ad:tech London - 24th-25th Septembber 2008

Major new financial services site from emart

Since the summer of 2006 emart has been heavily involved in the development of a very exciting new Financial Services site aimed at consumers and businesses - Insurance Choice.

Starting with interface design and information architecture design, emart has gone on to build the entire site in time for launch in Q1 2007. As well as the technical build and project management, emart has been involved in creating and managing content for the site and technical liaison with a number of other organisations who are key to the effectiveness of the project. Key to success of the website will be effective SEO content. Before launch the site was thoroughly tested for usability and functionality to maximise lead conversion.

In parallel, the marketing team have set up an on- and off-line campaign to drive high quality traffic to the site, including Affiliates. They were also tasked with designing an in house tracking and reporting system that allows the company to calculate precisely the ROI on every promotional pound spent, often in real time. There were some marketing initiatives recommended and implemented by emart that are unique in the UK Financial Services market.

Press coverage for Insurance Choice

Insurance Choice (www.insurancechoice.co.uk), a new online insurance brokerage based in Leamington Spa, has a simple approach to their business. As reported in Insurance Age, January 2007 "everything will be driven by the customer". We have been working closely with Insurance Choice to design, develop and populate their site and have been retained to work on usability and to drive traffic to their online and offline sales teams.

The full text of the article is below.

New start-up to combine old and new methods.

A new brokerage is set to commence trading in the Warwickshire region this month providing niche insurance products in both personal and commercial lines.

Insurance Choice, headed by Neil Carpenter, aims to "bring back the old school values of insurance broking" but, according to Mr Carpenter, will embrace 21st century technology to give customers the service they demand.

Having secured agencies with most of the larger insurers, including the Norwich Union, Allianz Cornhill, Fortis and Equity Red Star among others, and obtained approval from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Insurance Choice is ready to start trading in areas, which include private and commercial motor, household, caravan, fleet and commercial combined.

Mr Carpenter pointed out that the main drive for the business will come from its website although he was keen to stress that the company would also rely on tried and tested traditional methods to attract and retain customers.

"The marketing will be mainly internet driven and we have brought marketing firm emart on board to help push this along. The main focus is to attract business on the web but customers will have the opportunity to purchase their insurance by phone if they wish," he said, adding, "everything will be driven by the customer."

Despite the low number of successful broker startups, Mr Carpenter said that he felt the market was ready for a new brokerage: "The timing is right, the funding is in place and with all the consolidation going on, there is less competition in the marketplace."

Mr Carpenter also commented that, despite common perceptions, the FSA was integral to the venture's launch rather than a hindrance to it: "They provided us with a dedicated account manager who acted as a point of contact for us throughout the process. In general, they were very efficient in all their dealings with us."

Mr Carpenter said he believed that the main attraction of his firm would be the level of experience available to the customer: "We have some very skilled staff members who have around 40-50 years of collective experience while I have been in the industry for more than 25 years."

Insurance Age January 2007