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lowkeyorloki · 4 years ago

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You're generally thought of to have really good characterization of Loki in this fandom (I'd say that's what you're known for???), so I was wondering if you could give some tips on how to write Loki? And maybe some general tips on writing imagines/x readers?

Hi there anon! First, thank you very much for such a high compliment. I think any fanfiction author would agree when I say being told we get our muse’s characterization correct is one of the highest compliments we can be given, so THANK YOU!

I would be happy to give you some advice, but keep in mind, this is just my interpretation of Loki. You, and any other author, are allowed to take creative control and do with his character what you will. This is just what works for me!

For Imagines/X Reader Fics

This is my third imagines blog, so I have been doing x readers for a long time. If you’re looking to expand your following, I would start out doing preferences. This is when you take a group of people from the same piece of media (in Marvel, a good example would be the whole team of The Avengers) and basically write a little drabble for each of them in one post. This will allow you to use multiple character tags, which means your posts are more likely to circulate. From there, you can totally branch off and have an emphasis on one character, or create a whole new sideblog for one character that people from your already-established following can find. I used this method twice and it worked really well- it also lets people see you can write for different types of characters, which is always a plus.

Tags! Use as many tags as you can, because that’s how people find your work. Make sure to use some with your muse’s first name, and some with their first and last. For imagines specifically, I would always make sure you have “(name) x reader”, “(name) x you”, and “(name) imagine”, because those are what people usually search for.

Avoid physical descriptions. “Reader” is just that: the reader. Not everyone has blue eyes, not everyone has long hair, not everyone is white, etc. etc. If you really want to write a character with specific physical traits, then you should develop an OC. It rips your readers out of your fics when they’re described in a way that doesn’t fit them, and can also really harm their confidence- the only descriptions of someone’s appearance I’ve ever seen in x readers are features that are considered conventionally attractive, so it’s important to be mindful of any implicit biases you may have.

...You also have to keep the reader as a character somewhat neutral, because they are supposed to be whoever is consuming your fic. If you’re going to give them character traits, justify them with your story. You want your reader to be trained in hand-to-hand combat? They took martial arts as a kid. You want your reader to be the smartest in their field? Give them a backstory that made them that way. It’s personality traits you have to look out for, because if someone’s personality doesn’t match with “y/n’s”, that person isn’t going to be able to read your works.

Speaking of y/n, I would suggest not using it at all. I’ve recently stopped using it due to my own experience and feedback from my followers. Most people don’t see y/n and replace it with their name, it just becomes a reminder they’re reading something. Your goal is to immerse your readers in your fics, and I’ve found this often has the opposite effect. There are a lot of ways to avoid y/n, such as pet names (darling, baby, love) or creative phrasing (”your name passed over his lips, whispered softly like he had never heard it before”). It can be a challenge, but writing always is!

If possible, keep your reader gender neutral. This sounds a lot harder than it is. Especially in the Loki fandom, there are a lot more male readers than you think, and there are people who don’t conform to either gender. Not assigning pronouns makes your reading more accessible (which also means more exposure!!!) and also allows everyone to find a place in fandom. The only times it becomes a problem is when other characters are talking about the reader behind their back, or when writing smut. In my case, I do my best avoid the first option and, until I find a solution, I do use gender and everything associated with it in smut. However, if none of these appeal to you, you can also copy and paste your fics to have different pronouns.

Strategically place that “keep reading”, it’s a good way to get readers hooked!

For Loki’s Character

In my opinion, Loki is all about a balance of vulnerability. We all love to see him be loving and open and intimately intwined with someone, but it would take a lot of time to get there with him. For that reason, if you’re wanting to write that side of the Trickster, I would make your fic an established relationship or slow burn. If that doesn’t sound like something you want to do, a lot of faults in writing can be forgiven if you call them out yourself. Does something feel too random? Say it was sudden or unexpected. This shifts blame from you and actually becomes a characterization choice: now, instead of you possibly misinterpreting Loki’s character, he and the reader have so much chemistry with each other they’re acting differently than they normally would.

Loki (and Thor’s) way of speaking is a HUGE factor of any fics with him. Loki has a different colloquial than we do, and thanks to Tom Hiddleston’s really sexy voice, it’s something closely associated with the character. So, we have to walk a line of Loki’s words being formal, but not being out of touch. He was able to assimilate easily (that’s part of the reason he was such a threat in Avengers), and is super clever and picks up on a lot of things. Therefore, Loki is more likely to address Tony as “Stark” rather than “Man of Iron”, and I think it’s fair to say he knows the name “Coulson” doesn’t refer to the SHIELD agent’s lineage (he’s probably not going to call him “Son of Coul”). But phrasing is also a part of this. I try to avoid contractions coming out of his mouth, so “you are” instead of “you’re”, “he is” instead of “he’s”, etc. etc.

Loki also isn’t going to say things we normally would: As humans, we tend to exclaim “Oh my god!” or something along those lines. But Loki was brought being told he was a god, so that isn’t going to be in his vocabulary. It’s little things like this I keep an eye on when I’m writing for him.

A good way to accomplish Loki’s speech is just... adding words the modern world has deemed unnecessary. A recent example of mine is in one of my fics, Loki is asking the reader what a group of characters want from her. Originally, I had him saying “What do they want?”, and while editing, I changed it to “What is it that they want?.” It’s subtle, but when this is how most of the Loki’s sentences are structured, it calls back to the Loki we saw in earlier Thor films (regardless of your opinion on Ragnarak, the Shakespearean-esque language is gone by the film) and creates a simulation of sorts that makes your reader feel more in tune with your story. Not to keep using this word, but it’s a technique that immerses your reader.

Make sure your style matches Loki! I have a very dramatic and articulate style, lots commas, lots of (carefully placed) repetition, and paragraph breaks. This works for Loki because he’s such an emotional and complex character, and my style compliments and emphasizes that.

Readers respond well to your style correlating with your character: Compare my fics Aftermath or Wounds to A Mortal Occurance. Aftermath and Wounds are written in the style I described above, and are approaching 500 and 400 notes respectively; whereas I tried a more domestic and conversational style in A Mortal Occurance, which has yet to reach even 150 notes. While there’s definitely something to be said about people subscribing to you for one specific form of writing, it would be impossible for me to deny one style is not only more true to me, but more true and realistic to Loki. Think of if I wrote in my style for Ant-Man or Sam Wilson. It wouldn’t really work because their characters aren’t as high-stakes as Loki.

I hope this all helps! Remember this is just my opinion and is what has worked for me. You’re free to take all this to heart or completely reject it. I’m honored you came to me in the first place <3

#ask #loki #loki laufeyson #writing help #i guess? saying it helped may be a stretch lmao #imagine #imagines #x reader #writing advice #loki imagine #loki x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki laufeyson imagine #this is probably a #delete later

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ofstassi · 6 years ago

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*james charles vc* good morning kitty girls ! i’m violet & after a few months of being highkey Stressed over coll*ge she ( me ) is Finally back from the dead :) this is a mess so i apologize for what u guys are About to witness, but be sure to click that like button & subscribe if you wanna see more videos ! but seriously plot with me ple ase ok anyways

a SCARLETT LEITHOLD lookalike was strolling down broadway street in their orange prada leather flame wedge heels. anastasia “stassi” deniro just had a birthday bash for her twenty-second birthday. she has been living in new york city for twenty two years. i hear she tends to be gregarious at parties, but also kind of covetous.

FULL NAME: anastasia ( resurrection ) lucille ( french origin of light ) sage ( wise one ) deniro. NICKNAME(S): annie, stassi, stas, stasia, anything her close friends & family can come up with, she’ll love. AGE: twenty two. DATE OF BIRTH: september 21th, 1996. ASTROLOGY SIGN: virgo. GENDER: female. PRONOUNS: she / her / hers. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual. LANGUAGES SPOKEN: english, french, italian, greek, some spanish. OCCUPATION: actress, 2019 miss universe contender. BIOLOGICAL PARENTS: aldo nathaniel arthur deniro & scarlett baccouche-deniro. SIBLINGS: aurora deniro ( twenty-six ) & atlas deniro ( twenty-one ). PET(S): gracie ( shihtzu ) & baby ( toy french bulldog ). CHILDREN: none. RELIGION: roman catholic. DRINK / DRUGS / SEX: yes / no / yes. HEIGHT: 5′10. RIGHT/LEFT HANDED: ambidextrous. TATTOOS: none ( at the moment ). POSITIVE TRAITS: gregarious, perceptive, audacious, quick-witted. NEGATIVE TRAITS: covetous, controlling, obstinate, snarky. NOTABLE HABITS: tying her hair up in a bun when she’s focused, fleeing the country when conflict within herself arises, unable to hide her facial expressions. NECESSITIES: green tea latte, lucky pen, lavender, 2 diamond-encrusted cartier bracelets ( gifted by her father ). LIKES: fighting, pastel blues, macarons, traveling, architecture, knowing all the answers. DISLIKES: small spaces, losing, anything orange flavored, the smell of gasoline. NET WORTH: 18 million.

𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚊 𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚛𝚘.

the story of the deniros was easily depicted as nothing short of a classic fairytale ; nathaniel was next in line to run his family’s long-standing business worth more than you could put into words, while scarlett baccouche, the daughter of two british politicians was also a woman in power many learned to fear. given their elite statuses, it was no surprise to anyone when they had enrolled into columbia university, one of the most prestigous colleges in the country ; though the story of how they’d become enamored with one another had started with a hatred that had only melted the forthcoming years. it was what one would consider a true love story as they graduated, professed their vows, & conceived their first well-anticipated child, aurora deniro. it only took a couple years for the deniros to calculate the birth of their next child, & to settle down & begin their empire ; or as most would put it, a family.

on october 21st, 1996, anastasia lucille sage deniro was born. she was the second, yet not the last child to arrive, meaning her place in the home was that she was a middle child. it had its perks, obviously —— not reigning the full responsibilities of what it meant to be the first & oldest child, or not being taken seriously as most younger siblings struggle with. see, from the very beginning of her life, stassi was well aware of the fact that she wasn’t a child, and she didn’t want to be treated as such ; the female figures in her life such as aurora & her mother ( even their maid, diana had landed a fond place in stassi’s heart ) were the girl’s inspiration growing up, & thanks to their strict upbringing, they were raised with class & were put on a pedestal that expected nothing less than perfection.

stassi was five years old when she had asked —— or more so, begged her parents to compete in pageants ( only the most prestigious ones, of course ). while her mother didn’t take much convincing as her & little stassi had grown to share many loved interests such as acting, her father was apprehensive about the decision. but because the main factor besides beauty for pageants were intelligence, he agreed, though it resulted in him piling that much more pressure upon her for schoolwork & of course, to win so it wouldn’t disgrace the deniro family name. whatever child worked hard, stassi worked 100 times harder, thanks to her brilliant work ethic ; she managed to skillfully juggle her schoolwork alongside the additional business classes her parents had given their three children, the acting classes, her private ballet & jazz lessons 7 days a week for the talent portion, & the countless hours of tailoring her custom-made outfits ( with her input, of course ) it wasn’t a shocker to anyone when she was crowned little miss new york.

by sixteen, the pressure had only multiplied as she grew older, striving for nothing but the best. she was preparing for the miss world competetion rounding up another win at nationals. high school was supposed to be the best years of your life, yet she turned down any youthful opportunity as a means to please her parents. that is, until a fellow classmate introduced her to adderall ; the tiny, magical pill that enhances your focus, granting you more hours of the day to pass your tests with flying colors & maintain your social life, because who needed sleep ? flash forward to her senior year, where her life was crafted to perfection —— she held the title of miss world that year, got accepted into columbia on a full scholarship ( not that she needed it ), had the perfect jock boyfriend on her arm & friends that were on top of the hierarchy with her, class valedictorian: the only thing was she became reliant on her pills.

it was prom night when the realization had dawned on her that the bubble encompassing her perfect life was made of glass. when it came to the deniros, the extent of her social life was partly a double life. while she wasn’t nearly as bad as her brother, she wasn’t exactly an angel, either ; stuffing silk pillows under her duvet to cast the illusion of a sleeping stassi if diana or her older sister, aurora, would check up on her that night, adorning an innocent white lace dress to her parents only to hike it further up the moment she met up with her peers. she learned it was a skill of hers, keeping secrets.

popping pills had managed to become one, too, which is why after winning prom queen & attempting to get belligerently wasted, she hadn’t even felt the effects of the alcohol in her system. stassi woke up in a secluded hospital room with her parents beside her, along with a nurse. her blood work revealed that she’d gotten severe alcohol poisoning & had she not passed out, a few more drinks & she would’ve overdosed from the mix of adderall.

due to the fact that this was anastasia’s first slip-up, as disappointed as they were, the anger had faded just as soon as it arrived. & given the recent events with atlas’s friend along with her acceptance to columbia, rehab wasn’t a suggestion —— it was her only option. she’d go to a private rehabilitation center during the summer while her parents covered it up on her records & the deniro family would have to convince everybody that she was just visiting her grandparents in spain: it was a family secret that stassi had to take to the grave.

now, she’s twenty-two years old, currently enrolled in columbia as a business major for the sake of maintaining her role in her parent’s good graces, despite the fact that she’s not interested in helping take over the family business while she’s training for the 2019 miss universe pageant. for the past two summers, when she wasn’t in spain, she was in paris for some time to herself, where she met an owner of a small boutique where there were items such as trinkets, custom-made dresses, etc.

somehow, it inspired stassi to create her own boutique/shop in multiple cities but new york first, especially when she carries the knowledge on how to turn a business into an empire: her own empire. it may be a small one now, but it was a break from the constant approval seeking that was practically instilled in her ; and at least it was hers. she even went to spain over winter break to hint the ideas to her grandparents, just now returning to the city & avoiding her parents so she can delay telling them that she isn’t interested in running the family company alongside her siblings like they dreamed of. after all, it was her parents’ approval that mattered most.

𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜 & 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜.

ok hi i’m keeping this long & short

because stassi’s a pageant girl, she was bound to cross paths with honey boo boo when her reality tv show was kicking off, & now she’s stassi’s sworn enemy even to this day

ik they aren’t even in the same age group but fun fact stassi fought children & she still does tbh i hate her

she’s basically an angel in front of her parents but like ?? really different to her friends/people she hates ??

definitely doesn’t have a filter, she doesn’t cuss that much bc “it’s not ladylike :)” but she for sure speaks her mind & she can actually be really mean without meaning to be

she snaps really easily too omg i just imagine her being all cute & smiley & doing a complete 180 the next

she’s definitely stronger than she looks just know that

fully obsessed with dogs like next level obsessed she needs help

also a really big perfectionist if you couldn’t tell ?? please imagine her penthouse being all white & spotless & i know she arranges shit in other people’s houses out of habit

she’s basically monica geller, caroline from tvd & louise from bob’s burgers all wrapped up in one person

it’s honestly such a cursed combination i’m telling u guys she really is the spawn of satan

she’s a momma’s girl though 💗 she loves her dad ofc don’t get me wrong but they get along better when he just buys her gifts skdjsks

also !! i loosely based her off of one of my rly old charas emmie & i have a pinterest for her here if you wanna see what she’s kinda sorta like

i’ll probably make my own for stassi but u know for context

also stassi’s aesthetic 100000%

i’m still fleshin’ her out, so it’s a whole mess but i’m so excited to develop her & i hope you guys don’t hate her guts yet ! i promise she’s nicer than i described, but i do have some plot ideas ( i’m just too lazy to list them help me ), so pls plot with me i’ll do all the work i promise

#wealthyhq:intro #I JUST REALIZED I DDIDNT TAG IT

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mckinleyherring · 4 years ago

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How To Get The Best Monthly Car Lease And Car Leasing Rates

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harshitajoshi · 4 years ago

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Most Common Challenges of Billing Companies and Solution

As per Statista, the market of telecommunication services, including fixed network and mobile services, was worth 1.4 trillion US dollars in 2017 and estimated to increase to nearly 1.46 trillion US dollars in size by 2020. The largest markets for telecom services are Europe, Asia/Pacific region, and North America.

The figures above must have given you an idea of the growth of the telecommunication industry. And, the larger the industry, the more customers/clients it has, so one can estimate that this industry serves millions of customers all over the world. But, are they capable of sending invoices to their every customer/subscriber the way they should? This question was almost unanswerable, and advanced and modern telecom billing software system is the thing wherein the answer lies.

But, before we talk about advanced telecom billing software solutions and the things to consider when choosing them, we must discuss the major challenges in telecom billing management with solutions.

Major Challenges in Telecom Billing Management With Solutions:

1.Dealing With Innumerable Customers And Payments:

These days, the whole world is easily-connected by means of advanced telecom equipment tools, whether with wire or wireless. Moreover, the uncountable customers of this industry are clear and the finest example of the flourishing of this industry.

It becomes almost impossible to handle the data of every client. The fear of their data theft always lurks behind. Furthermore, managing the payment record, billing, and the tempting offers and discounts of customers as per their record and transaction is not a walk in the park.

Solution: There are innumerable telecom billing software companies highly-reputed for developing advanced invoice billing software tools capable of managing the data of such a large number of customers. And, these solutions keep reminding of the payments they owe. Moreover, some software systems come with high-technology-enabled features that provide your customers with alluring offers, discounts, and the like as per their transaction record.

2. Timely Management of Subscriptions

Telecom companies have subscribers who pay for their services received monthly. It happens at the end of the month when the company account staff have to prepare their bills considering their last records. Let’s take an example of cable services from reputed businesses like Airtel, Vodafone, and so on. Such companies have their own way to deal with this issue.

Solution: The solution to this problem lies in the use of telecom billing systems that can prepare bills and generate invoices as quick as a flash. Doing so, you can reach your innumerable customers with their bills ready and ask them for the payment without any delay.

3. Late Payments Resulting in Delayed Cash Flow

Too much time consumption in preparing bills and sending invoices to your customers/clients late is going to be the main reason for receiving payments late. It is because your customers also need some time to arrange money for the payment. When they receive invoices suddenly, mostly they are unable to pay, which results in the unbalanced cash flow.

Solution: No one likes surprises, especially when it comes to taking money out of pocket. It’s wise to bank on advanced software systems or modern telecom billing solutions which generate invoices and send them to your customers before the payment time. Thus, your customers get more time and pay easily. Thus nurtures the relationship between your business and customers, thus strengthening your business with positive cash flow.

4. Inconsistencies in Billing And High Customer Attrition

If you don’t send bills to your customers at a particular and fixed period of time, then they will see your business negatively and consider your invoice management system unprofessional. It not only affects your cash flow, but it also creates problems for your customers by giving them an inaccurate idea of when to pay, thus angering them and forcing them to look somewhere else.

Solution: Using an advanced telecom billing software takes only a few minutes to generate a bill and send them to your clients on a particular date will look more professional, thus leaving your clients with a positive impression of your company. Moreover, they will prepare themselves for the payment very well, thus paying you on time.

5. Customers Invoice Exceptions And Disputes

As the saying goes ‘nothing is perfect’, and this applies to your sent invoices to your clients too. Many times, your customers are given the bill asking for the payments more than their use of your services. In such cases, you are on the verge of having a spoilt relationship with your customers. Moreover, each customer uses your services by choosing a different package, with a different price. It’s not easy to prepare invoices within a short period of time considering these two factors.

Solution: The software specially-designed to manage a large number of customers as per their data is the only solution to this problem. It also takes into account the package a particular customer has taken. After that, it generates invoices as per their use of your services and the pack. Having a telecom billing software system like this is not less than a boon in such a complicated and critical situation.

6. Integration With Existing CRM and ERP Tools for Better Process Efficiency

You must be aware of the modern technologies CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (Enterprise resource planning), and how big role they play in helping you manage your business efficiently and conveniently.

The telecom invoicing software you use must be integrated with these two software systems to enhance their function, thus allowing you to handle your business tasks without faults. Are you worried? Find the solution below.

Solution: some telecom billing software can be easily integrated with your CRM and ERP to enhance their functions. You’d better go for such advanced software, as the market is crowded with such software tools.

7. Customization as Per Specific Business & Tax Requirements

Different packages come with different offers, discounts, and taxes, and expecting a billing software system to be aware of this fact and work accordingly is worth-worrying.

Solution: Serving each and every client differently and perfectly can be done using a modern-technology-powered software system, as it keeps track of their package, tax, discount, and offer and prepares the invoice after taking all this into account. So, don’t wait and go for the one to take your business to the next level.

8. Customer Data Safety

When invoices reach your customers, then most of them use online mediums to pay the bills. As all is getting advanced so does hackers. They are always in search of the banking details of your customers to take advantage of.

It is not only your ethical but also professional duty to keep your customer banking details secure by using advanced technology equipment or software. If you can’t, then you can’t even dream of keeping your customers tension-free.

Solution: highly secure telecom billing software systems are with advanced technology to keep your customer details safe, thus winning their trust. So, fulfill your professional and moral duty by having one for your telecom business.

What to Look for When Choosing a Telecom Invoice Software System?

Having told you about the major challenges in telecom billing management with solutions, we find it our duty to let you know what to look for when choosing a telecom invoice software system so that you don’t regret after purchasing it in the future.

Things to Remember Before Purchasing a Telecom Billing Software Solution:

1. What Else it Gives you Apart From Generating Invoices (Features)?

The purpose of a billing software tool is to generate invoices, but when it comes with some advanced and helpful features, then it becomes more valuable and special to us. These features help us run our business much better. Some of these features are:

Project Management: if you know what is happening at every stage of a project, then you will be able to manage it perfectly. Furthermore, it will be easier for you to know when to make changes and modifications. It doesn’t matter how far you are physical. This feature will keep you in the office virtually.

Management of Multi-Currency and Multilingual: online systems have erased the world boundaries, and they have made possible for anybody to reach anywhere in the world by using digital means.

So, you will have customers from all over the world, and they will pay you in their own currency, and a software system that can convert their currency into your own will be very helpful for both of you. Moreover, if this software fills the communication gap by removing the language problem, then it is giving you beyond expectations.

Staff Management: knowing what your each staff member is doing at a particular moment and how fast they complete their task will give you a clear idea of how much to assign them and which one of your staff members is perfect for a specific task.

2. Can Your Software be Modernized as per Your Business Growth?

Sometimes, you reach your business goals at a lightning speed, and your tools betray you by providing you services at their own speed, which makes your business stagnant. Your telecom invoice software must be able to adapt to your business growth, thus allowing to grow more easily.

3. What Are The Pricing Options For The Telecom Billing Software?

Usually, there are two pricing models for a telecom billing software system in the market. They are a one-time license and subscription-based.

In a one-time model, you have to make an upfront, one-time payment to buy the licenses and own the software forever. While, in a subscription-based model, you have to buy that for a fixed and specific period at a fixed price.

Subscription-based pricing is ideal for cloud-based offerings, on the other hand, on-premise solutions are provided for the one-time licensing model. You will need to buy software updates and upgrades when choosing an on-premise solution.

How Invoicera Helped One of an International Telecommunications Client With Invoice Software Customization?

With our recent client based in the Texas state of USA, asked us to completely customize a telecom billing software for them. Few of the scope of the work are mentioned below:

“The scope of the project includes implementation of Invoicera in Offline mode with existing features of the application incorporated with customized workflow/ features intended to convert the raw data from billing CDRS and turn it into a readable detailed bill for each client.”

And as per the need, Invoicera provided its clients with custom solutions in their telecom billing software. Keep on reading to know how Invoicera customized telecom billing solutions.

CDRS to Invoice Creation Process

Invoice Management

Recurring Invoice Management

Client Management

Staff Management

Customized Reports

And, Technical Assistance.

In order to know more about customization, visit: http://bit.ly/2SsuhZh

Reference from: https://www.invoicera.com/blog/billing-software/major-challenges-chopping-chords-for-telecom-billing-companies/

#telecom #billing #business #Challenges #invoicing

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damienmyez196-blog · 5 years ago

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How Much Is Runescape Membership - A Mans Perspective

These commonly have demands including minimal levels in particular abilities, fight levels, pursuit factors and/or the conclusion of various other pursuits. Gamers get various rewards for completion of missions, consisting of money, unique products, access to new locations, quest factors and/or boosts in ability experience. Some quests call for players to work together, and many need players to take part in difficult fight. Quests are grouped right into groups based upon demands as well as trouble. [50] Once a player finishes all pursuits in the game, an achievement product referred to as the "Pursuit Factor Cape" can be asserted. [19] New missions are released regularly. RuneScape includes a semi-real-time fight system.

Costs for PayByPhone settlement method are ₤ 5.00 GBP, $7.99 USD, 6.95 EUR. More details is offered during the secure membership repayment procedure (guidelines for beginning above). This method of payment is not presently available as Surfpin is no longer supplying this solution. The least expensive membership settlement approach is through charge card. Credit card settlement is offered to clients around the world (with the exception of a few countries, like Lebanon, for instance). When a subscription is paid through charge card, each month the repayment is taken from the charge card account as well as a month of registration is credited to the player's account.

How do you get drops on twitch?

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Surety bonds protect the financial interests of the consumer, whereas general liability bonds protect the company from having to pay a lawsuit out of pocket. Insurance protects the business itself from losses, whereas bonds protect the person the company is working for.

RuneScape Subscription Card

It was likewise specified that Commitment factors, Screech of Ton of money rotates and Gold can not be utilized to buy anything from Solomon's General Shop. [1] Nonetheless, this has been changed with the merge of the Subscription Commitment Programme as currently specific items are given an option to be bought with Commitment Points. RuneCoins can currently also be obtained with Bonds, which can be obtained by repayment or in the Grand Exchange, providing 195 RuneCoins per bond. RuneCoins can currently also be gained by clicking the make tab in Solomon's General Shop. It is really easy to purchase a RuneScape subscription.

Taking care of Bonds.

Subscription brings complete access to not just a number of members abilities, however additionally the free abilities. Before the Evolution of Combat upgrade, it likewise offered special attacks to details weapons.

Ceased Products.

In 2012, Jagex made a decision the video game had, once again, developed sufficient to warrant a historical pen.

. As a benefit, participants have much more privileges as well as useful attributes in the game and also on the RuneScape web site.

RuneCoins have actually created much dispute, as some gamers consider it a form of real life trading (RWT) which Jagex has fought versus for several years.

This isn't to say that the beta present version is unplayable!

You can pay 10% of the bond price in order to make the bond tradeable once more, so you 'd have to pay around 300k GP.

The video game programmers put in a great deal of effort to make the game detailed, amusing as well as reasonable for the gamers.

The bad news is that Jagex has revealed that the registration prices for Runescape will certainly be increasing in 2015. The good news for existing gamers is that the boost will only impact new subscribers, or those that allow their memberships gap for too long.

Members-only pursuits.

There are competitions such as the Golden Path Challenge and also RuneScape Machinima Competition that let you win a lifetime subscription OSRS. Food - anything edible gotten from Treasure Seeker.

Do you get surety bond money back?

Pay to Progress is not really the same thing as Pay to Win, even though you are paying real cash for some in-game benefit. So based on the difference in Pay to Win compared to Pay to Progress then Runescape like many other MMO's including Final Fantasy IV would be considered Pay to Advance and not Pay to Win.

Products can be destroyed separately. A player can "freeze" private classifications by using Hearts of Ice, which prevents you from getting any type of product that belongs to that group.

RuneScape Mobile Testing.

Various payment techniques require different information to be given during a secure settlement procedure. Some registrations continue automatically unless the player cancels it, so that they can delight in uninterrupted membership. Various other settlement approaches need the player to renew manually when it ends if they desire to appreciate participants' benefits.

Considering that the video game has updates weekly, there are in theory over 700 "versions" of the game Jagex can utilize. However they ended up selecting oneby mishap. Jagex's past is necessary enough that RuneScape Classic kept going, also when the business was to just a few individuals that recognized its code.

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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10 Email Marketing Stats To Prove Your Point

As a marketer myself, now and then I need some email marketing stats to prove my point, whether it's writing content or standing my ground with a marketing strategy.

I know all too well how hard it can be to find the exact statistic you need.

So for the next time any of you digital and email marketers need to explain your email marketing practices, methods, or ROI, take a quick look at these 10 email marketing stats to prove your point.

1. Email is the best funnel to distribute content.

To date, email still remains one of the most effective marketing funnels.

If the first stat wasn't enough, you could tell them that 59% of customers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions.

If you need convincing yourself, did you know that bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year are more than 2x as likely to focus on email marketing technology compared to less-successful bloggers?

Emails are now part of our daily lives. Marketo estimates that checking email is the #1 activity on the internet, with 94% of internet users getting online for this reason alone.

2. Email marketing's greatest value: High ROI!

If you were looking for a stat that would prove that the power of email still exists, this is it.

We know that social media (ads) are a popular option for brands to generate revenue, but the fact remains that email is far from dead. According to the survey, workers between ages 25 and 34 spend 6.4 hours a day checking their email. Unlike social media, more than a third of this age group regularly check their email before they even get out of bed.

Let's not forget that email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. This doesn't mean throwing out social altogether. What it does mean is that using a mixture of social media and email can help to increase your lead generation and sales.

But using emails won't guarantee a fast track to success. 29% of marketers look at ROI metrics to evaluate email effectiveness. You'll need to put thought into your email design, copy and subject line, not to mention A/B testing to find your own secret sauce to email success.

3. Data collection makes or breaks your emails.

How you collect and store your data for future use can help your business to meet monthly KPIs target, drive sales, and retain customers. Without the proper set up to collect relevant information from your customers, it can put you at odds with how well your subscribers will receive your email.

When you send an email, you’re not face-to-face with a customer, the truth is you don't know who is at the other end of that screen. With data collection, you'll be able to build a buyer persona that helps you to create emails that your readers will actually want to read.

For example, you might be planning to send an email on how to take your multi-billion dollar company to the next level.

But hold on!

Your data collection shows that you have a list filled with mainly start-up SME companies.

How likely do you think your email click-through rate and conversions will be what you want them to be?

A few email subscribers might open and read it out of curiosity, but any product or CTA won't get any attention because there's a deep disconnect between the audience your content.

How Do You Collect Customer Data?

You can collect data about your email subscribers on a voluntary basis with opt-in forms placed on your website and content. This can range from:

Name & Email

Business titles

How many employees the company may have

Industry & Niche

Management level

Wishpond's simple drag-and-drop editor makes it easy for any marketer to create amazing popups, without the need for design or programming knowledge.

As useful as popups are, if they aren’t well constructed, timed properly or worded correctly, then you may end up losing conversions on your site instead. Try to avoid these 7 Website Popup Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Conversion Rate.

4. Personalized emails help to increase sales

Personalized emails are emails tailored to the emails readers combining their data and needs. It can be as simple as adding {First Name} or as advanced as showing items they previously browsed online in a shopping cart abandonment email.

According to the Smarterhq Privacy report, 72% of consumers claim that they will ONLY engage with marketing messages that are tailored to their interests — making personalized emails crucial to your email marketing strategy. We live in an era where the customer wants to feel like the most important factor in your sales pitch.

If you're still not convinced about the effects of using personalization in your emails, why not try creating personalized subject lines for your next email. Lifecycle Marketing found that emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates.

5. GIF emails are the new norm

The percentage of emails containing GIFs rose from 5.4% in 2015 to 10.3% in 2016.

Using GIFs in emails is now a go-to tactic for experts in email marketing campaigns.

via GIPHY

A GIF helps you to clearly and effectively deliver your content's message without the use of heavy text or CTAs.

GIFs, in my opinion, tend to do better with a product and an exclusive offer email. They draw the eye’s attention and create a sense of urgency and engagement.

We're so used to seeing plain text emails that when something as vibrant as a GIF pops up after clicking the subject line, it grabs the reader's attention easily.

Key things to note when you're adding a GIF to your email is that regardless if you reuse or create one of your own, the size of your GIF can slow down your email’s loading speed, especially on mobile. Try to reduce the size for your animated GIF to less than 0.5 MB or max 1 MB

Two tools that do an excellent job at creating GIFs, especially for beginners, are Photoshop and Canva.

6. Always consider mobile email marketing.

Adopting a mobile-first mentality can help to boost your open and click-through rates.

Any marketer knows that responsive design should always be considered when crafting an email for success. Litmus found that mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens.

And as of 2018 once you send an email around 49% of all emails are opened on mobile devices (PDF).

Here are five things to consider for a mobile-friendly email:

Optimize your subject lines for mobile. Most email providers cut off subject lines that are more than 35 characters. If your subject line is "Experts’ Tips to Boost Your Email Subject Lines,” your mobile subscriber will only see, "Experts’ Tips to Boost Your Email,"

Since subject lines are the gatekeepers of any email, you have to make sure that the first 35 characters persuade your readers to open your email within seconds.

Keep your email copy short and concise, even if it's a heavily designed HTML email.

Have mobile friendly email templates (yes, these will differ from your desktop designs.)

Avoid using large images. This will affect your mobile email's loading speed. People have shorter attention spans when using mobile when compared to desktop because mobiles are often associated with instant access and use.

Keep your CTA to about 44x44 Pixels. Remind your design team about this so that your CTA is easily seen and isn't cut off in the mobile version of your email.

Add a pre-header: if it's hard to avoid a long subject line, you can place the topic in the pretext to help the reader learn about the email.

7. Segmentation is worth the work.

Email segmentation is done by creating sub-list from your main list based on given criteria. Let's say that you have a beauty email subscriber list; you can create a segmentation based on subscribers who only purchase mainly skincare products and subscribers who have only shopped once at your store.

Segmentation allows you to meet your marketing goals faster. According to marketing specialist Jordie van Rijn, 77% of ROI comes from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns.

But as good as email segmentation is, not many marketers take the time to create a comprehensive email listing and even fewer segment their lists.

Maybe you don't want to sort through your long list of subscribers, but whether you're thinking of implementing basic or advanced segmentation, starting now is better than never!

A good place to start is to differentiate between current and new email subscribers. Expert email marketers know that a brand should treat their new email subscribers differently from current email subscribers and inactive subscribers. Each needs messages tailored to their needs:

A new subscriber needs to be contacted immediately after subscribing. They need a welcome email and introduction to your brand.

Current subscribers need updates and regular emails. People get between 5-30 emails daily; brands, business, and even from your competitors. You need to be at the top of the list and forefront of their mind.

Inactive subscribers (people who haven't opened an email or competed for action on your emails) need to be sent offers and deals to reel them back in. The last thing you want is to lose a potential customer in your email marketing funnel.

Email segmentation doesn't have to feel like one big headache. Instead, use this Complete Guide to Lead Segmentation.

8.Email automation is a brand's best friend.

Instead of sending off one email at a time, you can easily create an email marketing campaign with automation.

This means writing a series of emails that will be automatically delivered to your email list — going even deeper your email's segmentation and email automation can work hand in hand.

With automation, you can also control what triggers the email, what time it should be sent, and time management, so you're not writing emails daily.

Take a look at these 6 Best Triggered Email Marketing Campaigns and see how they successfully use email automation.

9. AI & Email Marketing is the future

As time goes along, more marketers are considering incorporating AI in some shape or form in their email marketing strategy.

You will find more infographics at Statista

If you're new to artificial intelligence in marketing, it's simply machine learning, pairing customer data with a marketing end goal.

AI relies on a substantial amount of data to be fully effective as it listens, learns, and responses. In email marketing, AI technology helps analyze consumer behavior and generate data-driven insights, allowing you to create customized emails that are tailor-made for each reader rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

It's pretty much A/B Testing on steroids. Instead of just testing to see what works, an AI email marketing software can pick up trends, email triggers and make predictions based on ROI and customer behavior, allowing you to see things you might have missed with A/B Testing.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; the more you use AI in marketing, the more your perspective on Artificial Intelligence's Growth will begin to change.

Interested in sampling or finding AI tools that could work for you? Take a look at these 50 Must-Have AI Software Tools For Marketers

10. Email subject lines are your gatekeepers.

The defining factor that affects your open rate is your subject line. Before subscribers can read your email, your subject line needs to entice them to click on it.

You can break down subject lines into a precise science, but let's not get too detailed. Here are four tips and stats that can help you to write better headlines:

*7 Words or Less. Sendgrid found that seven words is the most common subject line word length (14.0% of them), While three words (1.6% of them) gets the highest engagement rates.

*Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. Just adding your subscriber's first name can help to increase your open rate, proving once again how simple yet effective personalization for email marketing can be for your brand.

Listicles help increase your click-through rate. Subject lines with hard numbers have a higher open and reply rate.

*Treat your subject lines like headlines. To be fair, subject lines are a form of headlines; their main job is to attract attention to your content.

You can also try these 23 Email Copywriting Tips to Skyrocket Conversions.

The Rundown

Here are 10 email marketing stats to prove a point:

93% of B2B marketers (PDF) use email to distribute content.

The average order value of an email is at least three times higher than that of social media.

Magnetic/MyBuys survey found that 58% of consumers were fine with data collection as long as retailers gave them a more personalized experience in return.

75% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that makes them personalized offers based on their preferences.

By using GIFs in emails, senders can see a 6% increase in open rate and a 109% increase in revenue

The average revenue per mobile email comes to $0.40. This is up to 4x greater than that of a desktop email click.

Marketers who used segmented campaigns noted as much as a 760% increase in revenue. (Campaign Monitor, 2019)

Marketers who used segmented campaigns noted as much as a 760% increase in revenue.

eMarketer found that B2C marketers who leverage automation have seen conversion rates as high as 50% (PDF).

87% of AI adopters said that they were using, or at least considering using, AI for sales forecasts and to improve their email marketing.

35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone.

Each of these stats proves how crucial effective email marketing practices are for your email marketing campaign to get you the returns you need.

Think I missed a stat that should be up there? Drop it in the comments -- I’d love to know.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230801 https://ift.tt/30amJBj via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230801

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andrewdburton · 5 years ago

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The best car insurance companies of 2019

Car insurance really comes down to one thing.

Getting the best quote from a good company.

I’m going to show you the same process that saved me $2,088 per year with only a few hours worth of work.

Before we jump into the process and exact scripts that I used, I’m going to break down the best car insurance companies out there.

By the end of this article:

You’ll know which companies to trust and which to avoid.

You’ll know which kind of car insurance we skip to lower our bills. And the kind that we max out on.

You’ll know the script to negotiate with any car insurance company to get them to lower their quote.

The best auto insurance providers

There’s an awful lot of car insurance companies out there. We’ve gone through over 50 and narrowed them down to our top 16 companies:

USAA

Farmers

Travelers

Progressive

Geico

Allstate

State Farm

American Family

Auto-Owners Insurance

Nationwide

Amica Mutual

Erie Insurance

The Hartford

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

Auto Club Group

How did we pick these 16 companies? We looked at several factors.

User experience

When it comes to user experience, I mostly looked at the websites and mobile apps. Every company in our list except for Erie Insurance has a decent mobile app. Geico, Allstate, and American Family had very impressive reviews, and are clear standouts. I’ve included all the App Store reviews below. What I care most about is the ability to show proof of insurance via an app on my iPhone. All of the companies listed except for Erie offer this feature. None of the apps have terrible reviews.

Claims process

JD Power does a good job rating customer satisfaction when it comes to the claims process. If an accident does happen, the claims process needs to be smooth. I’d personally rather pay a little more and ensure that I won’t deal with a bunch of headache in the event of an accident.

Financial solvency

AM Best is one of the five independent agencies that rate the financial strength of insurance companies. If a company isn’t A-rated and financially strong, I chopped them from the list. There are enough options to not mess around with anything less than an insurance company that has a great financial foundation.

Customer satisfaction

Consumer Reports has customer satisfaction scores, but I take them with a grain of salt. While Consumer Reports says that their scores come from 23,000 subscribers, we don’t really know how many responses each company had and how reliable the score is. But it is better than nothing.

Location / availability

All of the biggest insurance companies are national. That doesn’t make them the best. Just the biggest. There are a few that are limited to certain states, like American Family, Auto-Owners, Erie Insurance, and Auto Club, so keep that in mind when considering them.

Some companies are only available in a couple of states. I cut most of them from our list of recommended companies.

Lastly, USAA is the most highly recommended, but only available to active, retired, and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military along with their families. For the rest of us, we’ll have to look elsewhere.

The ratings for our top 16 car insurance companies

Here are all the ratings and satisfaction scores for our top 16 insurance companies:

Company

J.D. Power claims satisfaction score

AM Best financial rating

Consumer Reports reader score

Avg app rating

USAA

A++

Farmers

Travelers

A++

Progressive

A+

3.5

Geico

A++

N/A

Allstate

A+

State Farm

A++

American Family

Auto-Owner’s Insurance

A++

Nationwide

A+

Amica Mutual

A+

2.5

Erie Insurance

A+

The Hartford

A+

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

A+

N/A

Auto Club Group

A-

4.5

All of these companies have good or great ratings across these categories, which is why we’ve included them on our list.

How car insurance works

When you get a car insurance quote, the insurance company is going to ask you how much coverage you want on all sorts of stuff.

It even seems like car insurance companies have deliberately tried to make this as confusing as possible:

Different parts of your policy cover different stuff

Some stuff is optional

Some stuff isn’t optional in other states

Some items overlap, so it’s really easy to be “over-insured”

Bear with me. Once we’ve gone through the different components of a car insurance policy, the quote process is going to be a lot easier.

And you’ll avoid getting tricked by car insurance companies that want you to pay for more insurance than you really need.

Liability coverage

Liability coverage covers damage you cause to people and property.

There are two types.

Bodily injury liability coverage: Covers medical expenses for the people who get injured in the accident you cause.

Property damage liability coverage: Covers the other person’s vehicle or other property that gets damaged in the accident you cause.

It actually gets a bit more complicated than this. There are other types of liability coverage that you can add. For now, let’s focus on the main two types.

When you get your core liability coverage, your insurance company will ask you how much coverage you want. The higher your coverage, the more money your insurance company will be willing to pay out during a serious accident.

Think of it like this.

Let’s say you wreck a Toyota Corolla, which is worth about $20,000. If you have a $100,000 property liability coverage, no big deal. Your insurance company will completely replace the car.

Now let’s say you wreck a Ferrari that costs $250,000, and have that same property liability coverage of $100,000. In this case, your insurance policy will only pay up to $100,000. You’re on the hook for the other $150,000.

Remember one simple rule for liability coverage: Larger numbers are better.

The higher your liability coverage, the more your insurance company is willing to pay before they leave you hanging.

Car insurance companies use some fancy notation for this liability coverage. It looks like this: $100,000/$300,000/$100,000.

In plain language, that means:

$100,000 bodily injury payout per person.

$300,000 bodily injury payout per accident. This caps the bodily injury coverage, regardless of how many people are in the accident.

$100,000 property damage payout per accident.

Remember our liability coverage rule — higher numbers are better. That will cover you across a larger range of accidents.

So how much liability coverage is enough?

Think of insurance like this: It’s there to keep you out of financial catastrophe during a serious accident. You want as much as you can possibly get. If an accident is bad enough, you could easily hit the limits of your coverage. That’s not a position anyone wants to be in.

Yes, higher liability coverage will raise the cost of your insurance policy. First, we’ll show you a few items to skip, which will compensate. Second, we’ve got scripts further down for you to negotiate your costs and get them down even further. Between those two things, you should have no problem getting more liability coverage without having to raise the price of your plan.

I personally went with $100,000/$300,000/$100,000. I did do some research on averages and found that most folks end up with $100,000/$300,000/$50,000. For me, that’s too low.

Vehicle coverage

All of that liability coverage you need to pay for doesn’t protect your own vehicle. That’s where collision and comprehension coverage come into play.

Collision Coverage: Covers your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or object.

Comprehension Coverage: Covers your vehicle from weather, theft, etc.

Protecting your vehicle is required if you have a lease or are financing your vehicle. If you own it, then it comes down to comparing the value of your car to the risk of not covering it. Make this decision based on how old the car is and whether you’re planning on replacing it soon.

Covering your vehicle works a bit differently than the liability coverage. Instead of picking the amount of coverage you want, you’ll pick the size of your deductible.

Deductibles for car insurance work just like medical deductibles. It’s the amount that you have to pay before your coverage kicks in. Let’s say you have a $1,000 deductible. In an accident, you’d pay the first $1,000, and then the insurance company would cover everything else.

I use two guidelines when picking my car insurance deductible:

If you get in accidents regularly or don’t have much cash on hand, get a lower deductible.

If you rarely get in accidents and can easily cover the whole deductible, get a higher deductible.

The higher your deductible, the lower the cost of your policy. While a higher deductible saves you money today, don’t pick a deductible that you wouldn’t be able to pay at any given moment. A $2,500 deductible means that you’d need the ability to pay $2,500 without warning in order to replace your car during a bad accident.

Underinsured / uninsured motorist bodily and property damage

Underinsured / uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage covers you and your passengers in the event that someone causes an accident but doesn’t have proper coverage.

Underinsured / uninsured motorist property damage coverage is the same thing, but covers your property if the other driver is at fault and doesn’t have adequate coverage.

Wait a second, isn’t all this stuff already covered?

By getting coverage for my vehicle, it’s covered regardless of who causes the accident. I also have health insurance, so I’ve got my medical bills covered too.

Why double up on everything by also getting underinsured motorist coverage?

That is an excellent question. If we have good health insurance and can afford the deductible for our vehicle, we don’t see a reason to get this extra coverage.

Some states do require this on your policy. In that case, we get the minimum that we’re required to. The main downside to this approach is that we’ll have to pay our deductible even if we’re not at fault and the other person is underinsured or uninsured.

When we’re in other states, we skip this altogether.

Personal injury protection

Personal injury protection (PIP) covers medical expenses for you and your passengers’ medical bills, regardless of who is responsible for causing the accident. It could also cover lost wages.

Is it worth it?

We don’t use this ourselves. Since it overlaps with our health insurance, we don’t see a reason to get it. In our case, we’d be paying for the same insurance twice. If our health insurance was weak or we regularly had passengers without health insurance, maybe it would make sense.

Depending on your state, it’ll either be required, an option, or not an option at all. If we found ourselves in a state where it’s required, we’d get the bare minimum amount.

These are the states that require personal injury protection: District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

Extras

Extras could include roadside assistance, rental car coverage, a glass deductible, and so forth.

As a general rule, extras are a waste of time with car insurance.

Take roadside assistance as an example. It can be a lifesaver, but the benefits are better and it tends to be cheaper by going with a dedicated service like AAA or checking your credit card perks.

Now, if you know that you’d take full advantage of one of these extras, it could make sense to add it to your policy. We’d only add one if we knew with certainty that we’d be taking advantage of it. If we’re not sure, we skip them.

Our rules for which coverage to get

We covered a lot of ground just now, so let’s recap the rules that we use for getting coverage:

Liability coverage = Get as much as possible.

Deductible = Keep this low if you have regular accidents or don’t have cash on hand to cover a higher deductible. Otherwise, get a higher deductible.

Underinsured motorist bodily and property damage = Skip this unless it’s required by the state you’re living in.

Personal injury protection = Skip this unless it’s required by the state you’re living in.

Extras = Skip these too.

The 4-step process to get the best car insurance policy

Now that you know how car insurance works, it’s time to get your policy. With 4 easy steps, you’ll have your policy by the end of today:

Start with our list of insurance companies.

Get quotes from at least 5 insurance companies.

Negotiate with your top choices.

Pick your winning policy.

I’ll walk you through each of these steps and show you the quotes that I got.

This is the exact process that I used to get my car insurance policy. In fact, I saved $2,088/year by going through this exact process. I wish that I had done this years ago based on how much money I just saved with a few hours of work.

Step1: Start with this list of insurance companies

Based on customer satisfaction with the claims process, overall consumer reviews, and the financial health of the company, any of these companies are worth considering:

USAA

Farmers

Travelers

Progressive

Geico

Allstate

State Farm

American Family

Auto-Owners Insurance

Nationwide

Amica Mutual

Erie Insurance

The Hartford

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

Auto Club Group

That’s 16 options.

A few of these won’t be available to you. Not every insurance carrier is available in every state. And USAA is only available to active, retired, and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military, or their families.

If you want to be extra thorough, it is a good idea to figure out the coverage requirements in your state. Then you’ll know why an insurance company is forcing you to get PIP coverage, for example.

Step 2: Get quotes from at least 5 insurance companies

“5 quotes? Really? Not just one?”

We’re completely serious: Get at LEAST 5 quotes. If you really want to get the best insurance policy, you’ll want to get a quote from all 16 companies in our list.

Here’s the thing about car insurance policies.

Once you’ve filtered for legitimate companies that have good claims processes and consumer satisfaction scores, the policies are all the same. The only difference is price.

So it’s all about getting the best quote for the policy that you want.

And there’s a wide range of quotes that you’ll get.

Here’s the policy I got quotes on:

Liability coverage: $100,000 / $300,000 / $100,000

Personal injury protection coverage: Not needed

Collision deductible: $1,000

Comprehension deductible: $1,000

Underinsured motorist property damage coverage: None

Extras: Decline all

After spending several hours requesting quotes from every company on this list, I got quotes that ranged from $1,000/year to $4,600/year. That’s a huge range. If I had picked the wrong company, done one quote, and went with it, I could have been spending an extra $3,600/year for nothing.

By requesting 5 quotes, you could save yourself thousands of dollars per year.

Step 3: Negotiate with your top choices

Here are all the quotes that I received, along with all the ratings:

Company

J.D. Power claims satisfaction score

AM Best financial rating

Consumer Reports reader score

Avg app rating

Quote

USAA

A++

–

Farmers

$2,373

Travelers

A++

$1,155

Progressive

A+

3.5

$556

Geico

A++

N/A

$1,600

Allstate

A+

$2,690

State Farm

A++

$1,535

American Family

–

Auto-Owner’s Insurance

A++

–

Nationwide

A+

$1,531

Amica Mutual

A+

2.5

$1,374

Erie Insurance

A+

–

The Hartford

A+

–

Liberty Mutual

$1,797

Esurance

A+

N/A

$534

Auto Club Group

A-

4.5

–

For the companies that are missing quotes, coverage either wasn’t available to me or I wasn’t able to finish the quote process.

At this point, we have some possible winners and several clear losers.

I immediately cut out the most expensive quotes. Even when their agents tried to call or email me, I just ignored them. Their quotes were too high for me to expect they could get anywhere close to the other companies.

There were also a few companies that pissed me off during the quote process. Things didn’t load right or I had trouble getting the quote I wanted. I cut those out too.

That got my list down to 7.

To see if any of them could get closer to the best quote, I started calling them.

I started with Amica and Travelers. I told them that I was getting quotes for around $530-$550 for 6 months, from both Progressive and Esurance. Neither of them could beat the $530, but they both came down to about $650, which gives me more options so I’m not making my decision purely off price.

Use this script for negotiating care insurance:

ACME INSURANCE: Hello, Acme Insurance. How may I help you today?

YOU: I’d like to negotiate a policy. [Other insurance company] is offering to insure me for $XXX less for [coverage]. I’d like to know if there’s a better deal from you, please.

Wait for their response. Negotiating with this technique is much harder to do with car insurance companies than banks — but it is possible. If they’re stubborn and try to shoot you down, keep pressing at it. Don’t make it easy for them to say no.

ACME INSURANCE: Sorry, but our rates are fixed at this time and we can’t change it due to [some BS excuse about why they can’t give you a lower rate].

YOU: Well, I’ve been a good driver for X years now and would love a lower rate. What else can you do to help me?

ACME INSURANCE: Hmm, one second. I see that you’re a really good customer. I’m going to check with my supervisor. Can you hold for a second?

[hold]

I was able to check with my supervisor and can lower that policy by X%. Does that work?

You’ll have the most leverage by already having a lower quote from another company. Depending on how good that quote is, other companies may or may not be able to match it. IF they do, you’ll have more options on the final company that you pick.

Step 4: Pick your winning policy

Here’s how I narrowed my policy. First, I was left with 4 great options:

Progressive

Travelers

Esurance

Amica

My previous insurance provider was Progressive, which probably has something to do with why their quote was so low. I have been happy with them, although I haven’t had to deal with any claims.

And Amica has awesome customer satisfaction ratings.

That’s enough for me to cut Travelers and Esurance from my list, leaving me with 2 options: Progressive versus Amica.

I decided to stick with Progressive since they gave me the best rate and I have been with them for years.

I should note that my previous policy with Progressive was $1,600 for 6 months. Even though I went through this entire process only to keep my current provider, I was able to still save $2,088/year.

Go through your top 3-5 choices after you’ve negotiated. Then pick a winner that has the best combination of a great price and good customer satisfaction scores.

The best car insurance companies of 2019 is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/best-car-insurance/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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kennethherrerablog · 5 years ago

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The best car insurance companies of 2019

Car insurance really comes down to one thing.

Getting the best quote from a good company.

I’m going to show you the same process that saved me $2,088 per year with only a few hours worth of work.

Before we jump into the process and exact scripts that I used, I’m going to break down the best car insurance companies out there.

By the end of this article:

You’ll know which companies to trust and which to avoid.

You’ll know which kind of car insurance we skip to lower our bills. And the kind that we max out on.

You’ll know the script to negotiate with any car insurance company to get them to lower their quote.

The best auto insurance providers

There’s an awful lot of car insurance companies out there. We’ve gone through over 50 and narrowed them down to our top 16 companies:

USAA

Farmers

Travelers

Progressive

Geico

Allstate

State Farm

American Family

Auto-Owners Insurance

Nationwide

Amica Mutual

Erie Insurance

The Hartford

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

Auto Club Group

How did we pick these 16 companies? We looked at several factors.

User experience

Claims process

Financial solvency

Customer satisfaction

Location / availability

Some companies are only available in a couple of states. I cut most of them from our list of recommended companies.

The ratings for our top 16 car insurance companies

Here are all the ratings and satisfaction scores for our top 16 insurance companies:

Company

J.D. Power claims satisfaction score

AM Best financial rating

Consumer Reports reader score

Avg app rating

USAA

A++

Farmers

Travelers

A++

Progressive

A+

3.5

Geico

A++

N/A

Allstate

A+

State Farm

A++

American Family

Auto-Owner’s Insurance

A++

Nationwide

A+

Amica Mutual

A+

2.5

Erie Insurance

A+

The Hartford

A+

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

A+

N/A

Auto Club Group

A-

4.5

All of these companies have good or great ratings across these categories, which is why we’ve included them on our list.

How car insurance works

When you get a car insurance quote, the insurance company is going to ask you how much coverage you want on all sorts of stuff.

It even seems like car insurance companies have deliberately tried to make this as confusing as possible:

Different parts of your policy cover different stuff

Some stuff is optional

Some stuff isn’t optional in other states

Some items overlap, so it’s really easy to be “over-insured”

Bear with me. Once we’ve gone through the different components of a car insurance policy, the quote process is going to be a lot easier.

And you’ll avoid getting tricked by car insurance companies that want you to pay for more insurance than you really need.

Liability coverage

Liability coverage covers damage you cause to people and property.

There are two types.

Bodily injury liability coverage: Covers medical expenses for the people who get injured in the accident you cause.

Property damage liability coverage: Covers the other person’s vehicle or other property that gets damaged in the accident you cause.

It actually gets a bit more complicated than this. There are other types of liability coverage that you can add. For now, let’s focus on the main two types.

Think of it like this.

Let’s say you wreck a Toyota Corolla, which is worth about $20,000. If you have a $100,000 property liability coverage, no big deal. Your insurance company will completely replace the car.

Remember one simple rule for liability coverage: Larger numbers are better.

The higher your liability coverage, the more your insurance company is willing to pay before they leave you hanging.

Car insurance companies use some fancy notation for this liability coverage. It looks like this: $100,000/$300,000/$100,000.

In plain language, that means:

$100,000 bodily injury payout per person.

$300,000 bodily injury payout per accident. This caps the bodily injury coverage, regardless of how many people are in the accident.

$100,000 property damage payout per accident.