Price comparison websites like GoCompare, Comparethemarket and Moneysupermarket have become extremely popular over the years as they give consumers a simple ‘at a glance view’ to help them decide if they can get a better deal.
They allow consumers to compare energy, insurance, broadband and other services.
But they’re often criticised for giving customers a limited picture of the market and for encouraging them to buy on price rather than focusing on the quality that the product offers.
There’s also a number of insurers that refuse to list their products on them, including Direct Line, classic and specialist car insurer Adrian Flux and Admiral Multicar to name but a few.
Last week one of the leading comparison sites, Comparethemarket got fined £17.9 million by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which said that it had breached competition law by imposing wide ‘most favoured nation’ clauses on providers of home insurance selling through its platform.
This effectively stops the home insurers from offering lower prices on other price comparison websites – protecting Comparethemarket from being undercut by its rivals.
Comparethemarket, meanwhile, has come out to say that it “is disappointed with the CMA’s decision and does not recognise its analysis of the home insurance market.”
Build your own comparison platform
While comparison websites have their downsides, it’s their simplicity and effectiveness that have long been the envy of brokers that boast a suite of products.
But, luckily for SchemeServe users, the option of creating an aggregator solution for their clients is a possibility. This year, we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary, but our aggregator tool is also celebrating an anniversary. Five years on, we’re still offering our brokers the ability to compete with the price comparison websites.
The aggregator tool is available to all SchemeServe users free of charge and allows intermediaries with delegated authority to become their own aggregator for niche insurance lines. It effectively enables brokers to sell multiple targeted products from different insurers all from their own website. It also allows brokers to build tailored products for clients as they can pick different providers by policy section or add-on to create their own wording and coverage.
A good way to retain customers
It may not compare the entire market but if brokers have more than one niche product, they have the ability to showcase the choices on offer in a similar way to the major comparison websites.
It’s just one of the many tools we offer that can make things easier for clients.
This will help in retaining clients as they can find all the information they need on the brokers’ website and compare the products on offer.
Even though comparison sites have flaws it’s good to have access to a feature which helps to draw on the advantages that they provide. Customers have become used to using comparison websites and we see them flaunt their adverts on our television sets all the time. In our view, brokers should reap the benefits of these features too. With regards to the TV advert – that may be a bit of a harder thing to conjure up!
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
