Roadside Assistance Enhancements Improve Mobile Insurance Experience, Heighten Carriers’ Competitive Capabilities
Wilmington, Del. March 30, 2023 – Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of the Q1 2023 edition of its semi-annual Mobile Insurance Scorecard. GEICO earned top honors for its mobile user experience, ranking first in overall score in Keynova’s evaluation of the mobile apps and mobile websites of the 12 largest U.S. auto and property insurance carriers as other carriers significantly narrow competitive gaps. The latest Scorecard shows that carriers continue to enhance their mobile claims capabilities, with some adding advanced roadside assistance to help improve the digital experience.
"Competition to support optimal digital experiences for policyholders across mobile channels is heating up as more insurance carriers are enhancing mobile claims and roadside assistance processes," said Beth Robertson, managing director of Keynova Group. "Customer-facing mobile security, however, remains an area for carrier improvement to keep pace with the privacy measures adopted by other financial services firms.”
Roadside Assistance Enhancements Advancing the Mobile Claims Experience
Mobile devices facilitate an array of roadside assistance capabilities that carriers are leveraging to ease claims interactions and increase policyholder satisfaction and retention. Leading carriers are moving beyond tap-to-call to offer more interactive tools that allow a user to quickly select the type of roadside assistance needed and employ device capabilities to access, monitor, and manage the incident. Location services that enable users to set their vehicle’s position are provided by 50% of the reviewed carriers’ mobile web solutions and by 75% of carriers’ apps. One-quarter of the carriers also employ GPS to identify and map the location of nearby service providers, such as for towing or glass repair, with customer ratings of these providers also displayed. Two carrier apps – those of Farmers and Nationwide – supply phone numbers and links that connect a policyholder directly to the provider they select.
Beyond the Call for Help; Intra-Incident Support Also on the Rise
More sophisticated roadside assistance services don’t stop once the request for service has been made. For policyholders awaiting aid, one-third of carriers’ mobile web solutions and half of carriers’ app-based services provide real-time updates about the incident including the estimated arrival time for the roadside assistance service provider. One-quarter of carriers’ apps also map tow truck or service provider arrival. Nationwide, which has recently released a best-in-class roadside assistance solution in its app, is the only carrier in the Scorecard that maps a provider towing a vehicle back to its servicing location, records a detailed record of the assistance event, and displays key tracking details—such as ETA—outside of the roadside assistance tool.
Mobile Security Improvements Will Help Carriers Keep Pace
Since carriers’ authenticated sites typically store an array of confidential policyholder information, these firms are implementing customer-facing privacy and security practices – though generally at a slower pace and less comprehensively than in the banking industry. For instance, one-third of carriers document last login time and date information in their mobile websites compared to more than half of the mobile banks’ websites reviewed in Keynova Group’s Q1 2023 Mobile Banking Scorecard. As well, more than 90% of banks support automatic logout from their authenticated mobile website after 15 minutes or less idle time, yet a similar standard is upheld by just two-thirds of leading carriers. And, while the use of additional or multi-factor authentication as either a recurring option or for unknown device logins is now employed by half of the top carriers, the practice is nearly ubiquitous in mobile banking.
About the Mobile Insurance Scorecard
Keynova Group’s semi-annual, fact-based Mobile Insurance Scorecard evaluates user capabilities, customer experience elements, and best practices to identify evolving trends and insights that drive mobile strategy in the auto and property insurance industry. The evaluation encompasses the mobile channels of Allstate, American Family, Esurance, Farmers, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm, The Hartford, Travelers, and USAA. For more information, please visit https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#insurance.
About Keynova Group
Keynova Group is the leading competitive intelligence firm providing trusted benchmarking insights and analysis of consumer and small business digital financial services, including banking, credit card, home lending, and insurance. Keynova Group’s Scorecards have served as the go-to source for leading financial services firms to obtain reliable competitive intelligence and actionable insights since 1999. The firm’s proven methodology and highly detailed results help its clients maximize the value of their digital channels to deliver a premier experience to customers and prospects.
For more information:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates, for Keynova Group
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com