Why we refreshed our website to reflect our polished offering
Welcome to the “new look” craftinsurance.co.uk. If you have visited us before, you will notice things look a little different, and if you are finding us for the first time, welcome. Either way, we are glad you are here.
The service has not changed, nor has the team, although we have grown richer in both years and understanding. We can now boast nearly four decades of experience working exclusively with crafters. The thing we did decide to change was the way we present ourselves and the upgraded cover we are offering, and there is a good reason for that. A website that does not accurately reflect your business is quietly working against you, and after careful thought, we decided it was time to make sure ours was doing us, and more importantly, you, proper justice.
Whilst on the subject of websites and why they need refreshing from time to time, we thought this was a good opportunity to share a few thoughts that might be useful for your own craft business too.
Where we started, and where we are now
Craft Insurance began as a side project. In the beginning, Ian Wallace (our Dad) was working as an insurance broker when a group of potter friends came to him and asked whether he could put together public liability cover for people selling crafts at fairs. No one else was doing it at the time, so Dad approached several insurance companies, assembled a scheme, and quietly filled a gap that the rest of the market had not even noticed existed.
That side project became a lifetime’s work as Dad fell in love with the crafting community. He converted his garage at home into an office, pivoting the business to focus entirely on the craft insurance scheme. In the early days, the business was modest, but as Dad concentrated his efforts on it, things changed quickly. The arrival of his daughters, Naomi and Samantha, (us) saw the business grow further and become the most established dedicated craft insurance company in the UK.
The crafting community, we discovered, was wonderful to work with, and as the feeling was pretty mutual, word spread. Recommendations followed. For many sectors of the craft world, candlemakers and home fragrance businesses in particular, Craft Insurance became the go-to provider, with new customers being told by others in the trade not to bother going anywhere else.
We have always felt honoured to be referred this way by word of mouth, but we also realise that the way we present ourselves online needs to remain up to date and representative of who we actually are. Furthermore, search engines and AI tools now do a significant amount of the work of connecting new customers with the right businesses so that needs to be taken into account. A website built for how people searched three years ago will not perform as well as one built for how they search today. That is as true for craft business insurance providers as it is for anyone selling handmade goods.
What is new for our customers
Our new site reflects a policy that has been genuinely improved. £500,000 Professional Indemnity cover is now included with every policy, at no extra cost, so every crafter is automatically covered to teach their craft, run their own exhibition and demonstrate their skills at events. To add to that, business and stock cover has been simplified, so there is no longer any need to separate saleable stock from raw materials when making a claim. Comprehensive money cover has also been added. Finally, the structure is clearer: public and product liability as the essential foundation, with employers’ liability and business and stock cover as optional add-ons.
The new website reflects all of this plainly and honestly, with pages designed to help crafters understand what they need rather than overwhelm them with options. The cover we offer is all explained in plain language, without any unnecessary jargon.
As a craft business, it’s always worth reviewing your own website regularly, or if you do not have a dedicated business website, your online presence, whether that is a personal site, a social media profile or an Etsy shop description. If it has not been updated in the past couple of years, it is very likely not doing you the favours it should.
Please, have a look around our new site and let us know what you think.
We are proud of the new site and we hope it is easier to use, clearer to read and more useful to crafters at every stage of their business journey, from the very first craft fair to a fully established operation. If you are an existing customer, it is worth taking a few minutes to review your current cover in light of the simplified policy structure, and if you are new to Craft Insurance, welcome. The new website will help you get a quote in minutes and have your documents in your inbox the same day.
