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Tower Insurance expands use of gamification for its smartphone app

Tower Insurance expands use of gamification for its smartphone app

New features - allowing users to create leader boards and ‘Auto Trip’ capture – aim to encourage more people to compete for the title of ‘safest driver’, says Mark Savage, general manager customer proposition, Tower.

Tower is actively using gamification to ensure increased usage of its SmartDriver, the smartphone app it launched last year.

The insurance company says the two latest updates to the app - allowing users to create public and private group leaderboards and ‘Auto Trip Capture’ – aim to encourage users to compete for the title of ‘safest driver’.

‘Auto Trip Capture’ automatically detects when users are on the move and logs their trips so they don’t have to remember to hit ‘start’.

SmartDriver app monitors and assesses an individual’s driving behaviour and offers lower insurance premiums based on the user’s driving performance.

Mark Savage, general manager customer proposition at Tower, says tens of thousands of people have downloaded the app and around half of them have completed the 150 kilometres have been able to claim a discount.

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We’d like to see this percentage increase during the next 12 months, so we worked with our app developers to include more of the incentivised gamification elements that can be very popular.

Mark Savage, Tower

Users’ trip scores are improving by about 15 per cent throughout their SmartDriver usage, and 74 per cent of people that try again improve on their first score, says Savage.

“We’d like to see this percentage increase during the next 12 months, so we worked with our app developers to include more of the incentivised gamification elements that can be very popular. How many times have you heard couples jest over who’s the better driver? With SmartDriver they can know for sure – and that extends to co-workers, families or groups of friends.”

By collecting basic driving information such as trip duration, distance travelled, location, braking and acceleration, the app can build an understanding of driving behaviour and individual risk and Tower can reduce motor vehicle premiums accordingly.

Read more: Now is the time to be customer obsessed

The app also allows customers to see their score versus the average score calculated from all the SmartDriver users who have driven at least 150 kilometres.

As well as providing points for set achievements after every trip, SmartDriver also provides a trip summary and safe driving tips to help motorists improve their driving behaviour.

SmartDriver won Innovation of the Year at the 2014at the New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards and is a finalist at the TU Automotive Awards for Best Telematics Product or Launch in an Emerging Market.

Savage says Tower is adapting other areas of the business to reflect changes in the ways Kiwis expect to receive and use data, including sending text notifications to customers ahead of forecasted weather events like Cyclone Pam and launching a new fully-responsive website.

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Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz

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Tags smartphoneinsurancedisruptiongamificationcustomer focusgamification in businessTowergamification for mobile apps

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