Poor digital user experiences puts UK car insurance industry in the back seat

~ Admiral, Tesco Bank and LV= among the insurers failing to offer satisfactory digital user experiences ~

London, 10 June 2014 – Instinct Studios, a FinTech company that creates smarter digital customer experiences for the financial industry, has released a user experience analysis report – ‘Driving A Better Customer Experience’ – which shows that the digital user experience (UX) offered by some of the UK’s top car insurers is lagging significantly behind insurance aggregator sites and brands in the travel and retail sectors.

The research, conducted between April and May this year, analysed the quote process of 27 insurance providers, insurance aggregators and non-insurance companies. It found the average UX rating of car insurance providers is just 60%[1] compared to the UX of car insurance aggregators (79%), and non-insurance companies (80%). Overall, the insurance industry average, both providers and aggregators, is just 67%.

“With over 28 million cars on the road in Great Britain, car insurance is something that touches a significant proportion of the population and many consumers are now looking online for the best possible deals. The results of the UX analysis proves that insurance providers still need to react to the rising digital expectations of consumers and invest in their digital user experiences, otherwise they face being left behind.” said Majid Shabir, founder and chief executive officer at Instinct Studios.

Today, the digital user experience plays a crucial sales and service role in financial services. As the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) pushes for greater transparency2 and for customer information to be clear, fair and not misleading, the report investigates the quality of the online sales process within the UK car insurance market.

“The time of seeing digital as ‘one’ of the distribution channels is gone. It’s now ‘the’ distribution channel,” commented Craig Scarr, financial services advisory, Grant Thornton UK. “Customers’ digital expectations are rising fast and companies that do not invest in the quality of the user experience will be left in the wake of those that do.”

A range of criteria was used to assess the digital user experience during the quote process including layout, visual branding, navigation and usability. The percentage ratings are based on a bespoke UX scoring system – split into five key areas and including 74 UX data points – the areas benchmarked in the report were ‘application form’, ‘quote page’, ‘add-ons’, ‘confirmation/payment’ and ‘help & support’. 

Benchmarking UX ratings chart

“Insurers must create digital user experiences that fit into people’s everyday lives and unfortunately the UX bar is too low right now. Aggregator sites are on par with other sectors, but insurance providers are way off pace,” said Majid Shabir, founder and chief executive officer at Instinct Studios. “The highest ranked insurers had a simple and intuitive user interface and provided a responsive quote journey – in other words a user experience that adapts itself to the customer’s device, either desktop, tablet or mobile. The best performers also offered prominent help and support features. If other insurers can get some or all of these elements right, they can go a long way to improving the digital user experience, which will help them attract and retain more customers.”

To view the full report, findings and methodology, please visit ‘Driving A Better Customer Experience’.  

Notes to editor

[1]The highest possible score was 74 out of 74. Each company’s score was converted into a percentage to provide easy comparisons. For example, a company scoring 37 out of 74 would be shown as 50%.

2FCA Transparency Discussion paper.

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About Instinct Studios

Instinct Studios is a new FinTech company that creates smarter customer experiences to simplify the world of financial services across web, mobile and touch-enabled devices. By making processes effortless and complex data meaningful, it help customers make clear and informed financial decisions. It blends design and technology expertise with a deep understanding of financial services to help organisations create the best digital experience for its customers.  

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