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TECHNOLOGY
Click on the dotted line
EZBuy offers agents and carriers a free, nonproprietary e-signature solution along with other business-building features
By Nancy Doucette
Customers and prospects know how they want to complete their personal auto insurance purchase process. Many of them want it to be as quick, convenient and painless as any other online purchase—they want to provide the agency with a credit card number and be on their way.
But many agencies are not equipped to offer that type of service. They’re still inviting customers or prospects to come to the office to complete the application, or they’re faxing or e-mailing the paperwork, or they’re depending on the U.S. Postal Service.
And realistically, buying auto insurance online isn’t like buying a book from Amazon.
What’s an agent to do?
Agents in California, Arizona and Texas are singing the praises of EZBuy—an online e-signature point-of-sale solution. Agents using EZBuy can confirm information with a customer, gather a customer’s signature and collect the money needed to complete a personal auto application and sale over the Internet.
Mark Casas, vice president of sales and business development for Auto Insurance Specialists (AIS), headquartered in El Segundo, California, was part of the agency’s team that was researching solutions to help customers complete transactions with the agency more quickly.
“Today, people demand convenience,” he says. “Their time is valuable. Many consumers were asking us: ‘Can we complete this transaction over the phone?’
“Statistically, over 80% of individuals shopping for insurance are beginning the process online,” he points out. “So it’s important for agencies to have an online presence. It’s also important to have a rating engine on the agency’s Web site so prospects can get an actual quote.
“In the past it was necessary for an agency to have a presence in the local community, so customers could come into the office. That’s one of the reasons why we have 21 locations throughout California,” Casas continues. Since the agency was founded in 1968, its customer base has grown to some 400,000. Personal auto represents about 80% of AIS’ business, he reports.
“Insurance companies used to require ‘wet signatures’ as well as an inspection and a photo of the vehicles being insured,” he notes. That meant those transactions needed to be done in person. Those days are going by the wayside, according to Casas, as carriers move away from requiring inspections and photos, and electronic signatures (e-signatures) are now enforceable in most states. Some carriers are developing their own proprietary e-signature solutions, he says.
Even with the growing trend of consumers doing their insurance research online, “Most consumers still want to speak with a licensed agent before making an insurance purchasing decision,” Casas maintains.
Mother of invention
Like many in the insurance industry, Kelly Turton didn’t come into the property/casualty business on purpose. But once he did, he rose through the ranks quickly and struck out on his own. He founded Freeway Insurance Services, Inc., in Orange, California, in 1987. The agency specialized in personal auto insurance, and before long, Freeway had 12 locations throughout the state generating $40 million in annual premium sales.
Even with multiple locations, Turton recalls that customers were never eager to drive to an agent’s office to complete applications. So in 2004, Turton brought Steve Triano on board as the agency’s chief technology officer to build a Web site where customers could complete the entire buying process unassisted and at their own leisure. “We even had an animated person (on the screen) who would walk on and explain what the customer needed to do to complete the purchase,” Turton remembers.
As it turned out, it was an idea whose time had not come. “It didn’t increase sales,” he says. “We got a lot of visits at the site, but we didn’t get an appreciable increase in sales. It proved to us that customers still wanted their hand held from the application process to the final purchase.”
So Turton and Triano went back to the drawing board. “We wanted to do something to harness the Internet while preserving the sales interaction—keeping the agent involved.”
The result was the creation of EZBuy—“a solution where the agent or CSR walks the customer through the process over the phone while both are online—the underwriting questions on the application, any warranties or waivers, payment and ending with the agency sending along a receipt and temporary ID cards. The agency representative sees on his screen what the customer sees on his. It’s like a face-to-face meeting, but it’s virtual,” Turton says.
The solution worked so well in his agency that Turton sold Freeway to devote all his efforts to EZBuy. In late 2006, he and Triano founded the software development company Wizard Lizard, LLC. EZBuy is Wizard Lizard’s flagship product.
What made EZBuy so effective at Freeway Insurance was the combination of Turton’s 25 years of retail and wholesale auto insurance experience and Triano’s 20 years of software development experience, Turton explains.
“EZBuy doesn’t require any additional software,” he notes. “It is accessible through a comparative rater’s bridge or insurance carrier’s internal Web service. EZBuy uses ACORD XML standards, which means it can be integrated seamlessly into a carrier’s existing electronic processes with forms that automatically pop up when needed.”
Problem solved
It turned out that EZBuy was the solution that Mark Casas and the AIS team were looking for. The agency began using EZBuy in April 2008. He appreciates that AIS can load its own waiver or disclosure forms onto EZBuy. He notes that AIS consistently has waivers for the customer to sign. “We require customer signatures on a document that declares that the customer waived UM, or that they chose liability only and they’re aware that they have no physical damage on their vehicle,” he explains.
“We also require a signed credit card disclosure form acknowledging that the consumer understands they’re giving us their credit card information over the phone and that they authorized the purchase,” Casas continues. “Additionally, we have a form that spells out what the customer’s rights are with respect to that, what the cancellation policy is, and so forth.”
Using EZBuy, the e-signature occurs each time the consumer clicks “I agree” or “I accept.”
He says having the agency’s unique forms accompany the carrier application during an online session with the customer makes for a “once and done process.”
That online session begins with the agency giving the customer an e-mail link, Turton explains. “EZBuy generates a unique identifying number for that particular deal. The agent gives that number to the customer over the phone. That’s the only way the customer can get inside EZBuy with the agent. That’s one of our security measures.
“There is a collection of e-signatures on all the disclosures which are date and time stamped,” he continues. “They’re hashed and SSL encrypted so they can’t be changed. That’s important if at some point in the future the agency has to prove that the data hasn’t been tampered with. All this data is backed up daily and kept on secure, co-located servers.”
Additionally, Turton says, “EZBuy provides an interface that allows agents to access transaction records at any time and generate a variety of reports.”
Casas says that as of December 2009, about 42% of his agency’s new auto business was being transacted using EZBuy. “Over time, the number of EZBuy transactions has increased. We’re doing thousands of transactions per month.”
Why doesn’t AIS use EZBuy for every new personal auto application? “Not every carrier we do business with is using EZBuy for an e-signature solution,” he notes. And some customers still prefer an in-office experience. In all instances, though, he says the agency offers customers the choice of transaction options—whether they want to come to the office to complete the application; have the paperwork faxed, e-mailed, or mailed; or connect to EZBuy.
“When we’re discussing coverage and offering premium quotes with customers, we also discuss the transaction options,” Casas says. “Some customers will actually select a carrier with a higher premium so that they can use EZBuy option because they can get coverage immediately and don’t have to make a trip to our office.”
“I”s dotted, “T”s crossed
Getting to the place where e-signatures are accepted hasn’t happened overnight. Every state has laws pertaining to electronic signatures, and on the federal level there are guidelines for the use of electronic signatures and records spelled out under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
“Getting it right with an e-signature is more than just clicking on the dotted line,” Turton observes. “The EZBuy process contains the necessary components needed to meet the requirements of these acts. EZBuy’s design follows the guidelines set forth in the Standards and Protocols for Electronic Records and Signatures to assure that the process conforms to proper e-signature protocols. The result is a solid e-signature and e-document structure built on an auto insurance sales foundation,” he says.
Turton smiles when he says that what agents enjoy most about the product is its price. “It’s free,” he says. “We structured it so the consumer pays a $10 processing or transaction fee. Of course, if the agent wants to pay it, he or she certainly can.”
Mark Casas says that’s what AIS does. “The agency absorbs the cost of using EZBuy—we don’t pass the cost along to the consumer. It’s paying off. Otherwise we wouldn’t keep doing it.”
Turton says the EZBuy concept is due to take off, based on the response he’s been getting when he exhibits at state association meetings and national gatherings such as the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum and the ISOTech Conference. He intends for EZBuy to move eastward during 2010 and expand the number of comparative raters and carriers that EZBuy works with.
“Even though technology has changed the way agencies do business, the fundamentals for selling insurance haven’t,” Turton concludes. “Frontline underwriting, personal interaction with customers, and old-fashioned sales skills still play an important part in the successful sale of auto insurance. The time is right for a product like EZBuy. Our positioning is good, and our price is unbeatable.”
For more information:
EZBuy
E-mail: kelly.turton@ezbuyesales.com
Phone: (888) 949-2732, Ext. 101
Web site: www.ezbuyesales.com |
