As most of you might have noticed I have a new sponsor on the blog, Gulf Insurance Company. They’ve basically launched a new service where people can just log into their website and sign up for one of their insurance plans, here is their press release with more info:
GIC unveils its online insurance services
Gulf Insurance Company (GIC) … Kuwait’s most preferred insurance solutions provider is proud to announce its online range of individual insurance products via: www.clickgic.comGIC’s valued customers can now simply login and insure their vehicles, Jet Ski’s, yachts, pleasure boats, domestic servants and travel insurance including family members and pay for such services online by K-Net, Visa or MasterCard in a fully secure environment.
Once the policy is purchased, GIC will send a policy confirmation email to the customer along with an SMS to the customer’s mobile phone advising policy number. The customer will have access to his policy and check information of the same any time by logging on www.clickgic.com and by keying in policy number and civil ID number for prompt display of all policy information.
Customers have the option of collecting their policies themselves from any of GIC’s 15 branches or request for a free delivery of the policy within 24 hours to the location of their choice in Kuwait. Customers however can print the motor comprehensive, domestic helpers and travel insurance policies directly from the comfort of their homes or offices.
GIC is currently offering its online customers a special discount of 10% on the Motor and Marine Third Party Liability policy premiums.
Simply log on to www.clickgic.com and see for yourselves GIC’s distinct wide ranging products and services and the ease and convenience of its use!
Anyway the reason for this post is that GIC want your feedback on their website. So if you have any comments on their website just leave it below.
15 replies on “New sponsor looking for feedback”
why flash? thats like old technology now
I like it. But I think there should be a way to review the price before I start filling in my personal information.
yeah thats one of the things i’ve suggested to them and also more information on the packages
There is very little information…
There is too much flash…
Navigation is simple which is good..
The site overall is lacking content and a finishing touch
Uh … I guess they are using the new shock and awe technique — I was shocked at how awful it is.
My comments — although I feel that you shouldn’t be doing this for your advertisers — not unless they are paying you for soliciting opinions, in which case let me know where to send the bill.
1. Remove the flash and the landing page. It serves no purpose; instead replace it with an information page that describes in brief the steps to be taken to complete the process and the information that is required. Perhaps some details about the POLICY and COVERAGE.
2. Remove the need for a popup to open a new window. It will not work on any of the modern browsers without the user having to add the site to a whitelist. It will also not work with any toolbars that have popup blockers (almost all do).
Once you get past that ….
3. What is the purpose of the form? Have they heard of contextual help? Apparently they have, since they have linked it to useless bits of information (who doesn’t know what a civilid is or where to look for it?); yet have ignored it on the important bits — what is TPL? What does it cover?
4. The cardinal rule of online purchasing is, don’t make the customer fill out personal information unless it is the last step of the purchase workflow. Look at any successful e-tailer (ahem, Amazon) and you can see one can browse the entire site, use the shopping cart, check DESCRIPTIONS and PRICES without even having to create an account. After entering my civil ID, I still don’t know what tha hell I am buying or how much its going to cost me.
5. It looks like whoever designed the top work flow graphic and whoever was responsible for creating the form didn’t have proper communication channels. The buttons on the bottom of the form do not correspond to the workflow at the top. Case in point — in the ‘Details’ workflow, the button at the bottom is ‘Checkout’. Right, that makes sense, considering the next step is ‘Review Cart’. Speaking of buttons, where is the back button?
6. “Switch to Un-secure mode (Faster browsing)” just one word. NO. REMOVE THIS OPTION. “Un secure” does not mean “faster”. I want to speak with whomever decided this was a great idea, and I want to speak with them now.
7. Clicking on Arabic leads to a lovely error page. So nice, so lovely.
8. Click on the back button on your browser, go the first screen, start the process again, and for me I got a nice 500 error message (which is the HTTP class for server error); after which the form was rendered useless (even refreshing the screen doesn’t make the form work).
9. Privacy Policy at the bottom should be a link, and it isn’t.
I’m too tired to go through the rest of it, but clearly this is not production quality and needs some serious QA/QC.
Pass that on, with my regards 🙂
Burhan pretty much summed it up .. allow the customer to enter the policy info, get an idea about the price, and then put in all the personal details.
I am actually very impressed, and hope the company reviews the feedback and enhances the site to be more user-friendly.
I loved the fact that when I typed my CID number, it pulled out all the details along with the vehicles that I have currently insured with them.
I am definitely going to do my renewals online.
They say they have comprehensive in their press release, but they are offering only only third party..
I think that Burhan was coming too hard on this site…specially that it is the first type of service for insurance company in kuwait…it serves the purpose whether the workflow on the top matches the buttons or not who cares ?? I was able to buy my policy without any problems and I was able to see the prices immediately once it was added to the Cart, the screens are simple and easy…. plus who does not know that TPL is, in any country in the world TPL motor insurance refers to Third Party Policy, this is new info for you guys
It is not that bad, in fact, I think it was easy to use I was able to see the prices as soon as I added the prodcuts to the cart…who cares about the matching beween the workflow labes and the buttons as long as the system serves the purpose
Thomas/Ahmad:
Just because its the first type of service, doesn’t mean it has to be crap. At least it should work, right? Well it doesn’t. You shouldn’t make excuses for poor services, how are business to learn?
If you walked into a store and the labels for the isles were not correct, when it said dried food it actually contained ice cream; and when you went to the check out counter, they asked you first to sign your civil id and your name, then they would tell you how much it costs — would that be acceptable?
Examples of sites that get it right:
http://www.geico.com
http://www.allstate.com
Burhan’s last post alludes to a very important point that website developers in Kuwait should keep in mind: we live in a globalized world and the internet is built on open standards meaning their is no reason to compare yourself by local mediocre sites since they bar is set too low.
Even small companies (and GIC is a large one in Kuwait) can afford to buy most of the website technology that would be required to get a usable site up and running.
My visit to the site was also disappointing as I thought the vision was brilliant (online insurance in a web services wasteland) and would make the company stand out but the execution left much to be lacking.
It would have served the better to launch an alpha or beta version with limited tests directed to sites like 248 or otherwise. I was greatly put off by having to enter my civil ID number from the get go without an inkling of what would be done with it or what I would be getting. I value my privacy and have seen far too many internet scams to be comfortable with that.
Finally, there are many successful implementations that could have been used as models for this site if they don’t know how to set their own customer workflow.
why isn’t there an option for comprehansive coverage?
A website should have the continuity and same template used all over the site. i really don’t understand the logic of having a coverpage site clickgic and then a landing page of another design giccrm
Giving the civil id to start the process is ok as it is the same thing you do (knowingly or unknowingly) when you go to any insurance companies or most of the exchange companies. no body goes to the forex or insurance co just for window shopping or wander around
What they could’ve done best is to include a link to rate card in the main page itself and if the visitor is interested he can check the rates before making the service request. But this option is really good for the people who just want to renew their policies
overall the idea of online insurance is good. but i would suggest they use smart companies to develop their online presence
to sum it up;
It does serve the purpose well but it doesn’t look that good.
is there any company in kuwait that using CSS and XHTML on their website? maybe you can count it with your fingers.
Table, the website counter, flash animation, is sooooo yesterday!