Four years ago, the Big I focused on providing an agency finder from its Web site. That was a good idea, but rather than make the service more popular and useful during the intervening period, the association has allowed it to deteriorate. Today it is next to useless. The IIAA owes its agency members something better.
The IIAA home page sports a "find-an-agent" link called Agent Search. The search form provides for agency name, city, state, area code, or zip code search criteria. Not too bad. And the search returns a list of matches, ten at a time. But the list may not contain agency physical address information, it rarely lists an agency's Web site link, and it never provides map locator or driving instructions.
An option on the search form allows you to retrieve only agencies with Web sites. That's a good idea because most consumers using the search would be looking for agencies with Web sites they could peruse. You would expect the search to pass back a compact list of agencies that conform to your search criteria and have Web sites. Unfortunately the routine doesn't work that way. In fact, it's quite bizarre.
Let's say you type in area code 717 (the Gettysburg area code) and search for all agencies. You're told there are 194 matching entries and the first ten on the list are displayed. You can ask for the next ten and so on. Rather than wade through 194 items to find an agency with a Web site (after all, you want to find and then learn about an agency through the Internet not by writing them a letter), you decide to check the "Return only agencies having websites" box and search again.
You'd expect to see the first ten agencies with Web sites in area code 717 listed. But what happens is that the search returns only one, namely agency number 4 of the 194. That's absolutely nuts. If you're a consumer looking for an agency with a Web site in 717, you have to hit the next button over and over hoping to finally get some entries on your list. You got one on the 1 - 10 list, but you get none on 11 - 20, 21 - 30, and so on. You don't even know whether to bother to continue hitting Next (which retrieves "lists" with zero items) because you have no idea whether there are any more valid items.
I see four major problems with the IIAA site that need to be addressed. First, the IIAA had an opportunity to become the standard way consumers find independent agents - a worthy role for the association. Instead, the IIAA is almost invisible to the public and paths from the site to independent agents are sketchy at best. A great opportunity lost. Now the public has no clear, national channel to find agents.
Second, the IIAA needs to improve the quality of its agency database. It has no knowledge of the Hockley and O'Donnell physical address (see the Hockley & O'Don-nell review in this issue). Furthermore, it doesn't know about the agency's Web site. Clearly, the database needs to be brought up to date to show all agency Web sites and e-mail addresses.
Third, the bug (or design error) in the retrieval program should be fixed. Consumers trying to find agencies with Web sites must think that getting successive lists with zero entries is someone's idea of a bad joke.
Finally, the IIAA agency search function should include a mapping/driving instructions feature. It wouldn't cost them anything. Why not include it?
If the IIAA cannot make these four changes, it might as well quit pretending that it provides an agency search capability and shut it down. If it can make the improvements, the association should also consider providing additional information on each agency listed (e.g., the lines they write) and make that searchable as well. Four years ago, the IIAA was ahead of the curve. Now it's fallen off. It ought to do better.
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