How Insurance Marketplaces Can Optimize Lead Conversions by Streamlining the Quote Request Form

Streamline your quote request forms, boost lead conversions, and simplify the client process with a dynamic insurance marketplace platform.

First impressions matter, especially when it comes to converting leads, so it’s important that your business is always going above and beyond at every stage of the customer journey.

This is especially critical in the insurance industry when collecting prospective client data with a quote request form, as this is often one of the first interactions a potential client will have with your business.

The quote request form helps determine the quality of your leads.

Long, drawn-out forms can feel overwhelming and might frustrate prospects, resulting in them seeking out another insurance provider with a more convenient process. Streamlining your form workflow will craft an exceptional customer experience that not only attracts prospects but also aims to retain clients.

Customers have more options than ever in the modern insurance industry, making the need for efficient quote request forms exceptionally high.

Customers are more likely to complete multi-page forms with just a few fields for each page over a long single-page form. With the quote request form spread across multiple pages, you can better organize your fields for a more user-friendly layout and experience.

Say Goodbye to Long Forms

A quote request or comparison is critical in converting leads into buyers. To generate the most accurate quote for prospective customers, you’ll need some specific information. Lead conversions can go awry if you fumble at this stage, so you must handle this process carefully.

This is your best opportunity to build rapport with your potential customers and lay the foundations for a long, trustworthy relationship.

One common mistake insurance marketplaces make is gathering customer data inefficiently. While a longer form achieves your goal of gathering comprehensive information, it risks aggravating your prospect, causing them to exit the form and seek assistance elsewhere. Typically, if conversion rates seem lower at this stage, your form could be the main culprit.

An excessively long form on a single page is daunting to many people.  

The goal is to keep all forms as short as possible, limiting the form to only a few fields that fit on a single page. The more fields a form has on one single page, the fewer lead conversions there will be due to overwhelming the prospect, causing them to give up and exit the page before they even start.

A poor presentation can also cause additional oversight leaving more room for errors or skipped questions. If your lead receives an error message that they missed a question, it can be aggravating to scroll through a long form. If prospects experience errors in the form, they are more likely to abandon the form entirely due to frustration.

Say Hello to Multi-Page Forms

When you present forms to clients, you want to make sure they are nicely organized and easy to navigate. While you can display the entire form on a single page, it can be difficult to keep organized. For this reason, many businesses have turned to multi-page forms.

By splitting up and dividing forms across multiple pages, it can be easier to group fields by categories.

For example, you might collect your lead's vehicle information on page one, their home details on the next page, and finally, collect information on their pets on the third page. With a more simplified form, your customers can better process the requested information, making them less likely to give up and leave the form incomplete.

With multi-page forms, each section is broken down into smaller steps, leaving your customer feeling less overwhelmed. You can use dynamic logic to ask or not ask pertinent questions.

As a result, you can dig deeper and ask more of them without feeling like a burden. Quality prospects are more likely to fill in specific details throughout a series of separate pages instead of one large section of a longer form.

While it may come as a surprise, there is a science behind this reasoning—the human brain would prefer to absorb information in smaller chunks rather than larger long-winded pieces.

Multi-Page Forms Impact Your CRO

Multi-page forms are a vital part of your conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy.

To elaborate, the conversion rate refers to the percentage of customers that take the desired action on your website. For example, if your goal is to have as many customers as possible complete your quote request forms, your CRO strategy should focus on the form to increase lead conversions.

Another important detail you should remember, your CRO strategy should make the form as easy to complete as possible. You can achieve this through strategic implementation by using the appropriate contexts in your multi-page forms.

Best Practices for Implementing Multi-Page Forms

Delivering the best customer experience will give you a pivotal leg up in the insurance industry and help you see an increase in your lead conversions.

A few tips and tricks will ensure your multi-page forms are never a pain point for your customers.

Add a Progress Bar

With multi-page forms, customers are less likely to abandon the process, in part because they are better able to gauge how much progress is being made. You can enhance this effect by including a progress bar.

A progress bar can indicate what page the customer is on or the percentage of the form that is complete. Ultimately, it is your preference whether you display the page number or percentage complete. Both options will give prospects an idea of their progress, making them less likely to feel their time is wasted.

Start With the Basics

You should always get started with the easiest parts of the form. This helps customers comfortably get the ball rolling, making the form less intimidating.

There are some different approaches here that are worth testing. On one hand, you could ask for basic contact information up front, though that could cause more hesitancy and abandonment from the start as many people are weary of giving out their email addresses.  

Or, you may want to ask more general or anonymous questions up front, such as location and household information, and wait until the end to ask for the contact information.

Minimize Backtracking

With multiple pages, customers may find themselves going back and forth. Make sure all necessary fields on one page are completed before allowing the user to move on to the next page. This prevents unnecessary backtracking and incomplete information.

Save Their Progress

Data should be saved between each step. If the customer has to take a break from the form or their browser crashes, they should be able to pick up exactly where they left off. This will save a ton of stress and your customers will appreciate it.

The Pros and Cons of Using a Pre-Fill Solution

It is now easier to collect client data using an insurance industry with the help of technological solutions. For instance, certain insurance marketplace platforms have utilized the power of form pre-filling.

Third-party form pre-fill solutions can shorten or expedite the quote request process. Pre-fill solutions can be configured to visibly pre-fill a form or send the required information on the back end.

Pre-filled forms provide added convenience for you and your clients, however, these solutions may not be the right fit for everyone. Consider the pros and cons before you consider making the switch.

Pros

Pre-filled forms help the client by automatically filling as much information as possible so they can move through quicker and with fewer speed bumps.

This will improve the overall customer experience, helping you to see an increase in your lead conversions. By delivering a convenient process from the start, you give yourself an immediate leg up on the competition.

Cons

Despite the advantages of pre-filled solutions, there can be some disadvantages.

One primary example, these solutions typically rely on third-party data. As a result, their accuracy could be affected by how up-to-date the data is or how complex the household may be. In many cases, the data about the lead is not able to be matched or is incomplete.

It can be difficult for third parties to keep their data updated. Pre-filled solutions with outdated or false information will not only waste time but can cause quite a headache for your potential customer.

Optimize Your Forms With Canopy Connect

Forms are evolving in the insurance industry. Keep your forms as short as possible and collect only the most essential information.

Multiple form fields mean more work for the client and a greater chance of them throwing in the towel.

Insurance marketplace platforms that use the Canopy Connect API able to offer an option to directly import a prospect’s current insurance policy data from their current carrier to your platform in seconds. This saves your client time and guarantees the accuracy of the insurance data since it comes directly from their current insurance carrier.

Contact Canopy Connect today to book your demo and eliminate those lengthy forms for good!