Insurance.com: Notes : Aldrich & Keegan

Becoming Part of a Financial Services Network

Steven Aldrich,

Quicken InsureMarket

Kevin Keegan,

InsWeb

Speaking separately, both Steven Aldrich of Quicken InsureMarket and Kevin Keegan agreed on the superior economics and consumer appeal of a specialized "market space" on the Net over a proprietary site which was not only hard for consumers to find but also did not meet consumers desires for multiple carriers quotes and unbiased assistance. Both had data to show large numbers of PC owners used online financial services.

Aldrich emphasized Quicken's established brand awareness, expanding public promotions and their existing public image as providers of intuitive, easy-to-use financial transaction software.

Steven Aldrich described "The Four C's " of why consumers buy online:
    Choice,
    Convenience,
    Confidence and
    Cost

Aldrich also shared his observation that the marketplace must give full transactional functionality to be successful, that it must also maintain regulatory sensitivity, recognized partners and significant qualified traffic.

Kevin Keegan of InsWeb agreed with the prior presenters that auto insurance was the "killer app," and reported data consistent with Booz-Allen's that insurers were not yet planning to offer the features wanted by consumers, namely the ability to get instant online quotes and to purchase policies online.

Keegan assure participants that InsWeb had assembled sufficient insurance carriers' interfaces to offer consumers the choice among carriers that they expected, so would be ramping up publicity and advertising of the InsWeb market space during 1998.