Forward-thinking insurance companies are leveraging technology to improve customer experience and differentiate themselves from the competition. Here are the top five insurance apps you should download today, to help with tasks ranging from creating a home inventory to improving your driving skills.
- Home Gallery App
Cost: Free
Benefit: Helps you create a home inventory
A home inventory makes filing an insurance claim easier should your things be stolen or damaged. It also gives you an estimate of how much your possessions are worth, which is helpful when you
shop for homeowners insurance. Fortunately, the
Home Gallery app from Liberty Mutual makes cataloging your possessions a cinch. The app allows you to take photos of your items, note important information such as purchase price and date and share your inventory with family members or your insurer. Best yet, you can use the Home Gallery app whether or not you’re a Liberty Mutual customer.
- Driver Feedback App
Cost: Free
Benefit: Gives you information to become a better driver
State Farm’s
Driver Feedback app helps you become aware of driving habits that increase your chance of being involved in an accident, which could raise your auto insurance premium. The app uses your smartphone’s accelerometer and GPS locator to collect data about how you brake, corner and accelerate. Once you arrive at your destination, the app gives you a score for your trip and offers tips about how to improve your driving.
Using the Driver Feedback app, you can also compare data from one trip with another and share the results via email or text. These features can help new drivers form good driving habits and allow parents to monitor their teen’s performance behind the wheel. Plus, using a driving app is
one way your teen might reduce her auto insurance premium. You don’t need to be insured with State Farm to use the app, and your driving data isn’t shared with your insurance company.
- Text4Baby App
Cost: Free
Benefit: Provides tips to help expectant moms stay healthy during pregnancy
The
Text4Baby app provides pregnant women with a wealth of information to help them have a healthy pregnancy and avoid preventable complications. When a mom signs up, she receives a “starter pack” of messages. Then, every week, she receives three text messages about prenatal care, ranging from doctor appointment reminders to information about symptoms that could warrant concern.
Major insurance providers, like Aetna, CIGNA and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, are Text4Baby “outreach partners.” This means the companies encourage expectant moms to use the app to stay healthy, which can reduce the chance of complications that can make pregnancy-related costs skyrocket.
- Infinity App
Cost: Free
Benefit: Allows you to create a secure digital inventory
The MetLife
Infinity app gives you the power to create a digital inventory of photos, videos and audio files, plus important documents like wills and insurance policies. The app stores as much as five GB of data in the cloud, and it’s password-protected and permanently backed up. You can organize your information in collections and securely share the information with anyone, from a family member to your insurance agent. You can take advantage of the app even if you’re not a MetLife policyholder.
- Defend Your Income
Cost: Free
Benefit: Explains how a disability can affect your life
Defend Your Income is an online game produced by the Council for Disability Awareness. Its goal is to help you understand how a disability may affect your life. Throughout the game you defend yourself from health-related issues like pregnancy complications, cancer, and respiratory disease. After you complete each round, you answer trivia questions and learn miscellaneous facts about the disability.
By the end of the game, you’re more aware of your disability likelihood and have an idea of how much income you could lose if you become disabled. This information is useful when you’re calculating the amount of disability insurance you need.
These apps are transforming the insurance industry by elevating customer service to a new level. Download one or more of them and then share your experience. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
