The company also used focus groups to determine what customers want and need. What they heard over and over was that consumers were looking for an easy way to compare prices. "Why isn't there a Kayak for auto insurance?" one focus group member said. Google used that same concept to build Compare. "With Compare, we want to give customers accurate prices—not just estimates," Weng Kan said.

It's a mobile world

The Internet is now the most common channel to get insurance information, and the search is moving rapidly to mobile. "Customers do their research on mobile but actually buy on their computer," Weng Kan noted. According to Google's research, in the first quarter of 2014, 41% of people who queried vehicle insurance-related terms did so from their mobile devices (phones and tablet). In the third quarter of 2015 that number jumped 12 percentage points to 53%.

Google Compare sees itself as a lead generation program that takes all the marketing risk and transfers qualified leads to the carriers, Weng Kan explained. Consumers are assured that their personal contact info isn't passed along to the carriers until the consumer initiates the contact. If the customer does contact the insurer, the carrier only pays when the customer converts. "You only pay a flat rate per customer," he assured the audience. "It's a negotiated rate, not a pay-per-click structure."

Although consumers use Compare as a tool to reference price, there are many other factors that influence their buying decision. Some customers use Compare to check prices at renewal, Weng Kan explained, then they give their insurer an opportunity to match what they found. He also emphasized that "Brand awareness matters in comparison. Customers are looking at quality not just price."

(Photo: www.google.compare/autoinsurance)

Benefits for consumers and carriers

Weng Kan pointed out the following benefits for consumers:

• Speed and convenience. It takes less than 10 minutes for a consumer to fill in the forms and get multiple results. The consumer can get a quote any time of the day or night.
• Transparency and ease of use. Consumers can compare all insurers on the panel at multiple levels of covers, and it's easy to bind a policy.
• No spam. The consumer is in charge of communications with the carriers. The consumer receives no unwanted phone calls or emails.

Carriers would benefit as well:

• Cost-per-acquisition. There is no cost for highly qualified leads and brand exposure. The carrier only pays when consumer binds a policy.
• Highly qualified, deep-funnel consumers. Carriers can see the full view of personally identifiable information, history and vehicle information when the consumer contacts them to make a purchase. The carrier chooses the customer question sets to target and receives better leads, those more likely to purchase.
• Maximize the use of larger question sets. The question sets on Google Compare are built-in collaboration with all carriers who participate. All answers to the larger question sets are available to those insurers so they can benchmark themselves and better understand buying behavior.

Questions and answers

The first question directed to Weng Kan was "Is Google a licensed insurance agency?" Weng Kan admitted that Google is a licensed agency because of regulatory requirements, but he repeated his earlier statement that Google has no interest in selling insurance. Its core competencies are aggregating data and improving search. The company wants to continue to leverage those skills, first in insurance, then branching out to mortgage comparisons and credit cards.

(Right: Weng Kan answers questions from the audience at the Annual Insurance Executive Conference.)

A major concern of the audience was whether the carriers would change their distribution models as a result of the direct contact with the consumer. Weng Kan noted that several carriers use their participation in Compare as a way to more efficiently pass leads along to their agents, not as a means to circumvent the process.

When asked where Google wants to go next, Weng Kan noted that the plan is to add more lines of insurance business. Compare is focused on consumers, however, not small businesses "at this stage," he said.

Related: Digital insurance stores are opening in your neighborhood: A memo to agents

One attendee queried whether Google might make the Compare tool available for use by agencies under their own branding. "We haven't thought about it," Weng Kan admitted, "but it could happen."

"We see this as a 'win-win' for Google and carriers," Weng Kan said. For the carriers who currently participate in Google Compare in the four states where it's available—Arizona, California, Illinois and Texas—it will be interesting to see whether it truly is a win.