Make it so inviting customers can’t wait to come in and shop around.

Your agency is not a retail giant like an L.L. Bean or Macy’s.  You may not have hot Red Letter Day sales to promote. An insurance office doesn’t have the glitter of a new car showroom. And you’re not in a let’s make a deal business.  So, your Web-site is doomed to dullness, right?  Wrong.

Your home page is your storefront and your customer’s entryway. Make it compelling.  Here’s how.

1. Give visitors a reason to stay

One of the first things a visitor looks for on a home page is a reason to stay.

In the upper right-hand quad of your Web storefront make an offer.  Make it a limited time offer to create a sense of urgency.  Do you have a special product or service? Feature it here.  

Do you have a “how to” white paper on a timely problem such as protection against identity theft and reimbursement for recovery costs?  Highlight it in the upper right area of your home page.

2. Gain visitor’s focus immediately

Customers want to know who you are and your reputation.  They want to know how to move around your insurance store.  They want to know how they can contact you and where to get answers to product and service questions.

They want the security that comes from knowing that others have visited and done business with you.  Use customer testimonials as one way to provide that
security right on your home page.  Use pictures of people in your office.  Post a warm photo of your receptionist with a “welcome to our agency” caption.

3. Offer visitors something to buy

Visitors are looking for buying information. You need to showcase three or four VIP products or services.  Feature them with short copy, photo/captions and “for more information” and/or “for a quote” calls to action.  Insurance is a complex product.  Don’t let this stop you from putting a little sales pitch and visuals upfront in your Web store’s window!

In the right-hand column of your home page, insert small attention-getters---product features, tips, links to safety advisories et al.

4. Promote your services with banners

In the middle area of your home page, at the top and bottom, highlight self-banners.  Self-banners are mini-ads.  You see them all the time as ads on sites you visit.  In your case, the idea is to promote your own products and services.

5. Keep visitors moving

Observers tell us that most people make a decision to browse around a site within eight to twelve seconds.  That sounds reasonable.  Don’t we make decisions based on storefront displays in about the same amount of time?

Helping customers navigate around your site is a critical success factor.  You need top, bottom, and left-hand navigation.  

Top Navigation should have three or four items such as “5-Star Agency”, “No-obligation Interview”, “Free Home Insurance Valuation”, “About Trusted Choice.”

Bottom Navigation should reiterate what is in your Top Navigation.

Left-hand Navigation  tells visitors what’s in your store and how to get around the store.  At the top, ask visitors to sign-up for your e-mail list or a newsletter or “what’s new in home insurance bulletins”, etc.  Then follow with buttons and drop-down boxes that enable visitors to search content on your site, and three or four items that you really want visitors to check out (these could be simple
underlined word links).  As the last item, encourage your customers to refer a friend or business associate.

6. Add special interest features

Avoid dull. Create interest.

To encourage interactivity with visitors, consider adding features such as a Customer Service Survey, a “Test Your Insurance I.Q.”, links to Coverage Advisories.  That is, ways to get customers directly involved.

To add some action, some dynamism, include a weather report feature and the current NYSE report.

To add motion, install a scroll feature at the top of your storefront.  The scroll can include product and service messages, holiday greetings, safety tips, reminders of important dates, etc.

7. Change your storefront often

Retail storefronts change weekly or more frequently.  They display new products.
They trumpet special offerings. They entice customers into the store with pizzaz, color and showmanship.

Why don’t insurance agencies use the same techniques?  

New technology makes it possible for you to change your site’s storefront as frequently as you want, right from your office or through an outside Web resource like MullaneyCookson.  

It is important that you promote repeat visitations to your site by your customers.  When they enter, they should see changes that prompt them
to check out new information.  New features should be highlighted in yellow by a New! “flag.”

8. Consider a niche market site or blog

Do you have a specialty market?  Why not set up a speciality market site, one that includes information and features targeted to buying influences in this market.  

Let’s say your target market is owners of cranberry-growing farms.  Make sure you promote visits to the site with other media – direct mail and print ads.  Make sure you do a search engine optimization using effective keywords embedded in your site’s code.  You want your URL to pop up prominently on Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc. when customer’s searches include words like “farmer”, “cranberry”, “bogs”, “cultivation”, and so on.

Link your speciality site to other sites that maximize the search process.  Link your speciality site to your main Web site.

9. Drive your customers to your site and e-mail

Most agents we consult with are under-promoting their Web sites. And,
under-soliciting e-mail permissions.

“If we build it, they will come.”  No they won’t.  You need to constantly nurture and promote your Web site---in your newsletter, in renewal meetings, in new
policyholder installations.

 E-mail saves a ton of time and money. It is a terrific way to communicate new product or service availabilities or to encourage customer-generated inquiries for insurance reviews or rounding out or upgrading or to foster retention by wishing a customer a “happy birthday.”

TEST YOUR HOME PAGE

How does it stack up with the pointers in this article?  Need a makeover?  Contact Susan Mullaney, CBC at MullaneyCookson Marketing (MCM), 508-245-2876.  MCM has built and re-constructed sites since the early days of the Web!