2008-09-18 23:41:01 -

www.ambest.com - In the latest edition of the E-Fusion Podcast, John Pogas, vice president of Aon Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., explores how insurers can create more effective e-commerce projects, measure user interaction and keep the focus on marketing instead of technology.

"We certainly try to tie into a lot of the online communities. We have things like podcasts on

our sites for continuing education credits. We will always take usability into perspective because that's really the key to getting someone into your site and doing what you want them to do," Pogas said in the interview. "What we try to do is make that experience as easy as possible, as intuitive as possible so that they can get on with their day. We realized people just want to come in, buy their insurance and move on."

In the interview, Pogas also shares techniques to monitor and improve e-commerce effectiveness. "As a marketing organization we're very metrics driven. The one metric that I use really above all else is our browser-to-buyer ratio. I always look at our sites as a retail environment, like a retail store. I say, 'How many people came into my store versus how many people bought something?' The average browser-to-buyer ratio in retail is about 3%," Pogas said. "We realize an 8% to 9% browser-to-buyer ratio for our sites. So usability is huge, and we're constantly tweaking our experience using things like heat maps, using things like usability studies where we'll sit behind a two-way mirror and actually see where people are clicking on our sites."

A featured speaker at the 2008 E-Fusion Conference, Pogas will give a presentation entitled "Value-Centric E-Commerce," which will feature Jaimie Pickles of Canal Partner LLC and Brian Ocheltree of DoublePositive Marketing Group, Inc.

A one-day event, the E-Fusion Conference focuses on developments in insurance technology, insurance issues and operations. The recipient of the 2008 E-Fusion Award will be recognized at the E-Fusion Conference for advancements in insurance technology. Finalists for the annual E-Fusion Award will present projects online in a series of Webinars starting Wednesday, October 1.

Conference details and registration information are available at www.ambest.com/efusion.

The audio interview with Pogas is available at feeds.feedburner.com/~r/E-fusion2006/~5/388680021/Efusion_2008_03.mp3.

To subscribe to the E-Fusion Podcast, visit feeds.feedburner.com/e-fusion2006 or visit iTunes or other podcast information sites.

Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial services industries, including insurance companies, reinsurance companies and banks. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

E-Fusion 2008 Program Chairman
Lee McDonald, 908-439-2200, ext. 5561
efusionaward@ambest.com