Mobile Apps: Key To Customer Engagement In Insurance
Convenience Is Key
Mobile apps that can make insurance transactions more convenient for policyholders should play a big role in a carrier's engagement strategy. Most consumers are never without with their mobile devices and expect information and services to be constantly at their fingertips.
"It's all about accessibility and expectation," says David Lloyd, CEO of IntelliResponse, a company that specializes in self-service software. "When I think about our clients anywhere in financial services, utilities, etc., it's all about providing that convenience to the customer."
The opportunities to meet demands for convenience vary depending on the lines of business. For example, while Esurance's mobile offerings focus on the claims process, health insurer Aetna (Hartford, Conn.; estimated 44 million policyholders) is providing its plan members with a variety of options for health and fitness apps.
Aetna's CarePass platform aggregates data from more than 25 leading mobile apps related to health and fitness. Consumers can choose preferred apps, set personalized health goals, and track their progress on CarePass.
Delivering convenience to users was a key priority throughout the development of CarePass, explains Martha Wofford, VP and head of the platform. Aetna wanted to facilitate the process of discovering new apps to accommodate the wellness needs of its policyholders. This platform allows users to switch among different apps while storing their personal health data in a singular location.
"We wanted a dashboard where all the data could come together," says Wofford. "We're probably not going to create all the best, most exciting fitness apps. This is an easy way to provide access to those that are creating really neat solutions. By doing this, we're able to keep it fresh and integrate new apps."
Opportunities For Engagement
"Keeping it fresh" has also been a priority at State Farm (Bloomington, Ill.; more than 79 million policies in force). The P&C carrier improved its customer engagement by expanding its mobile offerings outside its traditional Pocket Agent app, which allows policyholders to pay premiums, submit claims, locate repair facilities, and view their insurance cards.
The insurer offers an app titled Move-Tools that was designed to help users organize their belongings, virtually pack boxes, and plan tasks involved in a move. In an industry that lacks daily customer engagement, the app increases the opportunities for policyholders to interact with State Farm.
"It was really about meeting a customer need," says Nick Propersi, director of enterprise Internet solutions at State Farm, of MoveTools. "We saw an opportunity where there was a chance to guide a customer through an important life event. … This kind of app extends our reach to our customers and potential customers."
State Farm also offers a driver feedback app that grades users based on their braking, acceleration, and cornering behavior. "That allows us more daily regular interaction with our customers, with a little bit of entertainment," he says.
Insurers process vast quantities of this kind of potentially useful data that their policyholders want to access. "The challenge is to leverage all the information provided in ways that are meaningful to the consumer," says Aite Group's Bisker.
"The trend is for customers to be able to decide what they want to see and how they want to see it," says Dusty Rivers, principal technical architect at solution provider GT Software. Some customers may want to have access to their car payments in a mobile app; others may value the ability to store policy information in case of an accident.
"It's about making information available in the app that is contextual to the consumer," says State Farm's Propersi. "We might prioritize the [mobile] experience based on where the user is or whether they're close to an agent or another partner."
Insurers must consider the individual actions of each customer and tailor the mobile experience so that it accommodates each unique experience. If users are filling out a form within the app, for example, they should be redirected to their last place on that form the next time the app is activated. If they are filling out the same form online, it would be optimal if that information translated over to the app as well.
Information Design
Design and layout are critical to the allure of a mobile app, says Aite Group's Bisker. "They need to be clean and crisp," he explains. "They don't need to have a lot of click-throughs, and things should be very up front."
Mobile app design ideally should reflect the layout of the company website, Bisker explains, and both platforms should have the same color and architecture. If separate teams are responsible for developing the website and mobile app, he recommends that they collaborate or at least remain cognizant of each other's actions.
The desktop and mobile interfaces should have the same process for filling out forms and obtaining policyholder information. If the website provides access to claims data from the welcome page, for example, the mobile app should offer the same.
"There should be continuity in the way things are done," says Bisker. "That is state of the art; those are table stakes now."
Insurers should take a mobile-first approach to creating a responsive design for consumers, explains Nitin Misra, senior consultant with the insurance practice at IT consulting firm Wipro.
Many insurers start with a desktop website design, then eliminate features to make the interface more suitable for smaller screens, Misra explains, but this is not the most effective way to build mobile offerings. Wipro advises clients to "start with the core, then slowly build out depending on different channels," he says.
Given consumers' growing preference for mobile, insurers actually should start with their mobile app, perfect its design, then add features to create the desktop website.
Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial ... View Full Bio
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