Intuit
www.intuit.com 

The ad banner links to the “smile test” on Intuit’s Web.

Intuit is the dominant marketer of insurance on the Web, at least judging from the number of ad banners sprouting all over the Web. Its latest campaign promoted on Newspage and elsewhere is the “smile test.” The essence of the tongue-in-cheek promotion is to see if your beneficiary smiles when you tell them the amount of life insurance you carry. If the smile is too wide, you may be overinsured. The copy reads, “Remember, when it comes to life insurance, if the amount of your policy is more attractive than you are, you’re probably over-insured.” It’s a clever come-on to get you into the needs-analysis section of InsureMarket, Intuit’s online insurance emporium.

Currently, just two companies, Lincoln Benefit (division of Allstate) and John Hancock, offer online quotes. In addition, Hancock, MetLife, State Farm and Allstate offer the option of receiving a quote from an agent over the phone or through e-mail. A listing of agents in the vicinity of your zip code is provided. An e-mail form allows you to easily request the quote. Users choose whether to be contacted via e-mail or telephone and whether to attach their just-completed insurance profile. As is often the case, the follow-through on this Web-based sales tactic isn’t what it should be. After two weeks, I have yet to hear from the Seattle-based Allstate agent I sent my profile to.

QFN visitors can request term life insurance quotes from the first page of the QFN Web (lower RH corner).

The two companies on the left provide online quotes. The four on the right provide quotes through agents.

Users can select an agent to request an insurance quote.