The Real-Time Auto Quoting Capability was created on Boston Software’s SinglePoint Platform
TrustedChoice.com’s real-time auto insurance quoting capability for Massachusetts has officially gone live. This means that consumers in Massachusetts can now obtain live quotes off of the TrustedChoice.com website within seconds. Local carriers including Plymouth Rock, Arbella, Safeco and Quincy Mutual are already providing live quotes to consumers on the site with other companies slated to be going live in the coming months.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this new capability that will support independent agents in Massachusetts,” commented TrustedChoice.com CEO Charles “Chip” Bacciocco. “We’ve made huge progress in 2014 reaching more consumers than ever before, expanding our technology to meet demand in the online marketplace.”
In 2014, TrustedChoice.com received more than 1.8 million site visits resulting in more than 45,000 leads for Trusted Choice agents featured on the site. TrustedChoice.com says of those 1.8 million, the Massachusetts TrustedChoice.com website received almost 50,000 visits last year. Now with the real-time auto quoting capability, the site is expected to easily[pullquote]The way I see it, every business should have a marketing wheel with lots of spokes that support the marketing plan and build momentum. TrustedChoice.com should be one of your spokes. – Charlie Walsh, Boston Software[/pullquote] surpass that number in 2015 as well securing more visits and potential leads for agents.
Any agent who is a member of the Big “I” is listed on the online consumer portal, however, those agents who sign up for Advantage subscription receive additional benefits. These benefits include a more detailed Agency Profile and a preferred placement in a consumers search results, as well as unlimited pre-qualified prospects.
There are currently over 1,500 agencies in Massachusetts that have claimed their profile on the TrustedChoice.com website. The Commonwealth ranks as one of the top 5 states for TrustedChoice.com in terms of agency sign-ups.
Boston Software’s experience in helping getting the real-time auto quoting capability up and running
With a market share of over 70% percent for quote-to-share solutions for independent agents in Massachusetts, Needham-based Boston Software was the natural choice to help TrustedChoice.com get its real-time auto quoting capability up and running in Massachusetts. Using its proprietary SinglePoint™ data-exchange platform, Boston Software has been working with TrustedChoice.com over the last year to create the ability to compare auto insurance quotes in real-time, for the benefit of Mass. agents.
“We’re excited that TrustedChoice.com is providing a new way for Massachusetts independent agents and carriers to engage online insurance shoppers,” said Charlie Walsh, marketing director of Boston Software. “By uniting forces via TrustedChoice.com, Massachusetts independent agents will maximize their power to attract this new kind of consumer.”
To get more insight into the whole process, we emailed Boston Software’s Charlie Walsh, about the whole process of putting together this new online tool and what he thinks the new TrustedChoice.com website can do for Mass. agents. Here is what he had to say:
With Real Time MA Auto Rates for the Trusted Choice website now launching this month, you can now almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. How has the whole process been in creating and constructing this quoting capability for TrustedChoice.com
There were some delays when trying to coordinate with Trusted Choice’s schedule and so the process took longer than expected. But, working with Trusted Choice was great. We approached the development as a collaborative partnership — both sides had ideas, thoughts, and agendas — but we were able to put it all together to build a product.
What was the biggest challenge for your company in putting this together?
The biggest challenge was/is getting the carriers on board. They had lots of questions and concerns. A common concern carriers have is providing consumers with a “quick quote” that may not include carrier-specific credits and discounts. Carriers want to offer consumers their best price. Carriers want to differentiate their brand. But to be on TrustedChoice.com, carriers have to think a little differently about marketing to consumers.
What most excites you about this new capability that Boston Software has put together?
For Boston Software, it’s exciting to be part of a venture that has enormous potential. If TrustedChoice.com succeeds, we all will be filthy rich! Just joking. Seriously, we love the mission of TrustedChoice.com — it actually feels like a noble cause to us. We always see things from the perspective of Independent Agents and so we recognize they tools to help compete with direct writers and other market changes. TrustedChoice.com is one of those tools that we believe can really can make a difference. That’s why we think agents and carriers should be excited too.
In your opinion, what are three things every agent should know about the Trusted Choice web site and the new Real Time Auto Rating Tool.
The site is designed to help online insurance shoppers find local independent agents and to make a connection. The quoting process is simple and streamlined so a consumer can get a quote quickly and begin that connection.
Second, if you are an agent who doesn’t know anything about digital marketing, TrustedChoice.com is a good thing. Just sign up, complete your profile, and voila you are digitally marketing. TrustedChoice.com does all the heavy lifting and worrying about search engine optimization, key tags, meta tags, etc.
Third, even if you are an agent who is pretty savvy as far as online marketing goes and your agency has implemented a number of digital marketing campaigns, there is value to being on TrustedChoice.com.
The way I see it, every business should have a marketing wheel with lots of spokes that support the marketing plan and build momentum. TrustedChoice.com should be one of your spokes. It is simple and cost-effective and it has a lot of upside. And as the saying goes, “You gotta play to win.”
That is always my message to agents regarding marketing and enabling consumers to calculate their own rates — give it a try, experiment, learn something, and eventually you will find your place.
