Insurance companies are using mobile apps and websites to improve user engagement by enhancing claims capabilities, offering virtual assistant options, and integrating telematics.

Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm specializing in benchmarking information, has released its Q1 2022 Mobile Insurance Scorecard, which assesses the mobile website and mobile app offerings of the 12 largest major US P&C insurance companies.

GEICO earned first place overall and leads in mobile web and apps. According to the report, the company offers policyholders various app elements, including integration of its telematics, DriveEasy, and location-based experiences.

State Farm earned second place overall and in the app. Nationwide earned second place on mobile web. Progessive and Nationwide tied for third. USAA took third place for apps and Progressive third for mobile web.

“Mobile delivery continues to become more important to insurance companies: of the top 12 companies examined in the dashboard, eight introduced a significant number of new enhancements to their mobile website and/or mobile apps between the third quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022,” Beth Robertson, chief executive of Keynova Group, said in an email response.

The report analyzes user capabilities and customer experience to identify trends that drive mobile and app strategy. The rating is based on an evaluation of approximately 200 objective criteria.

According to the report, claims management is one of the most determining factors for the satisfaction and retention of policyholders. Eight carriers offer chat support for claims. However, operator chatbots require more features, including predictive options and an expanded vocabulary, the report suggests.

“Companies are also taking a more thoughtful approach to how to personalize the mobile experience (identify the user on a subsequent visit, store and promote user preferences, offer user interface personalization, enable downloading of photos, etc.); how to make it easier for prospects and policyholders (integrating things like GPS, auto-complete, and scanning into tasks); and how to embed capabilities that will generate return visits and recurring use (things like usage-based telematics, fuel locators, or vehicle service tools,” says Robertson.

Additional observations to note:

• Half of carriers include gas or parking locations and vehicle maintenance tools in the app.
• A quarter of carriers support digital payments like Zelle or PayPal for claims disbursements.
• All 12 carriers provide location tools on mobile web and apps.
• Half of carriers use an in-app virtual assistant chatbot and 83% offer an option on their websites. About half of insurers connect consumers with a live agent after two failed virtual assistant experiments.
• Liberty Mutual has integrated telematics into its app with its Right Track usage-based tool. GEICO and Liberty Mutual are the only operators to integrate telematics into their main application.