Most Australian insurance websites – 75% – are failing to deliver the best possible response times for potential customers, according to software giant Compuware.

It’s used a web performance benchmark to measure the time by 28 Australian insurance websites to download a page.

Tests last month showed CommInsure, AIG Life and Aviva were the top performers, with ratings of 0.572, 0.594 and 0.622 seconds respectively. Zurich, ING, QBE and Perpetual also performed well, with response times below two seconds.

The other 21 companies benchmarked recorded ratings between 2 seconds to 12 seconds. Nine insurers had ratings below 3.4 seconds, ranging from 3.4 seconds to 12.1 seconds.

Compuworld Solutions Director Rafi Katanasho says insurers need to lift their game or lose online business.

“Insurance purchasing decisions are increasingly made online… but if it takes more than two seconds to get an online response customers get frustrated,” he said. “That’s just going to encourage them to look elsewhere.

“Problems accessing the websites of many insurance companies have the potential to frustrate customers.”