Competing with direct carriers on speed
An independent agency cannot win on instant quotes and should not try. The advantage is judgement, carrier choice and somebody who knows the file — and that has to be the argument the site makes.
Websites for insurance agencies
A real personwho picks up.
Custom websites for independent insurance agencies, built around the one thing the direct carriers cannot offer: somebody who answers the phone and knows your file.
Hale & Roth is a KustomSite design concept for the boutique law firm category. It is not a client project and the business is fictional.
The moment they land
Either a renewal has arrived with a number they did not expect, or a life event has changed what they need — a house, a business, a teenage driver. They have already been served a dozen quote-in-two-minutes adverts. What they want to know is whether talking to a person gets them a better outcome, and what lines you actually write.
What costs you jobs
4 things a template gets wrong here.
Lines of business listed with no depth
Auto, home, life, commercial. Every agency site has the same list. Which trades you actually specialise in commercially, and which carriers you place with, is the differentiator and it is usually absent.
No help at renewal
The moment somebody is most persuadable is when a renewal quote lands. A page that explains how to read it and what to check is genuinely useful and almost unheard of.
Claims support unmentioned
The reason to use an agency rather than a website becomes obvious at claim time, and that is exactly when nobody has explained it. Say what you do when a claim happens.
What gets built instead
Mechanics, not features.
A page per line, with the specialism named
Especially commercial: contractors, restaurants, trucking, professional liability. Naming the trades you write brings the enquiries you want.
The carriers you place with
Where your agreements allow it. It is the clearest possible demonstration that you shop the market rather than sell one product.
A renewal review page
How to read the quote, what to check, what typically changed. It captures the person at the exact moment they are reconsidering.
What happens at claim time
Who they call, what you do, what you do not. It is the answer to "why not just buy it online" and it needs to be written down.
Fair questions
The reasons not to.
“Nobody researches insurance, they just quote”
They quote the direct carriers because that is what is advertised at them. The ones who come to an agency have decided they want advice, and they are choosing between agencies on the website.
“We cannot list carriers”
Some agreements restrict it, and then the argument is made differently — how many markets you access, how you shop a renewal, what you do at claim time. The point is to demonstrate independence somehow.
Asked often
Before you ask.
How do we compete with direct carriers on the website?
Not on speed. The argument is judgement, market access and claim support, and it has to be made explicitly — including what you actually do when a claim happens, which is the answer to "why not buy it online".
Should we name the carriers we work with?
Where your agreements allow it, yes. Nothing demonstrates independence as clearly. Where they do not, the same point is made by describing how you shop a renewal across markets.
What page would bring in the most commercial business?
A page per trade you actually specialise in. "Commercial insurance" competes with every agency; "insurance for contractors" or "for restaurants" competes with far fewer and attracts the enquiries you want.
Start it.
4 parts, and the trade is already answered when you arrive from here. Nothing is charged and nothing starts until you say so.
Build a brief for insurance agency