BBB Accreditation Worth It?

[coomesinsurance]

Just wanted to get some thoughts from you guys about whether or not it is worth obtaining the BBB accreditation for your insurance agency. I know I've seen a lot of agency websites boast their BBB logo, and it looks good, but I also know that logo costs about $500/yr.

Any/all thoughts appreciated.

I personally think it looks good, and gives your name/brand some immediate legitimacy. Could good a long way.

 

[LGilmore]

Or you could spend the $500 elsewhere. Looked into it years ago, was treated and threatened like a mob offer and said no. In todays high tech world there are a ton of sites where people can complain about an agent.

 

[pfg1]

Just wanted to get some thoughts from you guys about whether or not it is worth obtaining the BBB accreditation for your insurance agency. I know I've seen a lot of agency websites boast their BBB logo, and it looks good, but I also know that logo costs about $500/yr.

Any/all thoughts appreciated.

I personally think it looks good, and gives your name/brand some immediate legitimacy. Could good a long way.

I think in general across the board - not just insurance, if people see a BBB logo on a website - that is a positive, and instills a little bit of confidence over something that doesn't. Most folks don't really understand that pretty much anyone can get, they just register and pay the fee. Whether its worth it or not, that's up to you. You could spend $500 on worse things most likely, and probably better.

 

[Tkruger]

Just wanted to get some thoughts from you guys about whether or not it is worth obtaining the BBB accreditation for your insurance agency. I know I've seen a lot of agency websites boast their BBB logo, and it looks good, but I also know that logo costs about $500/yr.

Any/all thoughts appreciated.

I personally think it looks good, and gives your name/brand some immediate legitimacy. Could good a long way.

IMO not worth it. Spend the money on SEO for your site to generate organic traffic.

The BBB is a shake down racket. You pay the fee and you get access to the site. Further it opens a conduit for complaints to be filed with the BBB that remain on the site for potential customers to see. Even with an A rating if you have a couple of complaints that will affect future business.

Also, for grins do a BBB Search for all the carriers you represent. When I've done this I've not found one carrier that had a positive BBB report. Your results may be different.

I hope this helps.

 

[BlockO]

Having a BBB logo is always a good thing. It certainly never hurts. The question is .... is it worth $500/yr?

in my opinion, no.

a few years ago, their credibility got knocked down a notch when 20/20 busted them out for giving good businesses F's for not being members, and giving businesses with a lot of complaints A's just because they were a member.

a lot of people lost trust in them after that, and they've lost some of their teeth over the years because of it too.

if it were $100/yr, I would probably do it. but for $500, how many customers are you gaining compared to what you would gain by spending it on advertising, leads, PPC, DM, etc?

to me $500 isn't worth it.

 

[Charpress]

The once or twice any client has asked me about BBB ratings, I reply "Are you kidding me? The BBB is fine for a car parts store, but do you have any idea how tightly I'm regulated?"

Then explain the licensing and where they can go look for any complaints -usually starting with your state insurance commissioner. On your Website, have direct links to where you can be found. Also look at free or close to free ethics standards logos you can have on your Website. There is one that comes with certain E&O insurance. I had it on my site for a while, but I frankly don't think it makes much difference.

 

[WCMason]

I've been a member three years. I've found the business I've gotten has been worth the expense. It may not matter to younger consumers, but many seniors still place value in it and those are my customers. I reevaluate every year. There may come a time I drop out. So far, so good.

 

[JohnWalker]

It is worth it for SEO purposes alone. According to MOZ the BBB has a domain authority of like 97 (good authority signal). If you run a website, my recommendation would be to sign up for one year, post your link, then do not renew. They will not remove your website information from the page after you decide not to renew.

I signed up a for 1 year a few years ago, never renewed and they still say I'm an accredited business with an A+ rating. It doesn't convey nearly as much trust as it used to but its an easy win for SEO.

 

[BlockO]

It is worth it for SEO purposes alone. According to MOZ the BBB has a domain authority of like 97 (good authority signal). If you run a website, my recommendation would be to sign up for one year, post your link, then do not renew. They will not remove your website information from the page after you decide not to renew.

I signed up a for 1 year a few years ago, never renewed and they still say I'm an accredited business with an A+ rating. It doesn't convey nearly as much trust as it used to but its an easy win for SEO.

hmmm.... interesting, John. you got my wheels turning...

pretty clever to only pay once and reap the benefits for years to come.

but that brings up another question: from strictly an SEO perspective, couldn't you accomplish the same thing (or close to it) by joining membership organizations and acquiring links from, for example, The Big I? or perhaps the Chamber of Commerce?

 

[JohnWalker]

hmmm.... interesting, John. you got my wheels turning...

pretty clever to only pay once and reap the benefits for years to come.

but that brings up another question: from strictly an SEO perspective, couldn't you accomplish the same thing (or close to it) by joining membership organizations and acquiring links from, for example, The Big I? or perhaps the Chamber of Commerce?

The thing I like about the BBB website is it has a significantly higher authority than the other organizations you listed. But if it's just for SEO purposes, you can benefit from joining all of the organizations you listed as they are all trusted authorities. But honestly those organizations would probably update their websites when you stop paying.

To be fair the BBB is run by smaller subsidiary groups and each one may or may not be on top of their memberships. I may have gotten lucky because the year I stopped paying for the BBB, the BBB in my region got shut down for alleged misconduct and was absorbed by another BBB group. They still have my company as certified and I have not paid in about 2 years.

Either way I don't think they will remove it from their listings if you stop paying as they are pretty much a glorified directory.