Perceived Website Efficacy for Life Insurance Companies: Insights From a Best-Worst Method

Perceived Website Efficacy for Life Insurance Companies: Insights From a Best-Worst Method

Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 21
DOI: 10.4018/IJITPM.313631
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Abstract

Given the proliferation of websites which act as digital channels for life insurance companies, a competitive situation has emerged with each vying for the web user's attention and patronage. Web efficacy is vital for creating an impressive online experience and gaining customer patronage. To facilitate the understanding of website managers on specific aspects which matter the most to customers, this study employs the best-worst method to evaluate the importance of various criteria employed by the web users to assess these digital options. Additionally, using four life insurance websites (LIC, SBI Life, HDFC Life Insurance, and Max Life Insurance) as alternatives, the study helps illustrate the competitive position of the websites based on key criteria: trust, visual appeal, innovativeness, information fit-to-task, tailored information, response time, intuitive operations, and relative advantage. The results of this study are easily interpretable and can provide key insights on the specific attributes in a comparative manner for website administrators and managers.
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1. Introduction

The rapid expansion of information technology has made a profound impact on every aspect of our lives. Organizations, Governments, citizens and consumers are reaping the benefits of modern day internet based technologies which has brought immense convenience and augmented the quality of life. FinTech sector is one prominent example which is making a shift from the traditional way of offering financial services and enabling financial transactions through digital means such as via. websites and/or Apps. Amidst this Insurance sector is no exception. Traditionally, life insurance was sold mainly through a short and selective distribution system where personal selling played the main role (Alt et al. 2021). Both direct (employees, distance selling) and indirect distribution (agents, brokers, banks) channels were part of such a system. A shift emerged in the last decade with the emergence of multichannel distribution system. Online distribution channels via the presence of websites arose as one of the most significant internet based distribution channels (Alt et al. 2021). They offered several benefits to both organizations and consumers (expanded in next section). In brief, the main advantage was related to the distribution cost which was less expensive than selling through intermediaries. Similar to the rest of the word, insurance companies in India are actively using the digital platform not only for promoting their product offering but also to provide better pre and post-sales service to existing customers and to resolve the queries of potential customers (Maheswari and Chandrasekaran, 2018). Websites as communication tools enable an organization to simultaneously tailor messages to address the concerns and interests of a diverse set of people (Hinson et al. 2014).

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