Most Canadian brokerages do not format websites for mobile: CSIO

More than half the property and casualty insurance brokerages in British Columbia who are members of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) have a website specifically designed for small screens of mobile devices, only 17% of those in Prince Edward Island do and nearly one in five brokerages in Canada have no website at all, figures from CSIO suggest.

Toronto-based CSIO announced Wednesday it published results of research into the implementation of mobile-optimized websites among brokerages who are CSIO members. CSIO is an association of P&C carriers and brokers – as well as information technology vendors – that oversees development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and forms. [click image below to enlarge]

A mobile-optimized website “generally refers to a website that has been designed and formatted to be easily interacted with on the small screens of mobile devices,” CSIO stated in a white paper, titled Broker Best Practices for a Mobile-Optimized Website, published last year.

The results of a CSIO’s research on website adoption, in the P&C broker community, are summarized in a map on the CSIO website breaking down adoption by province.

“CSIO has determined that only 38% of brokerages across Canada have a mobile optimized website,” CSIO stated in the release.

The percentage of brokerages that have implemented a mobile optimized website are:

British Columbia, 51;

Alberta, 38;

Saskatchewan, 25;

Manitoba, 30;

Ontario, 44;

Quebec, 33;

New Brunswick, 32;

Nova Scotia, 37;

Prince Edward Island, 17; and

Newfoundland and Labrador, 38.

“This map provides compelling evidence that there is a significant opportunity for brokers to optimize their websites for mobile, better servicing the online needs of their existing and potential customers,” stated Catherine Smola, president and chief executive officer of CSIO, in a release.

The map also depicts the percentage of brokerages with a company website by province:

British Columbia, 88;

Alberta, 80;

Saskatchewan, 80;

Manitoba, 64;

Ontario, 89;

Quebec, 82;

New Brunswick, 68;

Nova Scotia, 74;

Prince Edward Island, 83; and

Newfoundland and Labrador, 94.

“Surprisingly, CSIO’s research shows that approximately 18% of brokerages nationally have no website at all.”

In its white paper, CSIO noted that a broker’s “primary” options to have a mobile Internet presence are to either create a separate mobile site or to create a new site that has a “responsive design.” CSIO added that a mobile app can be useful but it “cannot serve as a substitute for a mobile website.”

The white paper also noted some companies would likely need to trim down content for mobile sites, use click to call buttons and format hyperlinks so they can be easily pushed or tapped from mobile device.