Downloads: Which Insurance Brands Are Top of The Apps?

It’s a tough question to answer of course, because app downloads don’t automatically correlate to app USAGE, which is an entirely different thing. Your customers on telematics policies obviously do have to utilise the app and its many whizz-bang features, but does a home insurance consumer really need an app to renew annually, or add two new bicycles to the poicy contents at Christmas? Hmm, not sure about that concept.

Anyway, here’s some insights from App Radar, who have been checking the Play store. Obviously other app download sites are available, but still interesting to see Hastings doing well. Here’s the word;

An analysis of insurance apps in the Google Play Store has revealed that one in ten (10%) adults in the UK now could be using Android apps to manage their insurance policies. The survey by app marketing analytics platform App Radar looked into four different insurance sectors including motor, travel, life and home insurance. Overall, the insurance apps analysed had 40% more downloads in 2022 (2.2m) compared to 2021 (1.6m). 

The total lifetime Google Play downloads reached an estimated 6.9 million at the end of 2022. When taking into account Apple App Store downloads, the total in 2022 could have been as high as 13.8 million. The most popular insurance app, in terms of lifetime Google Play Store downloads, was Hastings Direct Insurance with 1.2 million downloads, followed by Cuvva with 1.1 million, Holiday Extras with 1 million and MyAviva with 652,000.

Post Office Travel (256%), Travel Mate – Cedar Tree (249%), Holiday Extras (190%), Dayinsure (100%), Rooster Car Insurance (91%)  experienced the biggest percentage download growth in 2022 when compared to 2021. When looking at 2022 downloads, the top five apps were Hastings Direct Insurance (392k), Holiday Extras (373k), Admiral Insurance (246k), MyRAC (201k), Cuvva (170k).

Silvio Peruci, Managing Director, App Radar, said: “Reports are claiming that the global insurtech sector is expected to be worth almost $30bn by 2026 from $8bn in 2021. For the UK specifically, the market is ripe for growth with an estimated £50bn potential revenue opportunity from disruption.

MULTIPLE APPS MEAN TIME MANAGEMENT

Fact is, having 20-30 odd apps on your phone can slow things down a tad, plus lead to various notification alerts pinging off day and night. You can manage those noises and screen alerts of course. But not everyone wants their home screen full of app pages, so resistance to downloading apps might be stiffer than some insurtechs think.
It’s impressive that MyAviva is doing well and one reason could be that it lets you check on your investments at a glance in real time. So you can see how your ISA, pension plan, With Profits Life plans or Aviva stocks and shares portfolio is doing. The extra factor is investment here, not every insurance brand offers anything more than quote and buy, plus make a claim features.
One other point worth noting with the App Radar research is that you must have the Cuvva app to actually take out a car insurance policy, so it’s not like you can get around that by buying from a comparison site.

Here’s more thoughts from App Radar;

“This should serve as a warning sign for the incumbents that dominate the market with legacy technology. Start-ups in this area are hungry to disrupt and make insurance easy for their customers with new tech. Cuvva, for example, is the second most downloaded insurance app in the Google Play Store, according to our analysis, with DriveScore, Caura, Dayinsure and Rooster joining the race for app users.

“As the cost of living crisis continues throughout the year, competition among insurance companies for new app users will only increase. What’s more challenging is that consumers are used to shopping around for the best quote when it comes to insurance policies. One way to retain and gain customers is to offer the best user experience and features that they need, in addition to competitive policy pricing. As the insurtech sector continues to grow in uncertain economic times, app developers and marketers will need to undertake thorough market research to understand their customers’ needs to be able to cut through the noise.”

About alastair walker 12560 Articles
20 years experience as a journalist and magazine editor. I'm your contact for press releases, events, news and commercial opportunities at Insurance-Edge.Net

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.