(Image source: Root Insurance homepage.)

Root Insurance, a Columbus, Ohio-based startup focused on the digital mobile insurance experience, has partnered with Agero (Medford, Mass.), powered by Swoop, to provide an entirely digital roadside assistance experience for Root’s customers. Undertaken as an extension of Root’s value proposition of accessibility and convenience, the program—which is part of every policy at no additional cost—includes the ability to request service directly from the Root mobile app, customer vehicle location mapping, live service truck tracking.

“Insurance is a promise we’ll provide financial support or relief in the event our members find themselves in a precarious situation, such as when they have a roadside event or an accident,” comments Sarah Woods, Director of Product, Root. “Extending the roadside program to every policyholder is part of our promise that we’re going to be there when members need us most. These events happen more frequently than claims and are a significant, critical touchpoint—one of the few we have with customers directly.”

The Agero, powered by Swoop, Roadside product provides an end to end digital framework for these assistance moments that is in line with Root’s overall technology-born business and is easy to integrate with for rapid deployment, according to the vendor. The Swoop platform uses cloud architecture and APIs to transform a historically analog, highly manual and time-intensive process into one that is seamless, simple to use, cost-effective and able to improve functionally with Root’s growing customer needs, an Agero statement says. The vendor says that owing to the quality of the architecture and the robustness of the APIs, clients are able to stand up a compelling digital customer experience in weeks rather than months.

With Agero, powered by Swoop, policyholders can request service by clicking a button within the Root smartphone app, getting full real-time visibility into the service event. Members are able to review key details of their request, confirm their disablement location, track the provider’s real-time ETA and receive notifications. Today, approximately 80 percent of service requests across tens of thousands of jobs initiate in the mobile app, with industry leading Net Promoter Scores, according to Agero. Root affirms that members also display high engagement, with a 23 percent response rate on post-event survey loops (compared to industry average external response rates of 10-15 percent, according to SurveyGizmo). This feedback, combined with a sophisticated reporting dashboard featuring live event tracking, hot spot maps, incident report functionality, and more, provide Root with invaluable insight into the program and customers’ needs, the vendor says.

Aggressive Growth Strategy

“From very early on, we’ve had a very aggressive growth strategy and mission to scale a fully digital experience for our growing number of policyholders. Every partner we work with needs to support this goal and deliver on our brand standard of fairness, ease of use, personalization and affordability,” adds Woods. “We simply could not risk the roadside service experience on an unproven product. Agero’s expertise, market knowledge and powerful technology enables us to continue to deliver an insurance product that keeps the world’s best drivers safe.”

Founded in 2015 and recently valued at over $3.65 billion, Root’s stated mission is to disrupt the insurance industry by reimagining the services people need and serving them better and more fairly with a digital-first, data driven approach. At the center of this experience is a mobile app which monitors driver performance, rather than just demographics, for personalized rates and makes other key features such as filing a claim or changing a policy simple and easy for users. During the last five years, Root has grown to provide coverage across 30 states.

“Root is a fast-growing InsureTech leading change in the insurance industry,” asserts Dave Ferrick, CEO and Insurance Lead, Agero. “They need a tool that will ride alongside them—not slow them down—as they grow. Root’s customers have come to expect a digitally-enabled, consistent and reliable claims experience, and can now expect it from their roadside support. Our intuitive platform combines a seamless digital experience with machine learning to identify any events that require a hands-on approach. A digital first platform plus experience is what Root is looking for. We are thrilled to be working together and look forward to continued success.”

As a leading motor club in North America supporting more than 115 million consumers, Agero, powered by Swoop, provides assistance for approximately 12 million breakdown and accident events annually. With a curated network of over 8,000 individual tow and roadside companies, and access to tens of thousands more, Agero serves 100 percent of ZIP codes in the U.S.

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