92 Million Unique Visitors Later, Progressive.com Celebrates 10-Years Anniversary
First Web Site of Any Major Auto Insurer In the World Lets Drivers Buy Policies and Service Them Online and Helps Shoppers Understand Which Companies Offer Them the Best Rate
MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio — April 6, 2005 —Ten years ago, auto-insurance.com, then the URL of The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, launched as the first Web site of any major insurer in the world. More than 92 million unique visitors later, the site, which adopted a more intuitive URL — progressive.com — in 1997, has evolved from brochure-ware to one of the most frequently visited auto insurance Web sites and an integral part of the nearly $4 billion business The Progressive Direct Group of Insurance Companies has become.
Over the years, the site has received many awards, including BusinessWeek magazine's "Web Smart 50," InformationWeek's "Web Sites That Work" and the Web Marketing Association's "Best Insurance Web Site." And, progressive.com is the only financial services Web Site to be named #1 Overall in eight consecutive rating periods by the Gomez ScorecardTM.
"It's been quite a ride," said Toby Alfred, customer experience general manager, Progressive Direct. "And we've learned a lot of things along the way. We used to think of customers who want to buy online as being distinctly different than those who want to buy by phone, but, over the years, we had to change the way we measure these sales since people would start on the Internet and close on the phone, or vice versa. We're thrilled that doing business on progressive.com has become a part of so many people's lives."
Some milestones:
| April 7, 1995 |
The Web site of The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, auto-insurance.com, launches. |
| 1996 |
Auto insurance shoppers can compare a quote from Progressive alongside the rates of other top competitors. |
| 1997 |
The "buy button" feature is introduced; consumers can now buy a policy real-time, online. This makes Progressive the first auto insurer in the world to sell on the Internet. |
| 1998 |
Online customer service is introduced. Customers can now make secure, real-time payments, track the status of claims and modify policy information. Another first. |
| 2000 |
Progressive becomes first auto insurer to sell motorcycle insurance real-time over the Internet and the first to offer online quotes for recreational vehicles.
In the same year, Progressive becomes the first auto insurer to introduce a wireless application protocol, allowing consumers to access the site using Web-enabled digital personal assistants or Web-enabled phones. |
| 2002 |
The Rate Ticker, an up-to-the-minute display of auto insurance rates available to consumers from Progressive and other big-name companies, is introduced. Made to look like a stock ticker, the Rate Ticker lets visitors to the site see, at a glance, how much rates vary from company to company so that they can better understand the importance of shopping around to save money. |
| 2003 |
Work is undertaken to make online quoting even easier by making the quote time faster. By 2004, quote time is reduced by more than 30 percent to just 7.6 minutes. |
| 2004 |
The Progressive Group introduces its second brand, Drive Insurance from Progressive, making progressive.com the URL of Progressive Direct. |
The auto insurance products and services of the Progressive Direct Group of Insurance Companies are marketed directly to consumers by phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVE (1-800-776-4737) and online at progressive.com through the Progressive DirectSM brand. Progressive Direct offers consumers conveniences that help to make car insurance easier, including comparison rates of other leading insurance companies and the ability to shop for, buy and manage their policies by phone or online, 24/7.
The Common Shares of The Progressive Corporation, the holding company, are publicly traded at NYSE:PGR. More information can be found at progressive.com.
###
