Motivation is the key to driver improvement

Vitality's incentivized solution

Vitality is a behavioral engagement platform that “uses the power of incentives, data, and behavioral science to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives,” according to the company’s website.

“We built a model with a very, very simple purpose 30 years ago, and we haven't changed from this purpose,” Theron said.

The model Theron referred to is a “shared value model,” where Vitality program members pick a metric they want to improve—whether it’s to eat healthier or exercise more—and as the user improves those metrics, they are rewarded through gift cards at popular retail stores and restaurants, discounts at grocery stores, and more.

The reason behind the reward is simple, yet effective. Simply put, to drive a change in behavior, the human brain needs a motivator.

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“Behavior change is hard,” Theron said. Change “lies specifically in the human psychology. ... There's a whole science behind it that we have studied very, very closely over the last 30 years. Awareness alone is not enough. Overconfidence is often a massive, massive challenge. A prior bias clouds judgment. And, willpower alone will not do it. People need something else.”

“As you change your behavior, we can see these unbelievable outcomes when it comes to production risk in every spectrum of the businesses that we look at, whether that is in health care or in the motor space,” Theron said.

Vitality introduced this behavior versus reward concept in 2012 through its motor insurance-based Vitality Drive program. The Vitality Drive pilot program was first implemented in South Africa and then in the United Kingdom, resulting in an average driver performance score increase of 17%, driver behavior improvements of 15% after just the first 30 days in use, and a 20% reduction in collision frequency for U.K. drivers.

Further, “highly engaged Vitality Drive members have 55% fewer claims and significantly lower road fatalities compared to national averages,” Gore said.

Partnering with Geotab, Vitality is bringing the same concept to the fleet world.

Improving driver behaviors through incentives

Using driver data compiled from the Geotab network, Geotab Vitality will set a benchmark that drivers can strive to attain—or exceed—with the help of the platform’s customized goals, coaching, and rewards.

Drivers using the platform will receive customized driving goals weekly based on their personal performance history and see their driver status level compared to other Geotab drivers. As the drivers improve, they receive points. The more points a driver receives, the higher their “status” climbs in the system.

Much like Vitality’s health solution, drivers will be able to redeem those points for gift cards.

This new partnership allows fleet managers to overhaul their own incentive programs; fleet managers can see driver performance on one dashboard within the Geotab platform.

The platform can also help simplify driver coaching, as the driver-facing app automatically indicates where drivers need the most improvement—without any fleet manager involvement.

Geotab has already piloted the Geotab Vitality program with fleets and results show an average 9% improvement in driver behavior across all segments, with a 15% improvement in acceleration.

With 1.19 million vehicle-related deaths around the globe annually according to the World Health Organization, the high cost of vehicle collisions ($417 billion) to American society alone, the prevalence of nuclear verdicts, and the importance of uptime, driver improvement is proving more and more valuable to fleets.