New research shows that Irish car insurance websites are lagging behind their US and UK counterparts.
The benchmarking study by Dublin web firm iQ Content evaluated Ireland’s main car insurance websites against their peers in the US and UK in terms how easy they are to use for the consumer.
Hibernian Direct scored highest of the Irish sites, with a score of 67pc, and they came fifth in the overall US/UK/Ireland ranking.
On average, though, Irish insurance websites scored 44pc, well behind the average US insurance website at 68pc. Two Irish sites didn’t even provide an online quote facility.
In terms of value for money, the study found that Tesco offers the best deal for young male drivers, while Quinn Direct was the best value for female drivers.
“Recent research from Forrester shows that 63pc of online adults expect to buy their next motor policy online so websites are a critical channel for insurance companies,” explained Morgan McKeagney, managing director, IQ Content.
“Irish consumers have shown that they are not influenced solely by price. They want to have a simple, straightforward experience when buying car insurance online.
“But our research shows there’s a huge range in the quality of insurance websites out there, with many sites failing to provide the basic online service that customers need. The result is that many companies are alienating consumers. When selling online, usability isn’t a luxury, it’s essential. Our research confirms that if you design a site that’s genuinely easy to use you’re giving yourself a major competitive advantage,” McKeagney added.
IQ Content hit the headlines in recent months when it emerged that the company was selected by Google to spearhead the sale of off-the-shelf versions of the search company’s search technology tailored to the needs of the enterprise software market. The technology will enable organisations to harness Google to search their own websites, intranets and internal applications.
By John Kennedy
