Progressive 2008 Annual Report Download - page 22

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While agents again quoted a Progressive
rate about 10% more often than the previ-
ous year, the conversion of those quotes
to policies dropped from prior year levels.
We are responding to this challenge in
several ways.
First is to ensure we are positioned in
agencies such that we are considered
for more preferred customers in addition
to our historically strong nonstandard
appeal. We have done this by intro-
ducing more competitive auto product
offerings for these segments and by be-
ginning to provide the breadth of other
products necessary to meet this seg-
ment’s needs. During 2008, we intro-
duced our new 7.0 auto program in 13
states and have seen benefits in pre-
ferred volume as a result of doing so. This
auto program features significant tenure-
based benefits and other features that
appeal to preferred drivers.
Second is to ensure we have our most
competitive rate displayed on the com-
parative rating systems by ensuring
agents see our rates with all applicable
discounts applied. This effort is in its in-
fancy and will roll out in early 2009.
Third is to ensure that we employ mar-
ket leading rating segmentation at the
state level. We have made significant
headway and have recently elevated
new programs in key states including
New York, a state in which we restricted
Agency business significantly in 2008.
While total Agency new business for the
year was disappointing, we are some-
what encouraged by the fact that we
grew our Agency preferred new business
in the low single digits.
Policyholder retention gains have come
as a result of continued close assessment
and modification of customer-facing
processes, a shift toward more preferred
customers who retain longer, and a con-
tinued focus on improving service levels,
which we measure via the Net Promoter®
Score (NPS). We have also begun to focus
more on the needs of our customers’
households in aggregate versus our his-
torical approach of focusing on individual