The concept of selling insurance has changed over recent years to adapt to consumer behavior. Insurance businesses today are turning towards direct to consumer sales and the right technology to support a new shopping experience.
Progressive Web Applications are used to help both the shoppers and the business make this transition efficiently. For more on why the direct to consumer sales model is important to insurance, read:
- Part 1: The Insurance Direct to Consumer Sales Model: What is it & How Does it Work?
- Part 3: The Insurance Direct to Consumer Sales Model: How to Transition.
What are Progressive Web Applications?
Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) allow existing websites to adopt app-like functions.
When a shopper is interested in purchasing coverage directly from a carrier’s website, they prefer a unified experience without leaving their browser’s session. PWAs are supported by modern browsers to provide responsive features that were once only accessible with a custom mobile application.
Before PWAs, carriers dedicated development resources towards building mobile applications, prompting customers to download an app for the best mobile experience. Today, carriers are able to merge the experience of mobile apps into the shopper’s browser.
How Can Progressive Web Applications Benefit Insurance Sales?
PWAs are highly beneficial for P&C insurers. From the customer’s perspective, purchasing insurance involves offering detailed, sensitive information in quote engines and applications while making financial considerations that may require the shopper to stop their purchase and come back at a later time. Carriers are expected to adjust to the customer’s behavior with flexible technology that saves the customer’s data while keeping in contact to continue their experience where they left off.
While adjusting to customer behavior, insurance carriers unlock the benefits of more flexible, easier to manage technology, including:
1. Faster speed to market on new products.
Developers have a streamlined approach when managing a PWA, focusing resources on updating the PWA for the full customer experience. New products are easier to add to the PWA compared to across multiple platforms.
2. Simpler generation of online quotes.
The company’s quote engine is important for generating new business. All steps from generating a quote to completing an application can be served on a PWA, supporting a seamless customer experience.
3. Easier claims processing, including accessibility when the user is off-line.
The shopper or policyholder may often take breaks during their session on your website. With PWAs, the user’s information is saved to pick up right where they left off, including off-line access. When submitting a claim, the policyholder has fast and easy access to the company’s website, not wasting any time to give the insurer their first notice of loss (FNOL).
4. Deeper marketing insights unique to users arriving on the PWA.
Marketing products is also significantly improved with PWAs. When shoppers arrive directly on your site for their shopping experience, the company is able to create more accurate customer profiles, supporting the marketing team to identify and serve future audiences.
PWAs and Customer Experience
The customer experience of being transferred to a mobile app causes a stop in the buying process. This issue is very similar to a burden you could run into when shopping in a store. Imagine arriving at a store front and you are told you must take another flight of stairs to arrive through a different entrance. The front entrance is open, but not available for your business. This is before you’ve had a chance to enter the store, browse products and ask questions about those products.
Mobile applications have become a barrier, much like being turned away from a store when the shopper feels they’ve arrived at the correct location. The shopper may consider a more accessible location to shop.
When downloading a mobile app, the shopper may ask themselves several questions. These questions are not unique to P&C insurance, but are very common whenever a smart phone user downloads an app:
- Will I use this app again?
- Do I have space to download this app?
- What could I delete to make room for this app?
- Does this app track my location and access my phone’s media library?
- Will this app slow down my phone’s performance and make it difficult to use other apps?
When carriers switch to a PWA, shoppers no longer encounter the additional burden of downloading a mobile application. Instead, when they arrive on your website, they have access to responsive features, fast page loads, and cached information for an even faster experience next time they arrive on your website. The carrier also benefits from reduced time maintaining both a website and mobile application, merging these experiences into one.
WaterStreet Company & Progressive Web Apps
WaterStreet Company aims to deliver best-in-class solutions for P&C insurers. This year, we are excited to begin leveraging Progressive Web Apps for our clients in addition to our Business Intelligence Suite.
We provide advanced P&C Insurance Software designed to grow with your business, allowing integration with next-generation solutions.
Reach out to WaterStreet Company today to request a consultation and demo of our solutions.
