Entering 2020, consumers’ increasing demand for excellent digital services was already well documented. But the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption, and the P&C insurance industry is in no way immune from this trend. In fact, our recent analysis of P&C mobile app pace of change revealed intense activity over the course of the year.
In its Insurance Digital Maturity Study, ACORD found that the percentage of consumers interacting with their insurers via digital channels has doubled worldwide since 2015. Critically, as we move into 2021, digital usage continues to trend toward mobile devices. That makes insurers’ mobile apps essential in their efforts to provide excellent digital experiences for their customers. Notably, mobile apps provide insurers a critical avenue through which they can engage their customers outside of traditional interaction points such as paying a premium or filing a claim.
Tracking the P&C mobile app pace of change across categories
This January, P&C Insurance Monitor published a pace of change report evaluating mobile app updates performed by coverage group insurers in 2020. We catalogued all mobile app changes and assigned each change a significance rating (high, medium or low) and a category:
- Design & Navigation
- Account Information
- Claims
- Alerts
- Billing & Payments
- Self-Service
- Login & Security
- Tools & Resources
In total, our coverage group insurers implemented 75 mobile app changes throughout 2020. These were evenly spread across the high- (23), medium- (27) and low- (25) significance buckets. All but two carriers performed at least one mobile app update in 2020, with an overall average of roughly four changes per insurer. GEICO and American Family implemented the most high-significance updates with six and three respectively. GEICO and State Farm tied for the most changes overall (12).
No insurer made changes in all eight categories evaluated, although GEICO and State Farm each completed changes in seven categories. These were closely followed by American Family and Amica, which both touched on six categories.
- GEICO updated its app’s navigation menu and enhanced the claims, billing and policy dashboards. It also revamped its virtual assistant and expanded its repertoire of predictive phrases.
- State Farm implemented updates to its payment capabilities. These included the abilities to schedule payments in advance to enroll in reminder push notifications.
- Amica modernized the app design, added more policy details, documents and billing statements and re-worked its bill pay flow.
- American Family focused on bolstering its claims resources. It also added a Future payment schedule feature, which provides an estimate of upcoming bill amounts and when they will be due.
On average, carriers implemented a change in 3.22 categories. The most popular category was Design & Navigation, in which there were 16 changes. The Claims category featured the greatest number of high-significance updates with seven. Other high-activity categories included Account Information (12) and Billing & Payments (12).
Overarching trends among P&C mobile apps
Our tracking exercise revealed several overarching trends:
- Insurers that completed mobile app revamps followed a similar navigational format. They all employed an anchored bottom-tabbed menu, tiled information and quick links to common resources.
- Insurers built out their payment centers in 2020. They largely moved beyond one-time payment capabilities to enhance their autopay offerings.
- Insurers streamlined ID card availability. Providing ID cards policyholders can download for easy offline access is now a table stakes requirement on an insurance app.
- Insurers bolstered mobile app claims resources, providing more information and empowering users to perform tasks.
Subscribers can access the complete report on P&C mobile app pace of change on our client portal. For access, or for more competitive intelligence on the user experience that insurers provide to their policyholders, check out Corporate Insight’s P&C Insurance Monitor research service offerings.