Analysis of US P&C Insurance Customer-Facing Mobile Apps – Cognizant

Article Synopsis :

Advancements in mobile tech and a growing array of smartphone-app toolkits present fresh options to carriers struggling with digital customer engagement.

Only 28 of the top 100 US insurers offer mobile apps. Mid-tier players see an opportunity

“An Analysis of U.S. P&C Insurance Customer-Facing Mobile Apps” from Cognizant shares results of a survey of the top 100 P&C insurers assessing  services offered via mobile apps and web portals with a gap analysis between the two channels.

Key findings include:

• The U.S. P&C insurance industry is in the early stages of mobile adoption for customers, with only 28 of the top 100 insurers offering mobile apps.
• Insurers leading in mobile app delivery also lead the industry in terms of net written premium, customer satisfaction, customer retention and net promoter scores.
• The gap between the services footprint of customer portal offerings and mobile apps has grown from Q3 2015 to Q1 2016 as insurers added more features and functionalities to their customer portals compared with mobile apps. Seamless customer service is a distant dream for most insurers as nearly three quarters of insurers surveyed do not have a customer-facing mobile app; those that do seem to be focused more on adding features and functionalities to their customer portals than their mobile apps.
• Customer portals lead mobile apps in all nine service feature categories comprising 85 mobile app functionalities currently offered by insurers, such as billing, emergency assistance, claims management, customer support, etc.
• The seven insurers that lead in mobile app delivery focus on basic, must-have services, such as view policy/documents, agent locator, premium payment, upload accident photos, and claims submission.

The report suggests the consideration of mobile-application use cases aimed at these four specific areas:

1. Improved customer communication and engagement.
2. Improved claims efficiency.
3. Reduced costs and improved revenues.
4. Competitive advantage.

Some tips to create a winning mobile app include:

1. No replication of online portal features. Build fresh for the handset.
2. Focus on building light, fast, interactive and user-friendly apps. Slow is the worst thing your app can be.
3. Learn from other industries, such as retail, travel and entertainment.
4. Use gamification to improve customer engagement. Gaming is better than explaining.
5. Examine user comments and ratings on current apps to understand customer expectations.
6. If you lack in-house skills, find a partner with a track record building scalable and reliable cross-platform mobile apps.

The report suggests insurers are lagging behind in mobile app development out of fear of channel conflict with agents or brokers, and/or a sense that customers simply aren’t interested in downloading an app. Neither reason stands up considering everyone’s growing dependence on smartphones.

Mid-sized insurers (+/- $5 billion in net written premium) are leading the mobile app race. These carriers are determined to deliver higher  customer satisfaction yielding stronger loyalty resulting in competitive advantage in the unfolding digital marketplace.

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