Corporate Insight’s P&C Insurance Monitor is pleased to announce its 2019 Monitor Awards Report that highlights the best digital capabilities offered by our coverage group firms. This year, our report focused on industry leaders in five key areas: Public Site Homepages, Policyholder Site Homepages, Bill Pay, Homeowners Quote Tools and Mobile App Roadside Assistance. We award gold, silver and bronze medals to firms that meet and exceed our criteria for each category. Our P&C Insurance Monitor Digital Audit, which benchmarks insurers’ websites and mobile apps against those of key competitors by evaluating over 175 individual attributes using Corporate Insight’s propriety Audit software, serves as a basis for this report.
Noteworthy gold medalists in this year’s report include GEICO in the Bill Pay category, for its user-friendly  payment interface, and numerous quick-pay options, and Allstate in the Mobile App Roadside Assistance category, for its educational resources like Auto How-To’s in addition to its parking locator and gas finder. The awards report also serves to identify notable trends, products and features that emerged throughout the year.
Bill Pay
Our 2019 P&C Consumer Survey found that “making a premium payment” was the most common reason policyholders log in to their accounts, making it imperative that bill pay is easily findable and straightforward to complete. Additionally, firms can make paying bills simpler by providing pre-login bill pay capabilities and online automatic payment enrollment. Our evaluation covers one-time payment processes, noting customizable options such as payment method, effective date and amount, and we also examine transaction archives on the policyholder site, considering the length of history and the level of detail provided.
GEICO repeats as the gold medalist, edging out silver medalist Farmers and bronze medal winner Travelers, based on its comprehensive Payments section, seamless payment interface, and automatic payment and quick-pay options. GEICO customers can access payment information from several homepage quick links in addition to a Payments main navigation flyout menu. The firm offers a streamlined one-time payment interface that displays the last payment date and amount or the next scheduled payment if policyholders are enrolled in automatic payments. Policyholders can modify all aspects of a future payment, including the payment amount, account and processing date. Additionally, policyholders can enroll in automatic payments online and manage numerous aspects of their autopay plan and even opt to postpone a pending payment. The firm also provides a pre-login bill pay option on the public site Express Services page.
GEICO Public Site Express Services Page
Mobile App Roadside Assistance
This category is new to our awards report, as mobile capabilities continue to rise in usage and importance. Roadside assistance is a pivotal service that property and casualty insurers provide customers. When policyholders’ cars malfunction or run out of gas, prompt, competent help from their insurers fosters customer loyalty and goodwill. It is critical that firms make roadside assistance information easily findable on the mobile app and offer easy-to-fill request forms. Medal winners in this category go above and beyond the basic level of roadside services and further aid policyholders through educational resources and unique tools.
Allstate ranks as the coverage group leader, surpassing silver medal winner Esurance and bronze medalist Progressive, for its easily findable, comprehensive roadside services. Allstate’s roadside content is findable from pre- and post-login home screen quick links in addition to a main navigation menu link. Notably, minimal differences exist between the policyholder and guest experiences; some vehicle and driver details are prefilled if users are logged in. The firm goes beyond straightforward roadside assistance services and offers educational resources including Auto How-To’s and Accident Support within its Roadside Assistance section. Additionally, the firm helpfully provides a parking locator and gas finder on the mobile app.
Allstate Mobile App Roadside Assistance Screens
New Products, Tools and Resources
Chatbot growth rapidly expanded in 2019 with six firms—Chubb, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Progressive and Travelers—launching a virtual assistant this calendar year, more than doubling the number of coverage group firms that offer such a feature. The November 2019 P&C Insurance Monitor Report on chatbots and virtual assistants found that the most advanced chatbots can understand a wide range of inputs, lead users to relevant help resources and directly perform several actions, such as filing a claim or looking up policy information. Out of our coverage group’s chatbots, Nationwide’s virtual assistant, NOVA, performs the widest range of actions, including submitting a single-vehicle accident claim, checking the status of a claim, resetting a password and checking SmartRide status.
GEICO launched its DriveEasy program at the end of July, making it the 13th firm in our coverage group to offer a telematics program. The program relies on features common to competitors’ telematics offerings, using a smartphone app to monitor behaviors like hard braking events to provide a score that builds to a premium discount. The app keeps track of each trip by uploading data through the cloud and shows tips to improve driving performance. Scores are based on the time of day, hard brakes, miles driven and distracted driving occurrences. DriveEasy is currently available to policyholders purchasing or renewing an auto policy in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and the firm is testing the program in additional states. P&C Insurance Monitor evaluated the user experiences of Progressive’s Snapshot and Liberty Mutual’s RightTrack programs in our June 2019 report and plans to release another telematics report in 2020.
Allstate launched an Identity Protection microsite in September that provides in-depth information about the product and allows prospects to purchase individual and family policies online. The firm offers Essentials and Premier plans for both individuals and families, which it details in a side-by-side comparison chart. USAA added a policyholder site Advice Center in September that compiles existing educational resources and tools and suggests content based on policyholders’ policies and interests. A More Advice icon link opens an additional resource library that links to existing Planners and Calculators and Articles and Infographics pages.
USAA Policyholder Site Advice Center
Learn more about Corporate Insight’s P&C Insurance Monitor research and the P&C Insurance Monitor Digital Audit. To get the insights you need to create your company’s own award-winning experience, contact us at INTEREST@CorporateInsight.com.
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