Nationwide finds partnership key to successful embedding of coverage

Among its 80 embedded insurance partnerships, Nationwide has found value in those that improve on back-end processing and customer experience, according to partnership executives from the carrier who spoke at Dig-In 2023 in San Francisco.

Nationwide’s insurance verification service for home insurance can be delivered in API form to mortgage servicers, loan servicers and rental property managers, according to Rebecca Nickoll, AVP, strategic partnerships, digital platform, at Nationwide. If a mortgage servicer is unfamiliar with coverage, Nationwide’s API can confirm it.

Rebecca Nickoll, AVP, strategic partnerships, digital platform, Nationwide

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“It allows the mortgage servicer or the property management company to not have to call Nationwide, not have to verify things on a one by one basis,” she said. “It makes it a better experience for the customer in that their loan may get processed more quickly.”

Nationwide also has partnered with electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian since it began bringing vehicles to market in 2021. Nationwide embedded a means to underwriting coverage for Rivian’s customers, through Rivian’s mobile apps, according to Brian Disbrow, assistant vice president for enterprise partnerships at Nationwide.

Brian Disbrow, AVP, enterprise partnerships at Nationwide.

“When you get a partner like Rivian that is equally obsessive about the customer experience,” Disbrow said, “inside Rivian’s mobile applications, you can actually purchase, acquire, do the financing for and get insurance for that particular new vehicle.”

Rivian’s apps can take financial information entered for a vehicle lease and import it to insurance coverage underwriting without re-keying it. The embedded partnership also creates other opportunities, according to Disbrow. 

“Post purchase, the vehicle is sharing telemetrics data with, in this case Nationwide, so that we can offer as-you-drive experiences, or discounts based on driving behavior and or being an electric vehicle,” he said. “When you think about an electric vehicle, like Rivian, there’s much more with sensors on the car that can be used. You’re not just able to detect the ability for a claim but to revolutionize the way you think about service.”

Nationwide set a business strategy to bring coverages to market through partnerships with embedding, according to Nickoll. “The value of embedded insurance is as a carrier, you can access customers who are executing other things that are meaningful to them,” she said. “No one wakes up saying, ‘I want to go buy an insurance policy today.’ But people do wake up saying I want to buy a car, or I’m going to look for a new home. Those are the things that people want, they’re interested in, and there’s a lot of consumer stickiness to brands.”

Still, partnerships for embedding insurance need flexibility and forethought on how potential insureds will access the coverage, Nickoll said. “People rush right to the APIs and the technology over, ‘How is the customer going to get to this? How will the partner activate it with their consumers?'” she said. “Even with an embedded experience, if customers don’t know about it, if the messaging isn’t clear, you just won’t see any results.”