Allstate relaunches app with new third-party features

Allstate added third-party features, including self-service options for users, to its app in a relaunch earlier this month. 

The insurer added a gas finder from GasBuddy, a parking reservation platform using SpotHero, weather risk information from Risk Factor and a repair shop finder with Good Hands Repair Network. The app also includes the insurers' Drivewise telematics program.

Mike Antognoli, director of mobile product at Allstate, told Digital Insurance that there have been conversations between leaders and the mobile team about how to increase engagement in the app.

"It's really important to be a digitally connected brand in the modern era. … We also have some customers that aren't using the app or some customers that don't participate in telematics so app adoption and engagement has been something that we've been working on the last few years," Antognoli said. "We had some design changes that were in the queue as well and so we said, 'Hey, why don't we take some of our innovation ideas that are in the pipeline already, plus some of the design changes that the design and creative teams were working on and why don't we package them into a single release?'"

Antognoli said the company focused on consumer engagement related to home, auto and protection. "We're not just going to integrate something that's outside of our brand lanes. Thankfully, in the last several years, there's been many different providers, especially in the auto space, that have digital products. They have digital APIs, tools and websites, and some of them are proprietary and not for sale [but] many are interested in partnerships with insurance companies, banks, OEMs and others in the space. One of our partnership criterias is do they have APIs available? Are they robust? Are they something that could be consumer-facing versus something that's private or just only the claims department uses?"

Allstate tested features with customers directly before implementing them across the app and used previous customer feedback to make decisions on what to update. For example, customer feedback suggested that they were interested in self-help options like being able to search a geographical area for a repair shop. The app also provides users the ability to save their ID cards to their Google wallet, the app previously allowed for saving to an Apple wallet. 

Cheryl Washkowiak, product manager at Allstate, said that customers left feedback about wanting to add ID cards to digital wallets so the insurer made the option more visible for Apple users, including having it available within the ID card section of the app.

Antognoli said he anticipates more options for adding items to a digital wallet including driver's licenses in the future. Customers do still have the option to print out their ID card.

Washkowiak added that messaging within the app has also been updated. 

"You've got the running history of your push notifications from the app so, if you swipe it closed, in your inbox you can go back and see them and interact with them," Washkowiak said. 

The addition of Risk Factor for climate and weather-related risk will likely continue to evolve so the insurer can provide tips on how users can protect themselves, Washkowiak added. 

Antognoli added that there is a general trend across financial service apps to provide customers with more tools. 

"If you dig deeper into your bank's app, you'll be surprised at how many things are in the financial space but not directly related to moving money or paying your bills," Antognoli said. "We're super curious about what other things we can do without overloading the app. What are some things that we think are in the insurance space that would be interesting to customers that provide them more value and increase the engagement and increase connectivity with Allstate."

Allstate plans to continue introducing more experiences into its app next year after receiving feedback from customers on the new additions.