A mobile app for insurance is no longer just a bonus, but a requirement of modern business. And we're ready to give a lot of arguments to support our words.
We'll discuss the details later in the article, but for now, let's say the obvious: we, the people of the 21st century, live online a considerable part of the time, and websites are by no means enough to satisfy our latest requests. We want to be mobile, we want to address issues on the go, on our way to work, anytime, anywhere... which means we need our gadgets and smartphones with apps installed on them. Now you understand why your company cannot do without insurance application development, right? Otherwise, you might find yourself behind your more forward-thinking competitors.
Mobile programs are beneficial to both parties in the process: the insurance company gets a tool to attract customers, who, in turn, can communicate with its representatives when and how they like.
Perhaps it would be better to explain the whole thing from the beginning. Read our piece to find out why the idea to develop a mobile app for an insurance company is a cool and profitable one.
Insurance App Development Popularity
Implementing mobile technology into your insurance business, you must prepare properly and conduct market analysis. What if your expenses are wasted? Is there a real demand?
Let's reassure you right away: the popularity of online insurance apps is increasing from year to year, although the situation wasn't always the same. Things have changed quite recently.
To be precise, the demand for national insurance mobile apps started growing only after 2017. A year earlier, the entire industry was deprived of flexibility and unadapted to new technologies (according to The Pulse of Fintech research, 2016). However, gradually large market players realized the need for change and began to introduce innovative digital solutions.
Today, national general insurance apps are becoming more and more common, and a successful business cannot do without them. Moreover, experts predict that interest in them will keep growing in the coming years (approximately 5% annually).
Does your company have an app for insurance cards? If your answer is no, it's high time you created one.
Insurance App Benefits
#1. Benefits for application users
Let's start with your clients. Why do they need your progressive insurance application? Why would they want to download it?
Actually, there are quite a few reasons, but we’ll focus on 7 main ones:
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Remote consultation. Today we're used to getting services remotely (if possible). And your customers, too, will expect that they can contact you online (using chat, feedback form, and other insurance app features).
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Quick access to information. The user can access the data related to his insurance through his application (which is extremely convenient, since all the information is always at hand).
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By the way, the client gets quick access not only to his data but also to information about your company. A couple of clicks, and he knows everything you want to tell him using the application: your contacts, history, services offered, achievements, etc.
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Push notifications. Your smart insurance app is a great way to keep in touch with your customers in real time. You get a tool to remind them of the need to renew insurance, announce bonus programs, etc.
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Simple drawing up of insurance acts. A client needs to make a few taps in order to get his insurance. A mobile app greatly simplifies the whole process.
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Well-timed instructions. Suppose there is an incident with a client that may require the use of his insurance, and he has no idea of what to do next. An insurance app for iOS or Android comes in handy in such cases: the user just needs to open your application and read the instruction section to get information on the actions he should perform.
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GPS location. Also, let’s not forget about a GPS feature, whose task is to determine the user's geolocation (with his consent, of course). Thanks to it, your client gets the opportunity to call the agent to the scene of the incident (say, if the client himself is confused and has no idea of where he is right now).
So, now you know your clients' benefits, but what about yours? Do you know what YOU and YOUR business are going to receive? Also, it'd be useful to sort out the main types of these applications.
Anyway, we hope our analysis will give you a couple of fascinating insurance app ideas.
#2. Benefits of a mobile application for insurance companies
Let's first discuss, in general terms, why and how building an insurance app would perfect and simplify your company's workflow.
The insurance agent mobile app is good at providing your business with the following:
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Providing information about the company. In describing the benefits targeted at your customers we mentioned their ability to get information on your company in a couple of taps. But such an opportunity is a true win-win, and your business would benefit from it too. In the end, you get a chance to describe your company the way you want it (in a favorable light).
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Automated business processes. Innovative and progressive insurance mobile apps automate (and therefore simplify) all your company’s processes.
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Increased customer base. People around the world are actively switching to online and, even more often, to mobile mode. And if you intend to attract new customers, you need to keep up with the times.
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Non-stop communication. Insurance app development costs may upset you, they're not so small, but every penny spent will return with interest. After all, you'll be in touch with the client around the clock! And you don't have to hire people to respond to customers outside your working hours, you just need to create a chatbot to process user requests in the absence of your employees
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Simplification of drawing up the insurance deal. Here's another example of a classic win-win situation. Both you and your client would be happy to speed up and simplify the insurance process. Did we get it right?
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Personalized offers. The insurance application allows you to analyze the behavior of your customers, collect data in reports, and give you a tool to provide clients with personalized offers: the offers that they won't be strong enough to resist and abandon (as they'll be tailored to the needs of a particular person).
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The ability to get real-time customer feedback. If a client has a chance to report a claim from the app, you'll be able to respond to his complaints very quickly and smooth things over.
So, you know the benefits, but what about types of mobile insurance apps? There are a lot of them, and we should discuss the key ones.
Car insurance apps
Let's start with the most beneficial option for insurance applications. After all, many of us have cars (sometimes not just one!), and having a car implies the need to insure it. And if there is an opportunity to simplify the whole process using a digital platform... then why not?
And it's not just about the simplified registration of the insurance policy. Both parties get a lot of other advantages too (the main ones we have already listed above). Unsurprisingly, in the UK and the US, the insurance process has long since moved online (including payment transfers).
So if you have a company that indemnifies against damage to car owners, think of the need to create an insurance app for Android and iOS. You'll obviously attract new customers and increase the loyalty of the old ones; moreover, you’ll target the aim with no extra effort.
And now let’s take a look at a few examples of existing insurance software applications of the sort.
Allstate Drivewise
Allstate Drivewise is owned by Allstate Insurance Co, a company that has gained a high reputation thanks to its reliable insurer services. And the time came when Allstate Insurance Co decided to automate its business processes with a progressive insurance app. Such a smart decision led to an even greater influx of customers and expanded the target audience.
By the way, among the features of the insurance app, there is a very interesting option, namely, bonuses rewarding responsible drivers. The reward is usually a certain percentage of the refund (up to 25%) after the client has been attentive at the wheel during a specified time interval (say, six months).
GEICO Mobile
The company that owns this mobile program has worked up a high reputation for its long presence in the market. GEICO deals with different types of insurance, but the auto area is one of its main specialties.
The smart insurance app it created is simple and clear, its functionality offers nothing superfluous, and the interface is intuitive, user-friendly.
By the by, there is an interesting nuance: GEICO Mobile is available not only to the company's clients but also to other users. Though, of course, they can take advantage of a limited set of insurance app features.
Property insurance app
Property insurance is another important financial investment in your own peaceful future. Actually, customers buy the opportunity not to worry about such emergencies as floods, fires, theft, etc. These unpleasant events can still happen (alas!), but, at least, they won't lead to such catastrophic consequences as they could.
Unfortunately, there are already a lot of property insurance companies, and convincing a client to choose exactly yours is a task of increased complexity. The home insurance app would be a great argument in your favor! After all, you’re offering your target audience a real chance to be in touch with you around the clock and providing a simplified insurance process. Essentially, you are increasing your user engagement rate.
As proof, we’d like to give you a couple of examples of existing insurance house mobile apps.
Allstate Digital Locker
The app is being managed by Allstate Insurance Company. The mobile service is very easy and free to use, which makes it highly desirable in the market. It comes in handy when it's really important to understand exactly what you actually own.
More specifically, the insurance house mobile application in question helps the user to analyze his property and record the data of the inventory made (the information obtained is stored in an all-accessible cloud database). So he can always prove he owned a certain property item (which might be useful if the mentioned item is damaged and the user needs insurance to cover his costs).
Lemonade
The home insurance app with the bright name Lemonade is aimed at those who own or rent housing and want to take care of their property. It belongs to Lemonade Inc.
Lemonade Inc. insists on its own uniqueness and assures that it offers the most comfortable insurance process. Forget about the papers and unnecessary fuss, trust the Lemonade application, the company’s agents say. And it works, the client base keeps growing.
Life insurance app
Not everyone is ready to pay for life insurance: the costs are too high, and the bonuses aren’t always obvious. And insurance experts go to a variety of measures to convince clients of the benefits of these financial investments.
By the by, the mobile app for insurance is a great way to additionally influence the client's decision. In the end, such a solution offers a simple way to reduce the whole process to a just couple of clicks. And the less effort the customer needs to make to get insurance, the more chances you have to convince him to sign the contract.
Anthem Anywhere
The company that released the insurance app named Anthem Anywhere specializes in medical services of all sorts. And health insurance is one of them.
Frankly speaking, Anthem isn't focused on providing healthcare to its customers. Rather, it is their faithful assistant in finding proper medical experts.
If you analyze the above list of insurance app features, you’ll understand why Anthem Anywhere is so unique. In addition to being able to get an insurance policy in a few simple steps, its users can order other medical services. The result is more than a million users in the United States and no less abroad.
Aetna Mobile
Aetna Life Insurance Company is different from its competitors. The thing is, its history goes back to the distant 19th century (more precisely, the date of foundation is 1853). However, the background of experience didn't prevent the company owners from following modern trends. Therefore, it was decided to create an insurance app for Android and iOS and get the most out of it.
Aetna Mobile's goal is to simplify the provision of services to its customers, to bring work to a new, more efficient level.
In this case, medical and insurance services go hand in hand, complementing each other.
Travelers insurance apps
Suppose you’re going to travel… what is the best way to organize your trip abroad? There are two main options:
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You contact a travel agency, and the company arranges your trip from A to Z, including health insurance. Of course, in such a case, you don't have to think about anything, you just place an order and get the result.
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You want to save money and prefer to organize all stages of the trip yourself. This means the app for travel insurance may come in real handy for you.
As to insurance companies, they can use the mobile app to keep in touch with clients and offer them the most personalized service. In addition, they get access to a variety of cool features to further improve customer engagement.
By the way, the Revolut application has found a good way to use the geolocation function, as you'll see after reading our brief overview of this travelers insurance app.
Revolut
The British organization Revolut specializes in providing alternative banking services. And the Revolut application also helps to handle money. However, the company didn't want to limit itself to such a simple task and transformed the program into a travelers insurance app based on geolocation by adding the Pay-per-Day feature.
If the user activates this feature, the application starts tracking his location and automatically issues an insurance policy when the traveler crosses the border of a new country.
However, the program won’t issue a new policy every time a client travels across the continent and crosses several countries during a short period of time (say, traveling from France to the Netherlands through Belgium). Also, the user can cancel the payment within eight hours.
Of course, Revolut still operates with money, moreover, it helps travelers to more effectively manage their funds during being abroad. The previous functionality had been supplemented with a few innovative features, and the mobile platform became a new insurance app oriented to tourists.
RoamRight
Creating an application for tourist and insurance companies, you should also pay attention to RoamRight. The app belongs to the worldwide Arch Insurance Company which is mainly focused on travel insurance.
RoamRight not only helps with travel insurance but is also aimed at providing tourists with comfort during their trips.
BTW! In 2014, the travelers' insurance app received a special award which marked the company's achievements in the field of online tourism. So RoamRight became a Silver Winner (Travel Weekly Magellan Awards).
Pet insurance app
Pet care insurance apps are also gaining popularity.
But what is pet insurance?
As insurance agents claim, this is reliable care about your pet, be it a cat, dog, hamster or even a guinea pig.
According to the pet insurance help company Liberty Seguros, Europeans (especially Spaniards) constantly indemnify their dogs and cats against loss, attacks of other animals, as well as various diseases. And if such protection of cats throughout Spain is voluntary, the situation with dogs is more complicated: in Madrid insurance is required not only from owners of large, potentially dangerous dogs but also from those who have innocent and little Yorkshire terriers and Chihuahuas.
And it proves that the need for the service is growing, and therefore the question “How to make an insurance app?” can be a particular concern of the company which provides it.
Waggel
Among the best pet insurance companies, we should mention Waggel, a British startup. This is an application that offers animal insurance assistance with digital technology.
Summary
Have we convinced you of the benefits of insurance software applications? Are you ready to strengthen your business through mobile technology? Then follow our blog and read another article in which we're telling you how to create an insurance mobile app.
