New Study Says Esurance Web Site No. 1 in Self-Service for Consumers

Esurance, the direct-to-consumer personal car insurance company, was ranked No. 1 for its Web site's overall ability to support car insurance customers.

The study, "Auto-Insurers Online Self-Service Report 2012: Leaders and Laggards--Who is Leading (and Who is Falling Behind) in the Race to Deliver Superior Online Interactions?," examined 20 leading car insurance Web sites for their capacity to allow consumers to complete common activities associated with claims, coverage, policy updates, quotes, and payments.

The Esurance site provided the best content, the study found, and provided well-organized information with less insurance jargon. And unlike many sites included in the study, the Esurance site made it easy to find answers to frequently asked questions on topics such as eligible discounts, comparing rates, and filing claims.

"Consumers are task-focused. They visit Web sites with specific objectives in mind and have little time for sites designed around company departments or objectives," said Terry Golesworthy, president of the Customer Respect Group, in a statement. "Insurers that seek to provide the best overall customer experience need to respect consumers that prefer to self-serve. The Esurance site is designed around the customer and allowing them to get things done."

The study also noted that Esurance's Web site was the only one to present relevant information consistently in the search results. What's more, search results were presented clearly and in a manner that gave consumers easy access to the information they were looking for.

"We take great pride in providing online and mobile tools that allow consumers to manage their car insurance virtually anywhere, and this customer-centric approach gives consumers easy access to information and the ability to quickly make updates to their policy with as few clicks as possible,", said Lisa Ward, vice president of customer experience and communications at eSurance, in a statement. "We're constantly working to improve the car insurance experience for customers, and we are honored to have those efforts recognized by the Consumer Respect Group."

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