Barasch Insurance
WEB SITE DESIGN
Barasch Insurance Service & Financial Planning
Inc. is a private insurance brokerage firm operating
on the northwest side of Chicago. The Barasch family
has been in the insurance business for more than
75 years, and the owner has a 20-year track record
offering a wide array of policies to families and
individuals.
The need
Barasch retained Hodge Schindler as part of an
effort to better utilize technological advances
in marketing its services. The firm sought to
expand its Internet presence with a custom Web
site that would promote its product offerings
and also demonstrate its relationships with dozens
of major insurance companies. Barasch also hoped
to provide general information about the firm
in order to relieve some of the time spent by
office personnel answering general questions
about the company and its products over the telephone.
One goal of the Web site was to allow the office
staff to refer callers to the Web site to collect
general information, then have them call back
if they were interested in specific policies
the insurance brokerage offered to customers.
Our
approach
Hodge Schindler first developed a detailed site
map that would offer visitors to www.baraschinsurance.com the type of information that would drive them
to contact the firm for further information about
its products and services. We worked with Barasch
to create a list of features the site needed
to include (descriptions of the types of policies
offered; links to the home pages of the insurers
for specific information on coverage) and those
that were not needed initially (online quotes
for coverage; forms for generating those quotes).
We
also studied other insurance-brokerage Web sites
to make sure the Barasch site would have a superior
look and feel compared to its competitors. One
decision that resulted from this line of thinking
was to move away from the industry tradition of
adding the letters “ins” to the domain
name (e.g., www.smithinsuranceins.com or www.williamsinsuranceins.com).
Defining the Barasch domain in a way that regular
people would remember the name would set Barasch
apart in a highly competitive field.
Hodge Schindler
also established a methodology for promoting the
Web site and, on an ancillary basis, update the
internal office operations to allow for a more
streamlined capacity to promote other insurance
coverage to current customers. We also recommended
other programs and strategies to boost awareness
of the site’s launch,
including an electronic postcard campaign and a
survey to gauge the interest of current clients
in other services.
The outcomes
The site launched on schedule and fulfilled Barasch’s
needs in terms of giving office staff a place to
send callers seeking basic information and not
tying up the telephone lines when customers needed
to contact the firm.
The site generated significant
traffic gains as word spread of its existence through
letters to current customers and other information
delivered to prospects via traditional marketing
routes (direct mail, phone calls, etc.), and registration
with online “yellow page” directories.
Barasch’s
profile increased significantly among insurance
companies and the audience the firm sought to attract.
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