INSURANCE 2.0

Writing the right copy for your web audience is a simple trick many insurance businesses do not follow. Most insurance organisations think insurance as a product which is fairly complex and they pass on that complexity of jargons to their users to decode for themselves. Till recently the insurance industry jargon was ‘motor insurance’ where their entire customer called it ‘car insurance’. This awareness only got highlighted because google plays a big part in all our business decisions today. Here are few pointers on how to optimise your web copy for your customers attention.

Web copy must be usable*

Present content for the scan reader - concise chunks, instantly understandable headlines and standfirsts, smart use of bullets and bold, menus and subheads etc.

Make sure all signposting elements are as intuitive to read and act on.  

Make each content item a self-contained piece of information.

Make it easy for users to make their own journey through your content.  

Organise content into user-friendly, repeatable formats.

Make sure all anchor text is clear in its meaning, unique on the page, and explicitly descriptive of its destination.

Web copy must be written in plain language

Focus content on users’ needs/interests.

Write in everyday, simple language in line with Plain English principles.

Prefer the active voice to the passive.

Prefer short words to long ones; avoid jargon and spell out abbreviations. 

Prefer positive constructions.

Use personal pronouns as much as possible.

Web copy must be optimised for natural search

Provide instantly meaningful, keyword-rich headlines supported by keyword-rich standfirsts.

Provide relevant, engaging content that contains the key terms people are likely to search for.

Make sure link texts are self-contained and instantly understandable out of context.

Organise content types into scannable, repeatable copy formats with lots of keyword-rich subheadings.

Web copy must be on brand without sacrificing web-friendliness

Check content encourages a positive perception of your organisation and supports its brand values.

Use a tone that is appropriate for users - make sure the site has a clear idea of its audience.

Web copy must be credible

Make sure content is up to date and logically ordered.

Make sure all content has a high standard of grammar and spelling.

Avoid any unrealistic claims/unjustifiable superlatives.

Use site nomenclature and business terms consistently.

Make sure site avoids culturally-bound references and time references that could date.

Very few insurance businesses focus much on the copy and are missing out on conversion gains of a good copy.

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*Portions of this blog is adapted from Dan Fielder’s, How to write for the web classes?

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Like food, shelter and clothing, using internet and mobile devices has become a basic necessity of our lives. Any questions we have, we google it or check mobile devices for weather forecast, cinema times or train times. We all use internet for various reasons but the major difference is how genders use internet differently. And the difference is much bigger than cultural or geographical background.

Women use the internet more than men but whenever men use it, they have longer user sessions. Men respond to stronger to online advertisement showing cars, sports, technology and news.

Men tend to browse with specific requirements and browse with an agenda and checkout once they find something suitable. Women generally browse and do a lot more impulse shopping and spend a lot more time cross browsing on shopping sites.

Insurance businesses should design sites targeted to gender specific behaviours to optimise shopping experience for both men and women.

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Car insurance is the most purchased financial service product in UK and many other parts of the world. Aggregator sites like Moneysupermarket, Gocompare, Confused and Comparethemarket are driving huge amounts of traffic to the insurance sites and increasing dependancy for insurance providers on these price comparison sites. Users get compare the cheap quotes and land on insurers quote page to complete the transation. Most insurers still loose more than 50% customers from their quote page.

Few insurance businesses like Swiftcover, Directline, Morethan are innovating to increase their “quote stickiness”. Swiftcover do a brilliant job of upselling their bundles with absolute clarity to the customer whereas Directline lets the users make a custom bundle.

Swiftcover allows user to make any change to their policy online post purchase which is first of its kind service in the UK Car insurance industry.

There is a quite a bit innovation taking place but nothing ground breaking in sense of usability.

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