumers (77%) saying that price is “extremely important” in their decision. However,
with the Web becoming the primary source for obtaining quotes, Web site features and ease of use are gaining in
importance. Almost two-thirds of consumers (64%) say that the ease of use of a company’s Web site is extremely or very
important in their selection of an auto insurance policy – and 74% report that the actual online quote request process
is extremely or very important in their selection process.
Insurers Improving, Expanding Online Quote Process
The industry appears to clearly understand this, as the Keynote WebExcellence Insurance Carrier Scorecard reported
that over the past year more than 8 of 10 insurers (81%) have either increased the number of states they offer online
quoting in or significantly enhanced the functionality of their quoting platform. More than 75% of insurers evaluated
for the Scorecard indicated plans to significantly enhance their quoting and purchasing applications in
the “near future.”
“Not only are insurers expanding their online quote processes, they are also improving them,” said Chris
Musto, general manager, financial services for Keynote. “Consumers use to be required to fill out lengthy coverage
protection forms online and choose from 10 or more coverage types. Today, about half the insurers we study allow users
to get quotes by choosing from a group of several pre-set coverage packages.”
Further, rather than delivering the user a single quoted policy as they used to, today 38% of insurance carriers
deliver multiple quoted packages, up from 25% a year ago, which gives customers a better understanding of both price
range and the cost to upgrade in protection.
Best Sites for Online Quotes, Price Satisfaction
According to the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Auto Insurance Web Sites, Esurance, American
Family and Progressive Direct have the best online quote request processes. The success of these sites in the quote
request process contributed significantly to their overall customer satisfaction and online customer acquisition
success. GEICO’s success was driven largely by the company’s first place ranking in terms of overall product
and price satisfaction.
In the Keynote WebExcellence Scorecard Progressive and GEICO, along with USAA, ranked atop the Functionality
category, and Esurance joined Progressive at the top of the Ease of Use category. The scorecard also ranked the sites
in two other categories and five tasks including the ease with which a consumer can quote and purchase a policy, pay a
bill and view the policy online.
“Price satisfaction was clearly the leading driver of customer acquisition success. In fact, price was more
important in the auto insurance industry than in any of the other dozens of industries we study, including the online
travel industry, where price is of paramount importance,” said Jones. “Despite this, auto insurance companies
need to pay much closer attention to their site effectiveness with consumers. We saw some sites gain a significant
advantage over competitors based on their online experience – and we saw some very competitively priced competitors
fall flat because of their poor online experience. Price and online experience are the dual engines for driving quote
and sales growth in the auto insurance industry.”
Keynote’s Customer Experience Rankings for Auto Insurance Web Sites and WebExcellence Insurance Carrier
Scorecard are available for purchase from Keynote.
For an abstract about Keynote’s competitive intelligence studies of online customer experience and online
excellence in the auto insurance industry view:
www.keynote.com/downloads/cem/Keynote_AutoInsur.pdf
For more information about Keynote's Competitive Intelligence offerings view:
www.keynote.com/solutions/competitive_intelligence_tpl.html
Customer Experience Management Keynote’s customer experience management (CEM) services offer
both competitive intelligence studies and custom engagement services examining best practices and consumer attitudes
and behavior on the Web. To learn more about Keynote’s CEM solutions, visit:
www.keynote.com/solutions/customer_experience_management.html
About Keynote
Founded in 1995, Keynote Systems (Nasdaq "KEYN") is the worldwide leader in services that improve online business performance and
communications technologies. Keynote helps approximately 2,300 corporate customers and 11,000 individual subscribers become "the
best of the best" online. The business premise supporting Keynote's mission is: "Online businesses can't manage what
they don't measure." As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with
unbiased benchmarking data, competitive analysis and operational metrics from the customer perspective. This data measures
service levels and customer experience of Web sites, broadband services and mobile communications.
Known as The Internet Performance Authority®, Keynote manages a market-leading infrastructure of 1,600+ measurement computers
and mobile devices in over 114 locations and 66+ metropolitan areas worldwide that assess service levels and a panel of over 160,000
consumers who participate in interactive Web site tests that assess user experience. These online user experience tests capture customer
attitude and behavior to answer the critical "why" behind the "what." Keynote's geographically distributed measurement services, on-site
monitoring appliances, competitive intelligence and custom studies ensure that its customers outpace their competitors in online service levels and overall user experience.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 650-403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority and Perspective are registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2006 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, (650) 403-3305, dan.berkowitz@keynote.com
Dan Cahill, Roaring Communications, (415) 552-3999, dcahill@roaringcommunications.com
|
