Shippo: Turning shipping protection into a growth lever
The challenge
For most logistics platforms, shipping insurance sits quietly in the background, with a legacy vendor relationship that rarely gets revisited and a claims experience customers tolerate rather than enjoy. The result shows up in attach rates stuck in the low single digits and support queues that fill up whenever something goes wrong.
Shippo saw the opportunity to do better. After several years with the same provider, three gaps stood out.
Geographic gaps
Quebec coverage is a hard requirement for Canadian customers, and the previous provider couldn't support it, leaving part of Shippo's base without a compliant option.
Packaging restrictions
Restrictive packaging rules forced every merchant into bare-label boxes, stripping branded materials even for merchants whose identity lived on their packaging.
Outdated claims UX
Customers landed on a claims interface that hadn't been updated in years, well below the standard Shippo had set everywhere else.
The solution
Shippo and Cover Genius partnered to rebuild the insurance experience from the ground up. New Shippo web app users now have the option to have insurance enabled across all shipments by default, with controls over the insured amount and the option to opt out on any shipment. When customers file a claim, they go to a modern, account-based portal where they can track status and manage cases directly.
“Now we send customers to a portal where they can manage all their claims in one place. That’s a big selling point.”
— Hannah Scott-Lawson, Staff Product Manager, Shippo
The partnership reaches beyond individual merchants. Shippo also distributes insurance through Cover Genius to enterprise distribution partners, companies shipping anywhere from a few hundred to millions of packages a month. These partners can now access bespoke coverage programs co-designed for their needs: specialized policies for computer equipment, sub-limit adjustments for high-value goods like jewelry and watches, and pricing that reflects Shippo’s aggregate volume. Through Shippo, they get the benefit of scale.
The result
Insurance attach rates have climbed 5x since launch, with no change in how Shippo sells insurance. The claims experience now runs through a self-serve portal where merchants and their customers manage claims directly, with about 95% of claims processed within 3 days. Coverage has expanded to 8 countries, giving global merchants a consistent experience across markets.
“It’s been a real revenue enhancer for us.”
— Hannah Scott-Lawson, Staff Product Manager, Shippo
What this means for logistics platforms
Protection runs quietly in the background on most logistics platforms, at attach rates in the low single digits. Shippo’s experience shows how much growth is waiting there.
5x
Shippo turned a static line item into a genuine growth lever and lifted attach by five fold.
For platforms weighing protection as both a revenue line and a way to strengthen customer relationships, the Shippo story points to a clear opportunity: the upside is bigger than the attach rate suggests, and much of it is within reach for any platform ready to remove the friction.
“We’ve seen it with Shippo: one integration, and suddenly you have a real advantage to offer your partners. That’s the model for any logistics platform looking to grow through protection.”
— Richard McNish, EVP Shipping and Logistics, Cover Genius
*Information provided is for informational purposes only and is not advice of any kind.