Later this month, The Floow will be introducing a fully integrated rewards programme as an additional module to our FloowDrive platform. If an insurer opts to include this module in their FloowDrive-based insurance proposition, it will provide them with an opportunity to offer rewards to drivers such as vouchers for food and retail outlets. Based on our research, it is expected that this will increase driver engagement by rewarding safer driving as part of their insurance policy.
Telematics is extremely beneficial for improving road safety but it remains a challenge to ensure drivers engage with the journey data and scores available to them as part of a telematics-based insurance policy. Put simply, most drivers don’t tend to think about motor insurance once they’ve signed up to their policy, unless they need to make a claim.
The Floow has spent many years researching and developing programmes, platforms and services that make use of social science techniques which can then be applied to our data science capabilities. The main focus is to ‘nudge’ drivers to engage with data and scores with the goal of making positive improvements to their driving behaviour.
For this second release of FloowDrive, the team at The Floow recognised the importance of building a rewards programme which could be offered efficiently and seamlessly as part of FloowDrive.
As Associate Professor of Driver Behaviour at Cranfield University and Chief Education Officer at The Floow, I have spent many years investigating driver behaviour and what we can do, through technology, data analysis and coaching, to help drivers improve and reduce the prevalence of crashes, particularly fatal ones.
The rewards programme has been designed on Behaviourist principles to change driver behaviour via reinforcement. It is well established that if a positive consequence results from a particular behaviour, then it is more likely that the behaviour will be repeated (positive reinforcement).
The reinforcement (reward) should also closely follow the behaviour to increase the link between the two. The vouchers can therefore be used to create positive associations between the reward and safe driving.
The rewards programme was developed based on our in-house research which shows that when you combine telematics solutions with driver improvement programmes, the result is a sustained improvement in driver behaviour. In this way, rewards and incentive programmes can be a long term way of creating more engaged drivers and lead to an uplift in driver scores for sustained behavioural change.
Improvements in driver scores also means fewer crashes. The rewards and incentive schemes we have previously developed have been proven to improve driver scores by as much as 54%, and have a bigger behavioural impact than just offering an insurance discount at the end of the year – especially for low-scoring drivers.
Data from one of our clients who uses one of our rewards platforms shows that the lowest scoring drivers improved their scores by 52% over a thousand mile period. This was a 29% improvement on the control group results. Even mid-scoring drivers showed a 4.5% improvement in their scores which shows the impact rewards can have on a driver’s behaviour.
A rewards programme is a great way to incentivise drivers to engage with their own behaviour behind the wheel and help them make improvements which can positively impact on road safety. There are benefits for insurers too in creating more fulfilling and engaging experiences for their policyholders to foster a good relationship between insurer and driver.
I see rewards and incentives schemes becoming ever more important to the insurance industry. They keep drivers engaged in the telematics-based policy, lower the amount of risk they are insuring and play an important role in helping to improve road safety for all road users.
To find out more about our rewards programme or FloowDrive, get in touch with us at info@thefloow.com
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