执行摘要Action abstract

      The network marketing have many advantages compared with the traditional marketing. It pushes the services innovation and update the management when used in the Insurance business line, however, it also have a great impact on the traditional marketing and the insurance sales brokers. The basic ways of network marketing including "Direct marketing from the Insurance companies" " Insurance companies corporate with other website"  " The third party Insurance network marketing". Since the networking marketing can not substitute the traditional marketing and also face many resistances, the Insurance companies should handle it reasonable to combine the networking marketing with the traditional one and play up the strengthens and avoid the unfavorable ones.

网络营销的基本模式有三种，他们是保险公司网站直接营销模式，保险公司与其它网站合作的电子商务模式，和第三方保险电子商务网站模式。但网络营销并不可能完全代替传统营销，而且其发展也会面临诸多制约因素。这就需要保险企业理性看待网络营销与传统营销的关系，充分发挥网络营销的优势并避其劣势，对网络营销与传统营销进行有效的整合。

引言Introduction

      The development of the network brings lot of resources and at the same time, enhance volumes of business, provide new channels to update the brand value. Furthermore promote  the network resources and realize the transformation from the traditional marketing to the network is the guidance of the Insurance Company's future development. 

     The network marketing as a new model of business operation of the Insurance Business Line, has lot of business opportunities, which were realized by more and more Insurance companies and they have a fierce competition especially in the e-business way innovation, on-line insurance shopping, on-line financial mall, on-line venture marketing etc deviating from the customers concern. Except their own website, they more and more focus on the comprehensive e-business network created by the professional technical services companies and accordingly,  the IT outsourcing becomes the main expenditures for them. When the network marketing used in the Insurance business, it will update the operation efficiency, improve the customer service ability, benefit the company economy, and furthermore enhance the companies marketing adjustment  and competitive ability. On the other hand, the network's potential development also has a great impact on the traditional marketing ways. The advantages and disadvantages analysis of the Insurance Network Marketing

互联网的发展带来丰富的网络资源，也为保险公司增加业务量，提升品牌价值提供了新的渠道。加大开发利用网络资源，实现经营的各个环节向电子商务的转型是保险公司未来的发展方向。 　　 

保险业电子商务作为一种全新的经营方式和商业模式，其中所蕴含的商机已被越来越多的保险公司所意识到，各保险公司已经展开了激烈的竞争，其突出表现是电子商务模式的不断创新，网上保险超市、网上金融超市、网上风险市场等从客户角度出发的新兴电子商务模式应运而生。各保险公司的网络营销除了利用自身网站以外，将越来越关注或利用由专业技术服务公司搭建的各类综合性电子商务平台，相应的，IT外包服费将成为保险公司网络营销的重要支出。网络营销应用于保险业，能够提高保险销售业务的运作效率，改善客户服务的能力和水平，提高保险企业的经济效益，进而提高企业的市场适应能力和竞争实力。但保险网络营销在表现出发展潜力的同时，也给保险业传统的营销方式带来了冲击。

保险业网络营销的优劣势分析

　　

保险网络营销的优势The advantages of the Insurance network marketing.

     Although the network marketing have a smaller portion compared with the traditional Insurance marketing in the total business volume, it have many advantages as a new marketing model which can not be compared by the traditional marketing.

1. Cost reduction. According to the statistics, the networking marketing will save 58-71% compared with the traditional marketing in the insurance sales and service supply and it also can save the labour cost in the branch offices.

2. Informative and interactive. The network likes an insurance experts and customers can gain lot of, intensive, versatile  information, and they can compared with them in other insurance companies in different ways. Through this way, it reduces their passivity, aimlessness, and then improve the information dissymmetry condition of the insurance company and the customer, enhance the interactivity. 

3. Save the marketing time through transmission and feedback, accelerate new products. The network marketing as an efficient sales channel, it widen the time and space of the insurance business. The flexibility and adjustive service concept of the network used in the Insurance business, will make it expand every corner of the world and develop furthermore in the international and global. 

4. The consecutive service instead the agent's short term conduct.  When you use the network marketing to sell the insurance product, it can communicate with the customers interactively and guarantee the services to them consecutively. Furthermore, the customer will enhance their credibility toward the company and also can avoid the brokers short term conduct in order to get the ready commission and destroy the interest of our customer and company image in their mind.      

The disadvantages of Network Marketing 

     The network marketing has a bright future development, however, the resistances of its own development can not be overlooked either.

1. Technical and safety problems. In view of the e-business, the Insurance Business now is still comparatively less mordernization with weak equipment of network technical in the financial department of our country and resist its develop in great extent, for example, the weakness infrastructures, deficiency of human resources, lack of the information management and the ability of analysis. Since the network transaction execute through the network information transmission,  it needs more security, trustiness compared with the traditional documentary deal, which require  direct bill transmission and confirmation, however, as far as nowadays communication network, it definitely can not guarantee the transaction information safety and quickly transmission. 

2. Price. The Insurance companies compete with the price before with the direct distribution or agent sale, and the customers have less chance to compared their bought product with other companies. However, the network marketing make the single customer have access to get more information of prices from other companies and compare with them to make the buying decision. So the Insurance companies have to concern the cost of their own product development, propaganda, system maintenance, and at the same time concern the price of the same product from other companies in order to set up a most competitive price, which is an embarrassing problem for the companies.

3.  The large expenses for the prophase promotion and system maintenance. The e-business nowadays still in the First Generation period and the companies can not get their favorable product from the software manufactures. Some big system integration producers such as IBM, EDS,  quote higher prices. Except the IT infrastructures facilities investment, it has other expenditures, labour cost and marketing promotion, for example. According to the study, it needs at least five months and one million dollars for a company to develop and bring out their e-business. Only few big companies can do it in our country and they have to spend lot of time to do the research and decision making before they try it.

The impact of Network Marketing towards the traditional marketing

      The impact towards the traditional marketing

       The traditional marketing generally including direct sale and indirect sale, however, the network as a brand new operation management used in the Insurance Business, will generate different effects compared with the traditional marketing. With the network, the traditional pyramid organization of the insurance company will be substituted by the customer orientation tablet model and all the original business department "knowledge barrier"  will be destroyed with a integrated, comprehensive, non-stop renewed internal knowledge base in the company to support the business expansion. Through the network, the insurance companies can provide their customers with all the services they need and they can find out all the companies and insurances related information. With the network 24 hours consecutive working,  the customers do not have to date with the distributors and many of their potential insurance requirement can be fulfilled immediately when they think about it. Then it can get lot of potential customers for the insurance companies.

     On the other hand, the network marketing can  help and expand the business scope. Because of the inadequate distributors, the limits of the various insurance kinds sales from  distributors and the insurance companies, they can only focus on the major insurance sales propagandized by some companies and overlook or do not have the energy to engage in some extremely potential business area so that they can not expect the  future market going correctly and miss the valuable opportunities. As the network technical rapidly develop toward the broadband, smart, humanization,   the customers can realize the multi-media information share and man-machine conversation function in much more areas. Just because of this development, the traditional marketing experienced revolutionary changes. 

The impact on the intermediaries 

     The insurance brokers generally have high professional knowledge and can collect, discriminate, analyse  various information. They are professionals with broad information channels and provide the insurer and the insured  professional services. Since the insurance agents or brokers mainly seek the profits as their business targets, the opportunism and morality risk happen most of the times thus bring some problems for the insurance marketing. When the insurance intermediaries especially the insurance agents joined the insurance product tradings, their own interest conflict with their clients and it will accelerate the inconformity of the buyers and sellers in some extent,  because of the inadequacy and inconformity of the insurance marketing information. Under the short term interest temptation, the insurance agent will misguiding the insurance terms, run around the exclusion responsibilities, disguise the information or provide with the false information against the laws, and make use of the insurer's unknown about the insurance to grab their own interests. Although the agents are on behalf of the insurer's interests, they may give them unfavorable suggestions under the lure of the insurance companies bonus.

     In the short term concern, the insurance intermediaries status will not be affected under the limitation of the ready technical and the prevalence of the network, however, the development of the insurance network marketing enable the insurers contact directly with the insurance companies and will weak the requirement from the insurance agent and brokers in the market. So the insurance intermediaries should adjust their operation guidance and concept and make use of their professional knowledge and long time working experience advantages moving toward the consultancy in order to strengthen their status under the non-stop development of network marketing.

The impact on the insurance supervision.

     As the insurance products innovate consecutively in our country and the compatibility becomes more versatile, many insurance products, for example, can be sold through the bank, or the form like bank card, even may develop toward the securities, the separate regulation difficulties and complicity will be much higher.  The insurance supervision set up not long in our country, and it supervises mainly through supervision by law, audit report in  technical, financial inspection etc  which used as the target of the traditional insurance marketing. The initial supervision methods will face challenges under the prevalence of the network marketing in the insurance. The supervision department should bring out the supervision rules and method in accordance with the future insurance market in order to adjust, maintain the insurance healthy development.

The Insurance network marketing implement

   

　　（一） The direct marketing model through the Insurance company website.

     The insurance company make use of their own website to promote the marketing is the direct and economized way. Many big insurance companies add customers database, trace of the insurance claims settlement cases  and the insurance business receipt etc to their ready informative website. The following is the case of the United Health Insurance Co, Ltd in American.

     United Health set up their own website to let customers save their health information. The services from the myoptumhealth.com allows customers set up their own health information file and compete directly with Microsoft company's HealthVault and health services from Google. Microsoft set up their own website one year ago, which is several months earlier than the same services products provided by Google. All these three website is free from the service just like other website such as WebMD, UnitedHealth's new website, which is free for all the people (not only the insurance companies' own customers) and they also supply many related medical conditions and illness information for free. UnitedHealth plan to sell their products such as medical equipments, dentistry and eyesight insurance through its website. According to the WallStreet news, the competitors in the Insurance business such as Aetna and Wellpoint already brought the digital medical base through its own website, however, its target customers mainly the group consumers of the big companies such as the health care plan clients and the big companies employees.

（二）The Insurance company cooperate with other website.

（三）The third party Insurance e-business website.

      The third party insurance e-business means the non-traditional insurance companies quote the insurance price through  website and allow the customers to compare with many other insurance companies policy, rate  or even buy the insurance on line etc. The third party insurance's advantages lies on that they can provide the customers chances of comparison and selection separately and more fairness compared with other insurance companies.

      The third party Insurance e-business website in American begins in the middle of 1990s, and reach the climax at the end of 1990s during which lot of website emerged. The blast of the Internet foamy in 2001 is a heavy blow toward many third party insurance e-business websites.  After several years recovery, there are more than ten parties nowadays still engage in this business, and the influential ones like InsWeb, Quotesmith, Quickquote, SelectQuote etc. 

     The revenue model of the third party insurance e-business in American have two ways: the first one is " seek the clue".  They aim to get the consumers name, phone number, and address  information etc then supply them as clues to the professional insurance companies or the traditional insurance sales institute or members. The second way is that they sell the insurance products directly to get the commission from the insurance companies. In order to catch the consumers eyes , they usually provide the customers with various degrees of discount,  additional services at the same time and help them to understand their own requirements.

     We can also take InsWeb and Quotesmith as example to understand the operations of The third party Insurance e-business websites in American.

      InsWeb set up in California in 1995. They take their efforts to provide a on line Insurance market since the beginning and has a great influence in this business. InsWeb provide the consumers with the insurance products quotation from many insurance companies and enable the consumers to compare with and make their buying decisions. At the beginning, InsWeb mainly supply the car insurance quotations, then they moves onto the Term Insurance, Residence Insurance, Health Insurance and other kinds of products afterwards. Its income mainly come from the selling of  the insurance clues to other insurance institutes. In 2005, InsWeb set up the AgentInsider system exclusively for the insurance agents and provide with them more and convenient business opportunities. When the consumers supply their personal information and have the insurance buying intentions, InsWeb will transmit it to the insurance agents registered in their website and charge some money. Compared with other websites, InsWeb is free for the registered insurance agents and they also provide the consumers with insurance articles, learning centres, and answer their questions etc. In 2005, more than 100 million consumers use the car insurance quotation service in its website and the revenue reaches 285,000,00 dollars in 2006, 14% higher than 2005.

     Quotesmith set up in Illinois in 1984. At the beginning, it just provide the insurance agents with products and rate information. It promote the website business in 1996 and successfully finance 630,000,00 dollars in August, 1999, then listed in the Nasdaq Small Cap Market. Now the Quotesmith has its own website accompanied with the Call-in service center to promote its business. It combine the " seek the clue" with direct sale models mainly selling the Life Insurance and Health Insurance, and for the other products, it mainly sell the clues to the insurance institutes to get the revenue.

     Consumers can get the in-time quotation from the top 200 insurance companies in the Insure.com. The products available including: Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Car Insurance, Motorbike Insurance, Personal and Family Medical Insurance, Group Medical Insurance, Short Term Medical Insurance, Residential Insurance, Travelling Insurance and Annuity etc. Besides providing the most comprehensive insurance selection opportunities, Insure.com can also supplys the series customer services from quotation to contract concluded. Based on the fact that the Insurance business supervised in each state individually in American, Quotesmith gets the business licenses in all the 50 states, thus guarantee that it can provide the consumers with insurance service anywhere in U.S.

     In 2005, Insure.com sold 17160 policies totally, including 16845 Term Insurance and 315 pieces of Health Insurance and other products. The revenue in 2005 is 171,000,00 dollars, increased 7% compared with 2004.  Life Insurance commission contributed 144,568,97 dollars to the total revenue, Health Insurance commission 614,648 dollars, the income of the clues sale is 202,278,7 dollars and others 6,976 dollars.

     At the moment, the Third Party Insurance e-business volumes in American only share a very small portion of the total insurance business and its function have not yet been fully developed. The marketing potential space of the insurance business is very big. In 2005, the total revenue of the insurance in American is 1,142.912 trillion dollars, nearly 33.36% of the world. The Life Insurance revenue is 517.074 trillion dollars and non-Life Insurance is 625.838 trillion dollars. Such a large market give the Insurance e-business great development space. With such a big market of the insurance business, the tiny increase of the on line insurance buying can bring huge business opportunities. Furthermore, the American has the mature Insurance Intermediaries market and the consumer's recognizance  of the intermediaries is higher comparatively, which laid a solid foundation for the Third Party Insurance e-business development. At the same time, the American insurance consumers are mostly well educated  and most of them can buy the insurance products on line themselves. So we can see that the insurance e-business will develop remarkablely in the future years. That is why many website continually re-funding themselves even they made a loss in the fierce competition.

     On the other hand, the development of  the Third Party Insurance e-business in Amerian faces lot of challenges too. Firstly, it repelled by the traditional insurance sale channels and face the competition from the insurance companies' own websites. The advantages of the third party website lie on that it can supply the insurance products maximally  and fairly. They must push the advantages and avoid the unfavorables. Secondly, people's acceptance of the on-line trading depends on the e-commerce's further development to boost. Finally, since the on-line Insurance sale supervision problems has not yet solved efficiently,  the laws are still not sound and healthy, thus any new regulations promulgation or the ready laws amendment may have a remarkable good or bad effects towards the insurance e-business develoment.

The integration of the network marketing and the traditional marketing

     The emerge of the network marketing manifest lot of advantages compared with the traditional marketing, however, as far as nowadays concern, it still have some technical barriers and the workable insurance product kind need to be promoted further. So the best way is the combination of the on line insurance buying with the traditional marketing to realize the organic solidarity. According to realistic development of the insurance home and abroad, the integrated marketing concept of the insurance business should be " two legs" walk and "three ways" accompanied. "two legs" means that we need the traditional marketing  and at the same time,  make use of the modern network to distribute the insurance products. "three ways" means the traditional sales way, network sales way and the traditional, network combination sales way.

     Firstly, for the insurance product with complicated terms and not easier understood by the insurers, we should take the traditional sales way. Since the insurance business is very professional, and for those consumers who do not have the training experience or specialized learning, they may not understand its essence fully and accurately of the insurance products with  complicated terms and composite insurance responsibilities. If the consumers buy the products under such circumstances, they may argue with the insurance companies one day for the insurance accidents claims because of their unilateral or misunderstanding of the insurance policies. It is very difficult to make an agreement for the insurance company with the consumer usually and the image of the insurance will be affected naturally. Furthermore, for the long term Life Insurance affixed with the major illness insurance, which needs the existence investigation and related procedures to evade the moral risk, the traditional sales way would be more workable.

     Secondly, for the insurance product with simple terms and at the same time, the insurer needs the instant services, Aviation insurance, Travelling Insurance,  for example, we should take the network sales. It is actually a kind of modern direct distribution model. The company will set up their own website with this way to provide the customer with the complete electronically  insurance policy and the whole transaction will be fulfilled through network. Its services may include on-line insurance, the insurer services, agents areas, on line reorganization center, interactive personality services and insurance knowledge base etc. The insurance company provide their customer with fully electronically service systems and the truly full day services.

     Finally, the combination of the traditional and network marketing way. This way used generally for the product easier sold through the website and its terms comparatively complicated, big volume sum assured, spot underwrite, and spot charges. Its procedures like this, that first get the potential customers through the network then send the merchandiser to visit the insurers and finally sign the contract. 

Conclusion

     The insurance business as the financial industry "troika" is at the very beginning of the e-commerce business line because of the sincerity problems. If there is an accurate distribution platform and the distribution measures conforming market trends , the healthy, sustained market order will be settled very soon. At the moment, the netizen increase very quickly with average quarter 8% characteristic with young, knowledgeable, and higher income comparatively.  These netizen have novel concept, and is willing to select the excellent insurance products, which is favorable for the insurance business promotion. The development of the network provide the insurance business with an efficient, convenient operating platform. Through the network promotion and utilization, the insurance companies will definitely contact with more consumers closely, widen the potential customers group, increase the ready customers group. Meanwhile, it will accelerate the insurance company operating efficiency, lower the cost and push forward the traditional management model integrated with the modern e-commerce.　　

　　虽然通过网络营销的保单促成量在全球目前保险成交总量中所占的比重还很小，但网络营销作为保险企业一种全新的营销模式，其具有的诸多优越性是传统营销方式所无法比拟的。

　　

　　节省开支，降低成本。据有关数据统计，通过互联网向客户出售保单或提供服务，要比传统营销方式节省58%-71%的费用。保险公司通过网络销售保单，可以省却目前在分支机构代理网点及营销员上的费用。

　　

　　信息量大，具有互动性。网络就如同一位保险专家，人们可以从网上获取大容量、高密度、多样化的专业信息，可以同时在多家保险公司和多种保险产品中实现多元化的比较，大大减少了投保人投保的被动性、盲目性，有效地改善了投保人与保险公司之间的信息不对称状况，增强了双方的互动性。

　　

　　即时传送和反馈能节省营销时间，加速新产品的推出。网络作为有效的销售渠道，拓宽了保险业务的时间和空间。互联网的特点使得保险业务可以延伸至全球任何地区，它富有灵活性与应变能力的服务理念推动保险商品的销售，促使保险市场进一步向国际化、全球化方向发展。

　　

　　服务具有连续性，避免代理人的短期行为。利用网络销售保险产品，与客户进行互动交流，使保险公司对每一位客户的服务更具有连续性，增强了客户对保险公司的信任度，可以避免由于代理人追求眼前佣金利益的短期行为对客户造成的损害和对公司形象的影响。

　　

保险网络营销的劣势

　　

　　网络营销具有广阔的发展前景，但其自身发展条件中的制约因素也是不可忽视的。

　　

　　技术与安全性问题。从电子商务的角度来看，保险业仍是我国金融领域中现代化程度和网络技术装备水平较低的行业，硬件环境差，人员水平不足，信息管理与分析能力缺乏，在很大程度上制约了其发展。网上交易是通过信息网络传输商务信息和进行交易的，与传统的有纸贸易相比，减少了直接的票据传递和确认，因此要求网上交易比有纸交易更安全、更可靠，而就目前来看，现有的通信网络还不能绝对保证交易信息的安全、迅速传递。

　　

　　价格问题。以往的直销方式和中介销售，各公司之间主要依靠的是价格竞争，客户在购买产品时很少有机会比较多家公司的产品。网上销售使得单个消费者可以同时得到多家公司多种产品的价格信息，以相互比较做出对自己有利的购买决策；而公司定价时不仅要考虑自身产品开发、宣传和系统维护的费用，而且要参考其他公司同类产品的价格情况，定出具有足够竞争力的价格，这对企业来说是两难的抉择。

　　

　　前期开发、系统维护费用较大。电子商务仍处于第一代应用之中，还不大可能从一家软件厂商那里买到所有称心如意的产品，而大的系统集成商，如IBM的全球服务系统和EDS公司的价码都很高。除了IT基础设施的投资外，还有其他的费用，如人力资本费用和市场推广费等。据有关统计，企业要开发和推出自己的电子商务网站要花掉100万美元和5个月的时间，这对我国的企业来讲，只有少数几家大公司有可能做到，而做出这样的尝试还需要大量时间的研究和决策。

　　

保险业网络营销对传统营销的影响

对传统营销方式的影响

　　

　　传统的保险营销方式一般包括直接销售和间接销售两种方式。而将网络作为一种全新的经营管理工具应用于保险业，则产生出与传统营销方式不同的效果。利用网络，保险公司的组织架构将逐渐由传统的金字塔型向以客户为中心的扁平型转变，原有各业务部门之间的“知识壁垒”被打破，取而代之的是建立统一、全面、不断更新的企业内部知识库来支持业务扩展。通过互联网，保险企业可以为客户提供其所需要的一切服务，客户能够全方位了解其投保公司和险种的相关信息，客户不再需要与营销员约定时间，网络24小时工作的连续性，使许多客户的潜在保险需求能够在其想要购买的第一时间转化为现实的购买，为保险公司赢得了大量的潜在客户。

　　

　　此外，网络营销还能有助于扩大保险业务的经营范围。由于营销员数量、营销员所属公司和各类营销员可销售的险种的限制，他们只能侧重于某些公司宣传的大型险种的营销活动，而对于某些极有潜力的业务领域都无暇顾及或无力涉足，导致企业对市场需求的变化不能做出充分合理的预测而错失发展良机。随着网络技术迅速向宽带化、智能化、个人化方向发展，用户可以在更广阔的领域内实现多媒体信息共享和人机交互功能。正是这种发展使得传统营销方式发生了革命性的变化。

　　

对保险中介机构的影响

　　

　　保险中介人一般有较高的专业知识，拥有收集、甄别、分析各种信息的专业人员和广泛的信息渠道，为保险人和投保人提供专业化服务。由于保险代理人或经纪人的工作都是以追求利润为经营目标的，机会主义与道德风险时有产生，这就给保险营销带来了一定的问题。由于保险市场信息具有不完全和不对称性，保险中介人特别是保险代理人加入保险商品的买卖之后，由于其自身利益与委托人利益不一致，在一定意义上可能加剧买卖双方的信息不对称。保险代理人在短期利益驱动下，有可能随意曲解保险条款、回避除外责任、隐瞒信息、提供虚假信息违法操作，利用投保人的轻信或对保险的无知，获得自身利益。而经纪公司虽然代表的是投保人的利益，但在保险公司利润分成的利益驱使下，也可能做出不利于投保人的投保建议。

　　

　　虽然受现有技术和互联网普及程度的约束，短期内保险中介人的地位不会受到冲击，但保险网络营销方式的出现，使保户能够简单快捷地与保险公司直接联系，会减少市场上对传统保险代理人和经纪人的中介需求。保险中介人也应尽快调整自己的经营方向和经营理念，利用其具有的专业知识和长期从业经验，朝着顾问式的方向发展，在网络营销不断发展的保险业中占有一席之地。

　　

对保险监管的影响

　　

　　随着我国保险产品的不断创新，其金融兼容性越来越大，如许多保险产品，不仅可以通过银行进行销售，而且出现银行卡式保单，甚至还可能朝保单证券化发展，分业监管的难度和复杂程度不断提高。我国保险监管历时不长，其监管手段如立法监管、技术上通过稽核举报、财务监管等方式基本上是以传统保险营销为目标，在保险市场上网络营销与日俱增的情况下，原有监管手段的有效性面临挑战。为了适应保险业的发展，维护保险市场的良性发展和正常的经营秩序，保险监管部门要及时推出适应未来保险市场发展的监管制度和手段。

　　

保险业网络营销的实际应用

   （一）保险公司网站直接营销模式

保险公司利用现有的公司网站开展网络营销是最直接也是最节省开支的方式。很多大型的保险公司在现有信息性网站的基础上，增加了例如客户数据库，保险理赔跟踪，已经保险业务受理等电子商务功能。以下就是美国联合健康保险公司的真实案例。

美国UnitedHealth联合健康保险集团推出自己的网站为人们存储他们的个人健康信息。 这项以网络平台myoptumhealth.com提供的服务允许用户创建自己的数字健康记录档案，让健康保险公司直接与微软的HealthVault和谷歌健康服务竞争。微软刚刚在一年多以前推出其网站，比谷歌在在2月份推出其类似服务产品早好几个月。所有这三个网站所提供的服务目前都不收费。像其他健康的门户网站，如WebMD，联合健康UnitedHealth的新网站是向所有客户人开放-不仅仅是限于保险公司的客户-网站提供许多有关的医疗条件和疾病的免费信息。UnitedHealth公司还计划通过网站销售其产品，如医疗，牙科和视力保险产品。 华尔街日报的报道说, 保险行业的竞争对手，如安泰Aetna和Wellpoint已经通过自己的网站推出了数字医疗记录，但目前针对的客户主要还是大公司的团体消费群体：比如保健计划的客户成员和大型企业的雇员客户。

   （二）保险公司与其它网站合作的电子商务模式

   （三）第三方保险电子商务网站模式

第三方保险电子商务指的是非传统保险行业的公司通过网络提供保险报价信息，允许消费者比较多家不同保险公司的保单条款，费率等信息，乃至在线完成保险购买交易的活动。第三方保险电子商务的优势在于可以在独立的立场上为消费者提供比较和做出选择的机会，与保险公司相比，它们可以保持更公正的态度。

　　美国的第三方保险电子商务网站于上世纪90年代中期开始出现，到90年代末期经历了第一次发展高潮，众多第三方电子商务网站如雨后春笋般涌现。2001年互联网泡沫的破灭也给了众多第三方保险电子商务网站以沉重的打击。经过了几年的恢复，目前在美国至少有十几家网站仍在从事第三方保险电子商务的业务，比较有影响力的主要有InsWeb, Quotesmith, Quickquote, SelectQuote 等网站。

　　美国的第三方保险电子商务主要盈利模式有两种：一种是“获取线索”模式。这些网站以获取消费者的姓名、电话和地址等信息为目的，把这些信息作为保险销售的线索提供给专业的保险公司或者传统的保险销售机构或人员。另一种模式则是通过直接出售保险产品而获取来自保险公司的佣金收入。为了吸引消费者，第三方保险电子商务网站一般都会为消费者提供程度不等的价格折扣；同时还提供许多附加服务，帮助消费者了解自己的需求。

我们可以通过InsWeb和Quotesmith两家公司来具体了解一下美国的第三方保险电子商务网站的经营情况。

　　InsWeb公司1995年成立于加利福尼亚州，成立之初就致力于提供一个在线的网上保险市场，一直在业内很有影响力。InsWeb网站为消费者提供多家保险公司的保险产品报价，使得消费者可以对各家保险公司的产品作出比较，帮助他们做出购买决定。InsWeb最初主要提供汽车险的网上报价，尔后逐步拓展到定期寿险、住宅保险、健康保险等多种网上保险产品。InsWeb网站的主要营业收入是通过出售保险销售线索给其它保险机构而实现的。2005年InsWeb专门建立了AgentInsider系统来为保险代理人提供更多、更方便的展业的机会。当消费者提交了个人信息及投保意向后，InsWeb网站会将其作为销售线索转给在网站注册的保险代理人，并向代理人收取一定的费用。与其它网站不同，InsWeb网站的注册保险代理人并不需要交纳会员费。InsWeb在其网站上为消费者提供了学习中心，为消费者提供关于保险的文章、常见问题回答等。2005年有超过100万的消费者在其网站上使用其汽车险的报价服务。2006年InsWeb营业总收入达到了2850万美元 ，比2005年增长了14%。

　　Quotesmith公司成立于1984年，总部位于伊利诺伊州，开始只是为保险代理人提供产品和费率信息。1996年开始在网上开展业务，1999年8月成功融资6300万美元，并在纳斯达克小型资本市场板块（Nasdaq Small Cap Market）上市。现在Quotesmith公司通过自己的网站Insure.com以及配套的呼叫中心来开展业务。它综合采用了获取线索和出售保单两种模式来开展业务。Insure.com主要出售人寿和健康险产品，对于非寿险产品它主要通过向其他保险机构提供销售线索来取得收入。

　　消费者在Insure.com上可以得到来自200多家领先保险公司的保险产品的即时报价。可供选择的保险产品包括：寿险、健康险、汽车险、摩托车险、个体和家庭医疗保险、团体医疗保险、短期医疗保险、住宅保险、旅行险和年金等。除了提供最广泛的保险报价选择机会，Insure.com还可以提供全面的从报价到签单等一系列的顾客服务。鉴于美国保险业按州监管的情况，Quotesmith 公司在美国的全部50个州都取得了营业执照，这使得它可以为全美国任何地方的消费者提供保险服务。

　　2005年Insure.com网站总共卖出了17160张保单，其中包括：16845张定期寿险保单、健康险和其他险种仅占315张。公司总收入为1710万美元，比2004年增长了7%。其中寿险佣金收入14456897美元，健康险佣金收入614648美元，出售非寿险线索收入2022787美元，其他收入6976美元 。

　　目前，美国第三方保险电子商务的业务量也仅占保险业总业务量的很小一部分，它的功能还远未得到有效的发挥，市场发展潜力还很大。2005年美国总保费收入11429.12亿美元，占全球总保费的33.36%，其中寿险收入5170.74亿美元，非寿险收入6258.38亿美元 。如此庞大的市场为保险电子商务的发展提供了巨大的发展空间。考虑到美国巨大的保险市场，在线购买保险比例的微小的提高都会带来巨大的商机。而且美国拥有成熟的保险中介市场，消费者对中介的接受程度比较高，这为第三方保险电子商务的发展提供了很好的基础。同时美国保险消费者受教育水平都比较高，许多人能够通过自己的能力独立进行在线保险产品的购买，可以预见未来几年保险电子商务仍会有很大的发展。这也是为什么在激烈的竞争中许多网站即使亏损也在继续进行投入的原因。

　　与此同时，美国第三方保险电子商务的发展也面临诸多挑战。首先是来自传统保险销售渠道的排斥以及保险公司自身电子商务网站的竞争。第三方保险网站的优势在于可以公正地提供最大范围的公司的保险产品信息，它们必须扬长避短，尽力发挥自己在这方面的优势。其次是网上交易本身存在的安全性等问题阻碍了它的发展，电子商务的运营还面临许多不确定的风险，人们对网上交易的接受程度也需要电子商务技术的进一步发展来推动。另外，由于通过网络销售保险的监管问题还未得到有效的解决，网络保险销售的法规还不健全，任何新法规的实施或者对现有法规的修改都可能对保险电子商务的发展产生重大的、或好或坏的影响。

保险业网络营销与传统营销的整合

　　

　　保险网络营销的出现，表现出了诸多传统营销无法比拟的优势，但就目前而言，还存在一定的技术障碍，适合其销售的险种也有待进一步开发。因此，合理的选择是将网上保险与传统展业模式综合起来，实现保险网络营销与传统营销的有机整合。根据当今中外保险业发展的现实，保险业的整合营销思路应该是“两条腿”走路、“三种方式”并举。“两条腿”是指保险营销中，既要使用传统展业模式，也要利用现代网络推销保险商品。“三种方式”是指传统模式销售、网络销售以及传统与网络结合的保险销售方式。

　　

　　首先，对于条款比较复杂、投保人难以理解的保险品种，宜采用传统模式销售。由于保险专业性很强，对于没有进行专门学习与培训的广大消费者来说，对那些条款复杂、保险责任复合的保险产品，难以充分而准确地了解其内涵。如果此时通过网络营销的方式为消费者所购买，由于消费者可能对保险条款片面或曲意的理解，未来发生保险事故理赔时，保险公司就很难与消费者达成一致，最终导致纠纷，影响保险公司的信誉与形象。另外，对于长期寿险附加重大疾病等险种，由于其需要进行生存调查等相关程序以规避道德风险，所以通过传统方式更为合理。

　　

　　其次，对于条款比较简单、投保人又需要快捷服务的保险品种，如航空险、旅游险等，则直接在网上销售。这实际上是一种现代直销制模式。这种模式通过建立公司网站为客户提供完全电子化保单，业务实现全过程网络化。其提供的服务包括网上投保、保户服务、代理人天地、在线认证中心、互动式的个性化服务和保险知识库等。保险公司为保户提供了完全电子化服务系统，实现真正的全天候服务。

　　

　　最后，传统展业与网络相结合的销售模式。这种模式一般适合网上销售，但其条款又相对复杂，保额较大，针对需要现场核保、现场收费的险种。其一般步骤为：先通过网络获取准客户，然后公司分派业务人员拜访投保人，最后签订保险合同。

结论

保险业作为金融行业的“三驾马车”，因为诚信等问题的瓶颈，在电子商务领域刚刚起步。如果有了精准的营销平台，有符合市场规律的营销手段，健康持续的市场秩序的建立就为期不远了。当前，网民增长速度很快，上网人数平均每个季度递增8%。网民逐步显现出年轻化、知识化的特征，并且平均收入水平较高。这些网民观念新，乐意选择优秀的保险品种，有利于网络保险业务的开展。网络的发展为保险提供了一个高效、便捷的运行平台。通过网络资源的开发与利用，保险公司必将密切与广大消费者的联系，扩大潜在客户群，增加现实客户群。同时，将促进保险公司运行效率的提高、成本的降低，促进保险公司由传统经营模式同现代电子商务的整合。