A New Interface for an Historic Brand

OPPORTUNITY

For too many brands, a website is still a brochure or an ad – a collection of headlines and pictures trying to explain a company instead of facilitating a sale.

But your website visitors don’t need an explanation. They haven’t just ‘lucked’ upon your website. They’ve come with intent.

Your website needs to simply confirm that the visitor has arrived at the right place, and then make it as easy as possible for the visitor to do what she or he wants.

SOLUTION

POSTMKTG’s priorities for The Merriam Agency, a 124-year old independent insurance agency in Schenectady, New York, were to update the brand’s look, tone and positioning without breaking current graphic standards, and then rebuild the company’s website so that it functioned less like an ad and more like an interface.

We promised Merriam we could convert visitors into contacts. And we were able to prove that claim within a few days of the site’s launch. Not only did we double traffic to the site, the clear value proposition and simplified design drove an astounding 20% completion rate on the site’s primary contact form!

But our goals for Merriam extend far beyond conversions and sales.

RESULTS

The insurance industry is being disrupted from top to bottom. Auto, homeowners, renters, life and other “gateway” insurance products are now quoted and sold online, with cost the primary driver. So, in addition to its focus on conversions and sales, the new Merriam website is designed to provide valuable data with every entry and click. The long term goal is to allow Merriam to spot new market opportunities, optimize its offering and revise its business priorities in real time.