Insurers Lead Financial Sector in Mobile Investment, But Are Accessed the Least

Finance companies are investing more in mobile than any other industry, and insurance accounts for more than two-fifths of the spending within that, according to recent research from Millenial Media, a mobile advertising platform company and ComScore, an internet market researcher.

Most of the mobile investment on the insurance side is in P&C and involves quoting, according to the study, "Mobile Insights for Finance Brands." This includes quotes generated both by inputting information into the phone and clicking to call a contact center.

[Read about Progressive's mobile document capture initiative that aims to speed quoting and binding of policies via mobile.]

Despite all the investment, however, insurers still lag far behind other financial services providers in use of their mobile capabilities. Only 6% of users say they access insurers once a day, compared to 22% for banking, 12% for credit cards, 10% for payments and 8% for stock trading. The same percentage say they access insurers at least once a week, compared to 35% for banking, 22% for credit cards, 16% for payments and 8% for stocks.

"For sub-categories in the finance industry where consumers may not experience significant day-to-day changes, such as with their insurance companies, users still found value in accessing the content on their mobile device, but they did so much less frequently," the study says.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio