insurance
AXA Sun Life – usability issues
Recently, I had cause to help someone manage their life insurance account online. This isn’t hugely exciting in itself, and actually points to my somewhat misguided tendency to try and ‘help’ people with the Internet…but what it did uncover was a frankly terrible online journey for AXA.
Given their wide-ranging portfolio of insurance products, and indeed the propensity for customer churn in that market sector with the rise & rise of price comparison sites etc…well, you’d expect their online presence to be pretty good in order to give customers one less reason to defect to another brand.
Are they redefining standards? No.
AXA, you failed. And I reckon you failed because you’ve become complacent with your website (or haven’t ever done any usability studies on it). Read on and find out why!
The scenario
Existing life insurance customer wants to login to change some details.
The journey
Armed with a paper copy of the account details, I’m already a bit mystified as to where to go. Nowhere on any of the documentation does it mention a web address to visit. However, plastered all over the docs are the AXA logo – proud and blue with a lovely red stripe on it (not the Jamaican beer, unfortunately), so I bash that into Google and the .co.uk site appears top. Off we go…
Click to enlarge
That massive white letterbox there is the crap Flash banner that’s been adblocked by Chrome. Tip #1: if you’re going to use shitty banners, make sure they are hosted on your site so that adblockers don’t block ‘em.
So, on this homepage I’m looking for a way to login. Here’re the problems:
- There is no obvious login area: there’s nothing in the top right (the usual place for login functionality), and nothing in the footer
- There’s no clear hierarchy: loads of similar-looking links, and nothing stand-out to draw the eye
- Ooh look – an ‘Existing customers’ box on the right: except…I’m looking for a login for a Life Insurance policy, but there’s nothing like that in the drop-downs
- Ah, ok – there’s a drop-down in the Insurance top-nav for ‘Manage my policy’ – this could be it!
So, according to this it’s only Travel & Home. Dammit. Ok ok, so there’s another link in the top-nav to ‘Life & Protection’…let’s try there. I’m then treated to this message:
On 15 September 2010, Resolution Limited acquired the majority of AXA’s UK life assurance businesses. Both AXA and Resolution would like to reassure customers that your policy terms and conditions are in no way affected by this acquisition
We’re then given a link to the Sun Life Direct website. Is this where I’m meant to go? I don’t have a Sun Life policy. ARGH!
Conclusion
AXA, if the user can’t login to manage their life policy, you need to tell them. If they can, make it obvious. This infuriated me and the person I was trying to help (not least because I’m supposed to know what I’m doing On The Internet – and now you’ve made me look silly).
Oh yeah, and your footer still says ©2010. That’s soo last year.
1Site review: Legal & General
The Legal & General site (www.legalandgeneral.com) has undergone a rebrand, as has their offline material. As one of the largest life insurance brands, their new brand guidelines should be pretty good. I thought I’d review the site in terms functionality, design and usability.
Smith & Milton were appointed to do the work. How did they get on? Is it an Apple-esque poem of usability and customer-focussed design? Or have they missed the mark? Read on and find out!
0Site review: Adrianflux.co.uk
After a fairly heavy night out, my brain appears to be dissolving in alcohol. Before it completely disappears, however, I thought I’d do a quick review of the Adrian Flux (www.adrianflux.co.uk) site. It was relaunched relatively recently (within the last 6-9 months or so). I’m going to take a look at a few pages of their brochureware and also the quote process.
As a specialist insurer, they’re meant to be ideal for car enthusiasts and the like. Now, I’m not a hardcore car geek – but the 4-wheeled ponies do pique my interest. So have Adrian Flux accounted for not only the car enthusiasts but also web best-practice? Are they the Internet equivalent of a Mini Metro? Read on and find out!
Hey…I just realised that reads like Anne Robinson on ‘The Weakest Link’… 
A review of Directline.com
Whilst wandering around the web, I stumbled across the Direct Line website and thought I’d write a quick review of their web offering.
Being the most dominant direct insurer in the market brings great responsibility. Does your website support your brand and support your customer proposition? Can a visitor tell where they’ve arrived at? As the biggest fish in the pond, it’s easy to get complacent and neglect your website.
Have Direct Line done their duty? Or have they let it go to the dogs? Read on and find out!
1A review of Admiral.com
What else do I do with my lunchtimes other than look at websites to criticise? Not a lot, it seems. The victim subject today is Admiral.com, one of the UK’s leading insurers, responsible for brands such as Diamond, Elephant and of course Admiral themselves.
Being in such an Admirable (haha!) position, you’d have hoped their site might reflect their customer ‘promise’ of “providing low cost car insurance for younger drivers, people living in cities and those driving performance cars.” Does it cut the mustard? What other condiments could it successfully incise? Read on!
0GoCompare and Gio Compario
If you’ve been fortunate enough to have not seen the GoCompare ads featuring Gio Compario, I envy you. Click here to see the ad, or here for the official website. I warn you, once you’ve watched these, you can’t un-watch them.
For those of us unfortunate enough to have been exposed to this complete bollocks, I have just one question for Go Compare:
WHY?
What does this have to do with anything at all? It doesn’t relate in any way to finding the best deal on insurance/loans/credit cards/anything. How do your customers relate to this creative?
On that note, did your ad agency do ANY research at all as to what could work? Or did they simply watch Compare The Meerkat ads all night whilst high on caffeine and chocolate-coated raisins and then spout this idea, wild-eyed and dribbling into their underwear, the next morning to your marketing team? Was it signed off by the same person who agreed to pay bloggers for links last year?
I reckon so.
Anyone else have any comments?
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