The Insurance Industry and the Web: Fear of Efficiency?
As you may have read back in October, I've been working a bit with the The Automated Agency Report (henceforth, the TAAR Report), which is a publication aimed at keeping independent agents abreast of changes in technology and helping them implement it into their daily professional lives.
The slow-to-change nature of the insurance industry has been an enigma to me since I started working at InsureMe a year and a half ago. I couldn't grasp why people were still receiving leads via fax (instead of email), dumping money into direct mail (instead of Internet leads), or cold-calling (instead of letting us prospect for them).
At first I thought I was experiencing a generation gap. After all, my generation is used to the immediacy and instant gratification of the Internet. But then I considered the fact that five years ago, my then 80-year old grandfather decided to take computer classes the local university and learn how to use the Web. And while my grandfather is in many ways a diamond in the rough, this immediately discounted my generational gap theory.
Then as I was going through my feed reader this morning, I came across this post on Noah Brier's blog entitled, "Fear of Efficiency." Maybe, Brier muses, people attack the Internet because they're scared of how efficient it makes us.
In truth, half of the post deals with social media and networking sites (like digg.com or MySpace), but the piece does lend itself to a broader-reaching rhetoric:
A lot of the fear of the internet comes with the idea that when people open their browser they lose their ability to think critically or make decisions on their own accord. I'm not quite sure why this is, but it's not new. I remember being in school and having teachers tell me that there was a limit of internet sources I could cite. Their argument was twofold: Firstly, books are inherently more trustworthy because they've been printed (which is total expletive). Secondly, I would be lazy and just pull up whatever it was that showed up in Google and use that to support my thesis. Of course their [sic] is absolutely no reason I couldn't do the same thing in a library, but that never seemed to register.At the bottom of all this is a fear of efficiency. We don't like the idea of people working smarter, not harder. Why do something in 15 minutes that could take three hours? I guess it can feel less 'human' to be efficient, but it's not like a human didn't build that efficiency tool in the first place.
It's an interesting school of thought and I think there is weight to it. I, too remember not being able to cite more than one or two Web sources for a paper. The Internet was somehow regarded as a tad untrustworthy and much too easy to use. And while we've all experienced problems and drawbacks with technology, it seems we're wildly better and more capable for it.
So if a fear of efficiency is behind the lack of Web zeal in the insurance industry, what measures can we take to overcome that fear?
Comments
Pardon my complete lack of knowledge, but what is the problem with the 'Web zeal in the insurance industry'? I would love to think about your question, but I don't have any idea where to begin.
Also, I highly recommend checking out some of the comments on that post if you didn't get a chance. There was quite an interesting conversation that developed.
Finally, thanks for catching that there/their mistake and also, do you mind fixing my name? It's Brier with an 'i'.
Thanks and glad you enjoyed the entry.
Posted by: Noah Brier | December 6, 2006 07:52 PM
Principals need to take the lead. If they can show their commitment to a particular technology the staff will too.
Posted by: Aaron Wallrich | December 7, 2006 05:54 AM
Noah,
My sincere apologies; all fixed!
As far as where to begin...I suppose you could start with the last Internet Standards Assessment Report, which found insurance web sites to consistently underperform on account of a general "lack of innovation" due to the "conservative nature and risk adverseness of the industry."
Additionally, as an online lead aggregator working with thousands of agents nationwide, we find that about 50 percent (and growing!) of the agents on our network actually use our agent site (which allows for online account management and payment, links to sales and marketing resources, etc.)
As I stated in my post, it’s been challenging for me to reconcile my love of the web while working with a general community who seems indifferent to it. Accordingly, one of the challenges I face is not only to provide as many resources as I can to help out our awesome agents, but also to encourage them to explore ways to integrate new technologies into their business practices.
Posted by: Megan Mahan | December 7, 2006 09:53 AM
Aaron,
I think you're spot on. What do you think it will take for principals to, as you say, take the lead?
Posted by: Megan Mahan | December 7, 2006 09:55 AM
Interesting. What kind of innovation would you like to see? How could increased uptake and acceptance of the web amongst agents change the industry and, more importantly, make their jobs easier and lives better?
Posted by: Noah Brier | December 7, 2006 10:11 AM
I think that question would require me to summarize all of the sales/marketing-related posts on this blog. :)
But if I had to make a short list, I'd tell you about the following web advantages for agents:
1. Prospecting becomes easier and more cost-effective. (Think buying Internet leads and geo-targeting through Google AdWords versus dumping money into direct mail campaigns.)
2. Improving web sites helps consumers find the information they're looking for—and when you provide value, there's a greater chance for a rewarding and profitable relationship to take place.
3. Improving the look and feel of insurance web sites also improves an insurer's credibility. As a result, the user stays on the site longer (and actually uses it and/or fill out a quote form), rather than dismissing it and moving on to the next site. This can be especially helpful for smaller agencies and independent agents.
4. Using the web to become more transparent (offering valuable content through articles, blogs, etc.) can help improve the image of the insurance industry overall. It's unlikely that we’ll ever get good and excited about insurance, but I think the insurers who distinguish themselves as purple cows will eventually have sales leverage over the ordinary brown cows.
In truth, I don't think the insurance industry is that different than other industries who use (and depend on) the web to grow their businesses. The industry may be a tad slower to change than the rest, but they still stand to gain from it.
Posted by: Megan Mahan | December 7, 2006 10:46 AM