Case Study: Aventon Partners with Oyster to Provide Seamless Ebike Insurance

Aventon Background

Aventon burst onto the cycling scene in 2013 as a fixed bike brand and quickly made a name for themselves through a grassroots racing team and proactively participating in events throughout the cycling realm. 

As a brand built on innovation, Aventon anticipated the massive potential for electric bikes to mobilize an even greater number of riders. Happiness through motion is Aventon’s mission, and electric bicycles were the logical next step to getting the broader public out enjoying a ride. A brand devoted to riders of all abilities, Aventon offers a wide range of products to meet the diverse riding needs of the nation. 

We sat down with a few key players from the Aventon team to learn how Oyster’s embedded insurance brought peace of mind to customers and a new opportunity for their dealer network.

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Oyster helps customers make the most of their bikes

Problem: Customers want protection for their ebikes

James Dieckmeyer, Aventon’s Director of Customer Service explains "the primary goal of Aventon's customer experience strategy is to prevent customer issues from happening in the first place”. When issues do arise, they strive to resolve them with empathy, integrity, and personalization. By providing an easy remedy to unfortunate cases of theft and damage, James feels that “Oyster allows Aventon to live up to those values”.

As a veteran of the bike industry, James appreciates that “theft and damage are always top of mind for customers when considering a multi-thousand dollar bike”. Before Oyster, riders interested in protection from these risks had to settle for inadequate home insurance coverage. James recounts the “nightmare situation” of jumping through hoops to find a provider that is willing to insure an e-bike only to discover that the compensation is often capped at a few hundred dollars and most scenarios are exempt.

To address some of these concerns, Aventon experimented with other product protection options, like extended warranties, “Unfortunately people kept reaching out with claims that were not covered by our provider”. Given Aventon’s commitment to their customers, the company would often take these situations into their own hands to keep their customers happy, even though it was time consuming and expensive. 

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Solution: Oyster makes ebike insurance available in a few clicks

James is excited to work with Oyster to remove a major barrier to purchase “by offering insurance that is specifically designed for our bikes and the risks our riders face”. After purchase, James feels that “Oyster helps our customers to make the most of their bikes because they never have to think twice about taking their bike out of the garage.” Finally, James is confident that, in the unfortunate event of theft or damage, “our customers are adequately protected, so they can quickly get back on the road as quickly as possible”.

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Oyster bolsters Aventon’s commitment to dealers

Problem: Brands need ways to support their dealers

Jessica Hill, Aventon’s Director of Sales works directly with Aventon’s dealer partners. Her goal is to “be each dealer's brand of choice. Additional tools and offerings like Oyster support this mission.” She works hard to make sure that any benefits offered to shoppers on Aventon.com are also available through their dealer channel. “No matter where the customer makes a purchase, Jessica is committed to “building a community around the joy of riding an Aventon bike. Dealers are essential for that.”

Ecommerce-only services, like extended warranty or financing, create a discrepancy between Aventon’s online buyer journey, and the experience shoppers get in-store. Motivated by her desire to “always look for opportunities to empower our dealers”, Jessica was eager to find services that were designed to connect customers, brands, and dealers.

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Solution: Oyster works for customers, brands, and dealers

Oyster’s adaptive integrations made it easy to offer seamless insurance to Aventon riders both online and in bike shops, giving customers coverage they want wherever they buy. “We sell happiness, movement, and joy. No matter where the customer buys their bike. We want to build a community around that joy and dealers are essential for that.”

As an added benefit to dealers, Oyster routes repairs and replacements back to where the bike was originally purchased, helping ensure they retain their customers’ business. A referral fee is paid for every insurance application, so Jessica went one step further for Aventon’s bike shop partners: “We’re deciding to give 100% of Oyster’s referral revenue to dealers.” 

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Oyster’s integration is hassle-free

Problem: Offering insurance at check-out is complicated

The ebike industry is growing rapidly and fierce competition is forcing brands to compete on price. Looking to stand out on quality and experience, Aventon searched for partners to help differentiate their brand but found most third-party integrations require precious resources and developer time.

Providing protection for the fact can be cumbersome for both merchants to implement and customers to adopt. Aventon was searching for low-code/no-code solutions to improve purchase experience with minimal manual intervention.

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Solution: Oyster is not complicated and free

With its embedded platform, Oyster helped Aventon stand out by providing omnichannel insurance that was incredibly easy to implement. Daniel James, Aventon’s Director of Technology explains “Partnering with Oyster gave us a competitive edge by offering a unique add-on to our product line that sets us apart from the rest of the industry.”

Oyster abstracts away the complexity of offering insurance. Its platform integrates with eCommerce sites seamlessly and underwrites insurance with accurate, point-of-sale data to ensure a streamlined purchase experience.

Aventon offers a variety of different ebikes on their Shopify site and were able to easily implement Oyster without diverting precious time and resources. Daniel recalls “Oyster’s expertise and streamlined approach made the entire experience remarkably easy, ensuring a smooth launch and peace of mind.”

Through its integration with Aventon.com, Oyster’s Shopify app does not interfere with eCommerce’s checkout flow and does not affect site performance. Oyster also integrates with the most popular retail POS system, such as Lightspeed, to allow Aventon dealers to provide their customers with the same personalised insurance experience in-store.

Oyster’s free and easy to integrate, allowing Aventon to focus their time and money on core operations and continued growth. With Oyster, Aventon can offer their customers perfectly tailored ebike insurance in a few clicks.

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