4 Reasons Why Your Insurance Agency Needs a Mobile-Responsive Website Today
The focus on having a mobile-responsive website has been dominating the world of digital marketing. Over the past few years as mobile search traffic has grown, consumer expectations have shifted, and search engine algorithms have adapted to keep pace. Every type of business has been impacted by these changes, including those in the insurance industry.
To understand just how important mobile optimization is for the modern consumer, we can look at the fact that 40% of time spent researching insurance services is spent on mobile devices, and a full quarter of insurance customers use only their smartphones. It's no longer about if it's time to make the move to a mobile friendly design, but why you haven't done it yet.
Maybe you love your standard-design website, or you just haven't had the time and resources to put into updating your current site or building an entirely new one. These are understandable hesitations, but we're at a point where moving forward towards mobile-responsive optimization is essential for every insurance agency. Here are four reasons why your agency needs a mobile-responsive website today.
Search Ranking in the Age of Mobile First Indexing
We don't have to look any further than to our friends over at Google to uncover one of the most important reasons to invest in mobile design. This year, they've finally gone full steam ahead with their mobile first indexing, and insurance agencies that haven't adapted appropriately are almost certain to get pushed to the back of the digital crowd.
The entire premise of mobile first indexing can be found within its name. All websites will continue to be crawled and ranked, but those agencies and businesses with a separate mobile optimized website will be in for an unpleasant surprise. A few years ago, when Google first introduced mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, many website providers simply created a separate, mobile-friendly website.
Simple solution: if someone does a web search and visits your insurance agency on a desktop, they see your ‘regular' website; if the search is done on a mobile device, they see your mobile-friendly website. And Google was OK with that. No more. Google will only crawl one website, and if there are two, that website will be your ‘mobile-friendly one'. Even on a desktop. Having pages served up in desktop search results is not a great user experience. Mobile-responsive solves that: one website that works equally well on a desktop or mobile device and one website for Google to crawl and index.
Mobile Responsive Design and Security
Another reason why it's important to have a mobile-responsive insurance agency website is security. Take a minute and think about everything that you, or even the average person, does with their smartphone on a daily basis. We pay bills, check email, engage on social media, make purchases, etc.
In other words, we're doing a lot of things that involve the access and exchange of private information, and security is important. Now, stop and consider all the sensitive data that is shared on your website. It might be something as simple entering some basic information for baseline quote, or it could be the more sensitive information that's involved in updating or changing policies. Whether it's filling out a form or making a payment, your customers are putting their trust in you and letting them down would be disastrous.
A website that's optimized for the mobile customer should also include an SSL certificate. If it does, the website address will start with https:// rather than http://. An SSL certificate encrypts data sent from a mobile device to your the server where your website is hosted, keeping potentially private-non-public data safe. SSL security is also a ranking factor used by Google. It will also keep your insurance agency's E&O carrier happy.
Your Core Market Is Changing
We've all heard the saying that if it isn't broke, then you shouldn't fix it. There are some instances where this rings true but optimizing your website for the mobile user isn't one of them. Say for example, that you haven't invested in mobile or responsive design and you have no plans for doing so in the near future. You say that your current desktop oriented site has produced results for your agency for years, so why risk making changes?
One answer – your market is changing. With few exceptions, insurance agencies need to provide services to continually add new, younger clients to their books of business, and not just look for dwindling referrals from older clients. For example, a life insurance agency should always be looking at ways to attract younger adults who are settling into careers and families while offering their empty nesters different services that align with their changing needs.
Unless you work specifically with the baby boomer demographic, the new customer that you're looking to attract is almost always from a younger demographic. As it stands today, 69% of consumers between the ages 18 and 39 use mobile devices to research before they buy, with those who are slightly older not that far behind. How much of your market falls into that demographic? We're guessing it's a significant enough number to add another reason to switch to a mobile-responsive site.
Added SEO Benefits
We've already covered the mobile only index, which is a huge factor in modern SEO. However, if you know even the basics of search engine optimization, then you know how complex it can be. Fortunately, mobile-responsive design naturally aligns with many of the usability factors that are important to SEO algorithms.
Consider for instance that a mobile-responsive design makes it easy for customers to connect with a local insurance agency. Rather than scroll, pinch and fumble along in an attempt to pull up a map or a phone number, all of your agency's important information is right there, easily accessible at your customer's fingertips. Instead of trying again later when they're near their laptop, they'll decide to stop in and talk to you personally about their insurance needs.
Additionally, mobile-responsive design that features prominent elements of validation – like reviews, citations and social media connectivity – that make it easier for customers to put their trust in your agency. These important elements often get lost in a separate, mobile optimized website.
Have you heard enough to help to make the leap to mobile optimization? If you'd like to know more about how to make your website mobile-responsive, we can help. We're experienced in helping insurance agencies just like yours achieve success. Contact Confluency Solutions today and learn more about how we can help you build visibility and trust in the digital world.