Name of your website?Canquote
Your name?
Andrew Vann
Your Location (city, etc)
Kitchener
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Canquote provides free online insurance quotes for Canadians. Visitors to the site can generate quotes from across the Canadian industry using a full range of options to determine their rates. Canquote is easy to use and provides useful information which enables consumers to make informaed purchasing decisions.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I wanted to provide consumers with the ability to obtain information when it was convenient for them and to be able to speak with us directly, if they choose to do so, in a NO-pressure and supportive environment. Statistics indicate that an enormous segment of the Canadian population is not insured or is inappropriately insured. After over 2 decades of serving this industry I felt that much of that may be a result of historically aggressive sales people, and the sense of consumers feeling "sold" what they have without really understanding what they have done. It is my hope that anyone engaging us comes away with a valuable experience and if they choose to do business with us at some time that the experience is one in which they bought what they understood and what they needed rather than feeling sold what someone said they should have.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Late in 2006. www. Canquote.com is it.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
We wanted it to be simple but embody what the site was about. The Can portion referencing Canadian and the quote portion being what it provides.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We offer a very broad range of products to quote on. Many competing sites focus on just a single product (like life insurance). Given the complexity of some products we provide the opportunity for customized quotes on a request basis, but will not use a system generated quote online as we feel there is too great a margin for error in client understanding or interpretation of the results. We feel this is a more ethical way of managing such quotes, even if it reduces the volume of interest. We also found that other sites providing a wider array of products were poorly organized and difficult to follow to obtain the quotes the consumers wanted. We wanted a site that was comprehensive in scope but easy to navigate and understand.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We anticipate keeping, growing and expanding the website. Over the next few months we will be expanding its capabilities as well as the information contained within it. We will still maintain our focus on easy of use and simplicity.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
This was not a "which came first....the chicken or the egg" experience. Going in it was expected that we would invest time and money to make Canquote effective. All of our growth and positioning within the search engine environment has be organic and within our targetted terms and markets we are pleased with our results so far. Now that we have gained a foothold the efforts will be accelerated to further improve our presence on the internet. It is beginning to show signs that the investments were well worth it based on the feedback we have been getting from consumers.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
We would implement our Branding Strategy sooner than next year. We would likely consider non-organic options like click-through campaigns as well to accelerate our growth.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes. Part of our initial investment and planning was to manage the capacity for over-success. We are exceptionally well positioned for this when it happens.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Time enough to complete everything is always a challenge no matter what the undertaking. Managing the sheer volume of services we provide and putting it into terms that are consumer friendly can be challenging. The financial services industry isn't known for the clarity with which it informs consumers.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Gaining ranking on a great many sites who have been established for a long time and who have a more complex approach to their website positioning. Many also have enormous capital resources and utilize non-organic methods to gain presence. Despite these challenges we have steadily gained ground and have achieved our objectives on schedule.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I believe that our steady approach has been the most beneficial strategy for us. We did not set out to top the charts in a couple of months. We were reasonable in our expectations and hopeful that our value proposition would ressonate with those who did initially find us. We have also achieved a great deal through word-of-mouth from existing clients.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It has taken more time and required a bit more creativity than initially expected. It has also been dramatically more satisfying than expected to see us go from obscurity to actually getting some results in the manner we set out to use from the beginning.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
We have run it officially from the beginning and that was the start of 2007. We will continue to keep it with no end in site regardless of circumstances. It is a valuable tool for my team as well as for consumers.
What is your website address?
Canquote
