In an interview with eMarketer, Michael Costonis, Executive Director, Insurance North America for Accenture said that the state of insurance with respect on-line marketing “is probably slightly behind banking, which is really behind the rest of the world in terms of online sophistication of marketing.”
According to Costonis, this is in spite of consumer trends toward on-line insurance resources. “We’ve started to see a higher percentage of potential insurance customers showing up on the internet as their first stop for an insurance transaction, primarily to research and gather information. The statistics estimates vary from the low 70% range to the upper 80% range,” he commented in the interview.
This adds another dimension to findings from a Fiserv study on financial institutions use of social media this blog reported on in December. Costonis notes that there are a few high performers, which are making serious investments, but most insurance organizations are are spending at half or two-thirds the leaders’ levels.
The 2011 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference will offer attendees an opportunity to learn what some of the Canadian organizations are doing in on-line marketing. Program details are now available.
