You’ll soon be seeing a lot more of “Flo”.
We’re talking about the quirky, upbeat insurance expert in the television commercials for Progressive. The company famous for providing affordable car insurance is now moving into the home insurance market, and Flo will be pitching the benefits of getting the right coverage at the right price.
This is the innovation of Progressive CEO Tricia Griffith. She launched a product called HomeQuote Explorer, one of her first major initiatives since she became chief executive a year ago.
“Normally, homeowner quotes are a nightmare,” says Griffith. “They take a long time. This is something that we will buy, any publicly available data. You fill in a couple of fields and you get a home quote from four companies. Really easy.”
She says it takes 15 minutes or less to get most quotes online or on a mobile device. This platform is the same formula that Progressive put in place 20 years ago that allowed customers to comparison shop for auto insurance.
Griffith says the home insurance business is a $300 billion market and is a “game changer” for Progressive. Her goal is to make Progressive the go-to source when it comes to auto and home insurance as well as policies for motorcycles, boats and small businesses, which will allow Progressive to keep rates low and grow revenues. The Cleveland-based company is the nation’s fourth largest auto insurer with revenues of $23 billion – but Griffith intends to race ahead of its competitors, State Farm, Geico, and Allstate. “Our plan is to grow as fast as possible,” she says.
As for Flo, Progressive recently launched a chatbot on Facebook Messenger that lets consumers ask her not only about buying insurance, but also personal questions about what car she drives and maybe even her retro hairstyle.
Watch the video above to hear more of our conversation with Griffith.