Earnings Call Transcript - ROOT Q1 2021

Operator, Operator

Thank you for joining us today for Root, Inc.'s First Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. I will now turn the call over to Joe Laroche, our Director of Investor Relations. Please proceed, Joe.

Joe Laroche, Director of Investor Relations

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. Root is hosting this call to discuss its first quarter 2021 earnings results. Participating on today's call are Alex Timm, Co-Founder and CEO; and Dan Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer. Last evening, Root issued a shareholder letter announcing its financial results. While this call will reflect items discussed within that document, for more complete information about our financial performance, we also encourage you to read our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before we begin, I want to remind you that matters discussed on today's call will include forward-looking statements related to our operating performance, financial goals and business outlook, which are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions. Please note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinions as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to revise this information as a result of new developments that may occur. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expected and described today. In addition, we are subject to a number of risks that may significantly impact our business and financial results. For a more detailed description of our risk factors, please review our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, where you will see a discussion of factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these statements as well as our shareholder letter released yesterday evening. A replay of this conference call will be available on our website under the Investor Relations section. I would also like to remind you that during the call, we will discuss some non-GAAP measures while reviewing Root's performance. You can find the reconciliation of those historic non-GAAP measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measure in the shareholder letter and our filings with the SEC, which are posted on our website at ir.joinroot.com. I will now turn the call over to Alex Timm, Root's Co-Founder and CEO.

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Thanks, Joe. On today's call, I'll be providing additional context around Root's Q1 performance. I'll share insights into how we are increasingly leveraging our data science advantage to drive growth and improve operations and efficiency. I'll also talk about how we're elevating the experience we deliver to our customers, creating further separation from competitors. Then I'll turn the call over to Dan for a deep dive into our Q1 financials and path to sustained profitability. For the first time ever, Root generated over $200 million in direct written premiums in a quarter. This was a 23% year-over-year increase. And we did this while delivering $27 million of direct contribution. Our increase in profitability was driven primarily by improvements in our loss ratio. This is no accident. It was the direct result of disciplined, focused execution. As we continue to build our datasets, we create increasingly more predictive algorithms, improving our unit economics and enabling lower prices for consumers. We founded Root based on the belief that data and technology can fundamentally disrupt the $260 billion auto insurance industry. Keep in mind, this is an industry dominated by competitors who were founded before World War II. At Root, we have built an insurance company from the ground up based entirely on our own technology and machine learning. By creating highly advanced predictive algorithms, we are creating better experiences at better prices for consumers. Driving all of this work is our commitment to eliminating discrimination and bias, and a product mandated by the government. So let me double-click on what this means for consumers and specifically what we delivered in Q1. The biggest moment of truth in an insurance product is the claims experience. Root offers one of the fastest claims turnaround times in the industry. This is powered by our mobile platform that makes the claims process easy for customers and our proprietary claims automation system that makes response times fast. We have reduced the time between our customer notifying us of an accident and the estimate work beginning from days to seconds. This enables us to put cash in the hands of our customers in half the time of our competitors. And we are well on our way to delivering a fully autonomous claims experience to our customers. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that people want to and deserve to be treated fairly in all aspects of life. We have the unique ability to change the industry toward the arc of what's right. And we know that consumers are increasingly choosing brands, experiences, and products that align with their own values and sense of fairness. The state of the world today has put a bright light on injustice and bias, and Root is leaning in to evolve our industry away from both. To address this, last year, we announced a Drop The Score initiative, a public call-out of industry reliance on credit scores and the inherent bias that the use of credit scores perpetuates. We called upon state commissioners, industry leaders, and advocacy groups to work toward removing credit as a rating variable. In Q1, we doubled down on these efforts, releasing a detailed report of the bias that comes from using credit scores to price insurance and kicking off a grassroots campaign in educating consumers on the issue. And we're beginning to see the tide shift. Washington state recently ruled against the industry giants' request to keep credit scores as a rating variable. Just a few weeks ago, 30 advocacy groups asked the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to address the racially discriminatory use of credit-based insurance scores. As the swell of support for this industry-shaking change grows, it's clear that those with other ways of measuring risk will win. Our data science leadership firmly positions us to do so. As we continue to build better products at better prices, while putting control back into the hands of the consumer, we will continue to fuel growth and drive sustainable long-term profit. We'll do this through applying our data science and engineering expertise in everything we do. I'm thankful for the continued support of our investors, our team, and our customers. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dan.

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Alex, and good morning, everyone. The first quarter of 2021 was a successful one across both our growth and profitability measures, and we are really proud of how our team hit the ground running. You will find our full GAAP financial results contained in the shareholder letter we published yesterday evening, and here are some highlights. On the top line, we grew direct written premium 23% year-over-year to $203 million, our first quarter over $200 million. This also represents sequential growth of 39% above Q4. March was particularly strong, and we believe some demand may have been pulled forward from April and May due to government stimulus. Also, as a result of the timing of the written premium growth, our direct earned premium increased 11% year-over-year to $160 million. Shifting to profitability, the direct loss ratio was 71% for the first quarter, including approximately $10 million of favorable direct prior period development, primarily impacting accident year 2020. Adjusting for the impact of that prior development, direct accident period loss ratio totaled 77%, a 3-point improvement year-over-year against Q1 2020 and a 29-point improvement from Q1 2019, removing noise related to the pandemic. Direct contribution, really the key profitability metric for the business, was $27 million for the quarter, a big improvement from a loss of $11 million in Q1 2020. Direct contribution was 17% of direct earned premium for the quarter. The improvement in direct contribution was driven primarily by the direct loss ratio as I covered above. The first quarter tends to be stronger seasonally as customers are out shopping, and the impact of stimulus and return to work has fueled car demand. That created a great marketing environment for us, providing momentum towards our growth goals. As Alex mentioned, we're investing heavily to ensure we can scale our customer acquisition spend over the long term while keeping the customer acquisition cost profile of the business intact. To this end, we continued our Test and Invest approach in Q1 to build a broader set of acquisition channels. We mentioned on our Q4 call that our state management activity contributed significantly to our loss ratio results, and that has continued in Q1. We are managing the business at a state level, adjusting pricing where necessary. In the quarter, we completed 8 filings. The state management team successfully added an additional state to our seasoned portfolio. This portfolio expansion and targeted investment in seasoned states drove seasoned premiums to 73% of earned premiums in Q1 along with a sequentially better seasoned loss ratio. So for the first quarter, we have a lot of good momentum in our existing markets, and we're hard at work expanding into new states. We now have the required licenses to operate in 48 states. Licensure is the necessary and challenging first step to writing policies, and we are now in the process of filing our product, forms, and pricing models in multiple states. We will share more on our progress here in the coming months. We run the business on a direct basis, and it's on my team and me to manage the capital and reinsurance components of the business. To that end, I am pleased to announce that we have successfully placed a multiyear reinsurance treaty with a panel that includes current relationships as well as a few new names. By shifting the date to April 1, we were able to attain better terms by also building better alignment with our reinsurance partners, all of which is in line with guidance we provided on our Q4 call. We are excited about the breadth and strength of our reinsurance programs as they remain a key component of our capital structure. We are very encouraged by what we accomplished in our first quarter. We grew the business the right way, taking advantage of a strong demand environment, and we delivered solid improvement in direct contribution and accident period loss ratio. Our Q1 results demonstrate that our business model is working. That said, one quarter does not make a year, and our team remains laser-focused on delivering the expectations that we have shared. With that, Alex and I look forward to your questions.

Operator, Operator

Your first question is from Michael Phillips with Morgan Stanley.

Michael Phillips, Analyst

Dan and Alex, I just want to make sure I understand comments this quarter as compared to last quarter. I think it might be just semantics on the way I'm thinking about what you said, but I want to make sure. Last quarter, you wanted to focus on launching in new states where you've proven your model was okay. And it felt like that was a bit of a slowdown in the national expansion plan. But this quarter, you're now licensed in almost every state, and starting to roll out forms and pricing in a few of those new states, 11 or 12 new states that you have licensed in. Is that a difference? Is it now that you're confident in the model and you can go and launch in newer states? Or is it just simply getting licenses out there and ready to go?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

No. We've got you, Mike. This is Dan, and thanks for the question. So the short answer, Mike, is that nothing is different from what we talked about on the Q4 call. The positive that we are disclosing as of last night is that we have utilized the Shell entity to secure licenses in 48 states now. And what that means for us, as you know, is that's step 1 in the process. And now we are in the process of filing our product and our forms and all of our telematics and pricing models to be able to put Root in the market and begin writing policies. And that work is actively advanced in, as we said, several states, all in line with what we talked about on the Q4 call.

Michael Phillips, Analyst

Okay. So when you mention that you are currently filing forms and pricing models in several new states this quarter, does that indicate that you have confidence in that model to expand into these new states, similar to what you discussed last quarter?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Absolutely. That's right. As you know, we don't control the regulators. It's a necessary part of the process. It's something that we have invested deeply in over the years. We have a wonderful Head of Regulatory Relations, who's the former President of the NAIC. Alex himself is an actuary, which, as you know, is quite unique, helps in those regulatory conversations as well, but it's still a process in each state. And we are actively engaged in that process in the states where we are not yet writing policies.

Michael Phillips, Analyst

The second question is about comments. You mentioned several reasons for the margin improvements this quarter. I want to focus on one of those, specifically your better targeted marketing initiatives for positive characteristics. What does that entail? How are you enhancing your targeted marketing to better emphasize these driving characteristics?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Absolutely. It's a good question. What we've really focused on is inside of our marketing channels and our marketing platforms is the ability to leverage all of the rich data that comes through those digital platforms in order to make sure that we're showing the right ad to the right customer at the right time. And as we have grown, we've gotten more and more data, which has allowed us to fine-tune those data science models and put those across more and more of our marketing channels. And that has allowed us to effectively skew the mix toward a more preferred book of business and toward lower loss ratio customers.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Ross Sandler with Barclays.

Ross Sandler, Analyst

I'll leave the insurance questions to the experts, but just had a question about growth. So your auto PIF was up pretty nice sequentially. And you just mentioned some of the marketing efficiency that you're getting. So how do we think about that going forward? Have we turned the corner, and we should expect kind of sequential net adds on that? And then can you talk about the retention rates, how are the retention rates trending? Any improvement there?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Ross. This is Dan. So first, on PIF, I think everything is in line with what we have talked about on prior calls. We are encouraged by the growth that we saw in the first quarter. We're focused on executing our plan for the rest of the year. We're focused on moving into additional states later this year, as I mentioned earlier. And all of that will drive PIF growth and direct written premium growth in line with the guidance that we gave on prior calls. Similarly, our retention rates are in line with prior quarters as well. As we've talked about, we are deploying multiple strategies focused on enhancing retention. And we expect that you'll see those strategies pay off and show up in the numbers, but it takes time, Ross, as you know, for that to happen. And at the same time, you're seeing an influx of new writings associated with the growth that, as we have talked about, will impact our loss ratio. So you have these tailwinds and headwinds associated with the loss ratio that we continue to see playing out consistent with what we talked about on the Q4 call that net-net over the course of the year will show loss ratio improvement.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Yaron Kinar with Goldman Sachs.

Yaron Kinar, Analyst

First question, has the shift in shopping behavior from April and May into this quarter led you to expect a slowdown in the next quarter? Alternatively, do your full year expectations remain intact, or is it possible that you could exceed your outlook?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Yaron. As you know, we've made clear we're not in the habit of providing quarterly guidance. So I'm not going to focus in too much on Q2 versus Q1. Although, as you mentioned, we did see a pull forward of demand from April and May, we believe, into March, in part associated with the government stimulus. As far as the year outlook, we just issued our annual guidance a little more than 2 months ago. And if something changes that warrants an update, we'll, of course, come back to you. But as you know, we're 5 years removed from writing our first policy, doing something disruptive that has never been done before, and we're encouraged by the first quarter results. The business model is working. The quarter exceeded our expectations. We know what the path is from here, and we're focused on executing on our 2021 plan, consistent with the guidance that we provided in February.

Yaron Kinar, Analyst

Okay. And the seasoned earned premiums as a percentage of total earned premiums clearly saw a nice move up there or continued to move up this quarter. Can you maybe help us think or try to quantify where that ends at kind of the end of 2021, considering that you are trying to maybe accelerate growth? I realize that directionally, we may see a little bit of pressure, but are we talking about 60% of the book, 70% of the book, 80% of the book, any help you can offer there would be much appreciated.

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Yaron. I believe that our ongoing investment in established states aligns with the trend you’re observing. We have previously mentioned that our growth is concentrated in these established states, where we see sustainable and repeatable growth, and I anticipate that this will persist. The uncertainty lies in working with regulators in states that are not yet established and how quickly we can implement our telematics and pricing models to help them transition to established states. Ultimately, our goal is for all states to become established as we collaborate with regulators to introduce our models to the market.

Yaron Kinar, Analyst

Got it. I'll just try to sneak in 1 more, if I may. Prior year development, can you maybe talk about what drove the release there?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Yes. It's just, as you would expect Yaron, continued work by our reserving team, looking at different trends and development of particularly bodily injury claims, and particularly, most of it was tied to fiscal year 2020.

Operator, Operator

And your next question is from Phil Stefano with Deutsche Bank.

Phil Stefano, Analyst

Dan, I appreciate the update on the reinsurance treaty renewal. Just a quick numbers type question and then kind of more theoretical. Is the 70% session the right way to think about the combined reinsurance quota share? And then as we think about the pushback in the renewal date, can you talk to us maybe about the terms and conditions or how the conversations went with the panel? What feedback were you getting from the new participants?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Phil. Yes, our cession rate for the quarter was 63%, and that was in line with expectations and what we talked about back on the Q4 call. If you'll recall, we talked about the cession rate coming down and then building back up in the second half of the year, closer to that 70% number that you referenced. And we are still in line with that trend as we have completed the April 1st treaty. We're very pleased to obviously report out in the letter that we successfully placed the treaty. The terms are favorable to the treaty that we did on July 1. We've got a great panel of reinsurers that includes both new and existing partners. And so we did see the economics improve. We saw the treaty move from a 1-year treaty to a multiyear treaty, and it's all consistent with our overall reinsurance strategy that we've talked about.

Phil Stefano, Analyst

Okay. And switching gears a bit and going back to the autonomous claims processing. I understood that this is an opportunity to move faster than average on the claims payment side, which I think just improves the user experience for the product. I guess, how do we think about the quality control or the review process for this? I mean, is there efficacy testing on past claim payments that were done? Do you sample past claim payments? Is the process working as intended? Can you talk to us about that side of it?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Absolutely. The short answer is, yes, there's lots of defect detection and monitoring devices throughout that entire process. The way we do this is we originally do it where the machine and the humans actually both will process and look at claims so that we can actually compare what the machine is doing versus what humans are doing. And that also allows us to always have a control set, so that we can always be A/B testing and looking at it in a very quantitative manner. We're happy because actually, the faster that we close claims, the cheaper we close claims. Claims do not get better with age. That generally holds because all sorts of bad things can happen over time if you don't close a claim. So we're actually seeing that severity is benefiting from a lot of the automation.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from David Motemaden with Evercore ISI.

David Motemaden, Analyst

A couple of questions from me. I guess, first, for Dan. Just on the seasonality, which sounds like it helped PIF as well as just the stimulus checks also helping PIF. And Dan, you mentioned some demand being pulled forward. I guess, I'm wondering, is there any way to size this pull forward impact on growth? It sounds like you guys have a pretty good insight into it having a benefit. So wondering if you could size that for us. And secondly, just on the loss ratio, good to see the 77% direct accident period loss ratio continuing to improve. I guess I'm wondering what the benefit was from 10-year mix on the loss ratio if I look year-over-year? And specifically, how it compares to the 5-point benefit you guys got in full year '20?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, David. Regarding your first question, we are not quantifying the demand pull forward. As you might expect, we're engaging in significant marketing efforts, utilizing both traditional performance tactics and brand initiatives. We are conducting various tests and making investments, and we are beginning to see positive results. We believe the stimulus has played a role in this, and as we move through the second quarter, we will gain a clearer understanding and update you accordingly. The effect was substantial enough that we decided to highlight it in our letter and during this discussion. As for the accident period loss ratio, it's quite intriguing. In our previous discussions in Q4, we anticipated that our renewal percentage relative to direct earned premium might be slightly higher in the first quarter. However, the growth in new writings during this first quarter has clearly had a significant impact, reflected in our first $200 million quarter ever. As that materializes, we expect to see some seasonal effects, but it's important to note that discussions about the loss ratio and the 10-year mix are consistent with previous quarters. We anticipate a year of considerable growth, which will likely exert pressure on the loss ratio in the short term, balanced by our work in state management and segmentation, along with our commitment to investing in more seasoned states.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Elyse Greenspan with Wells Fargo.

Elyse Greenspan, Analyst

So my first question was on the marketing side of things. So as you guys mentioned, right, there was some growth pull forward, but it still sounds like you guys are positive about growth, I guess, in the bigger sense. And so should we still expect marketing to kind of continue to ramp up?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Elyse. Yes, everything is consistent with what we've talked about on prior calls. And the first quarter played out in that sense as we had expected. We are still on track to slightly more than double our sales and marketing spend for the year. We are focused on investing in diversifying our marketing channels. We are having some brand spend after previously really doing nothing on that front, and we're seeing real success in terms of awareness of the authenticity of the Root brand. And so as we talked about, our customer acquisition cost has been a bit elevated in the fourth quarter and continuing into this year, but these are the right investments to make. And we are encouraged by the growth that is coming as a result of those investments.

Elyse Greenspan, Analyst

Great. And then you, I think, mentioned that the direct contribution was seasonally stronger in Q1. I was just hoping to get a little bit more color there. And are there other quarters where we should think about that being seasonally weaker? And then when you set the guide last quarter for the direct contribution for the full year, I'm assuming then that guide inferred a stronger Q1, perhaps not as strong as it was, but had that kind of seasonality built in.

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Elyse. It's reasonable to say that there is some seasonal variation in loss ratios within the business, including for the Root book. Root is in a different position compared to traditional insurers that have been operating for many decades, as our portfolio is still evolving on a steep growth trajectory. This means it will be influenced by the increase in new writings throughout the year. Our guidance provided in February for the year was based on this understanding and remains applicable. We anticipate substantial growth in new writings as the year moves forward, which may slightly raise the loss ratio. However, this will be balanced out by our strategic efforts in segmentation, state management, and investments in more established states. When all these factors are considered, they support our direct contribution guidance for the year, and we remain confident in that outlook.

Elyse Greenspan, Analyst

I have one last question. You mentioned that you're not planning to update guidance quarterly, which is understandable. However, will there be a plan to update guidance at some point during the year, perhaps after two quarters? Or will you simply provide annual guidance and assess how the year unfolds?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, it's the latter, Elyse. We're focused on executing on our plan. We feel good about the plan that we put forward in February, and that's really where our focus is. As I said earlier, if something changes dramatically that really warrants an update, of course, we will come back to you and talk about it. But at this point, we are staying laser-focused on our plan.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Josh Shanker with Bank of America.

Joshua Shanker, Analyst

In terms of the drivers who you put on the books in the back half of March, I assume a high proportion of those drivers were formerly individuals with noncontinuous coverage, who bought auto insurance after receiving a stimulus check. Do those drivers yet have a telematics score? And are they reserved on the books at a loss ratio equivalent to or higher than most of the customers that come into your funnel?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

This is Alex. Initially, we don't set reserves for future claims, so they reflect prior accidents. Currently, there isn't a significant amount from the March cohort on the books. Regarding the loss ratio and economic performance of that cohort, we believe we have established the right pricing and underwriting. If we assess that someone may not be continuously insured with us for an extended time, we view that as acceptable. We are confident in our ability to price for those customers and to acquire them at an appropriate cost. We value these customers and do not see any issues with them, but we understand they are different, which is why segmentation is crucial. As for loss reserves, they currently reflect only past accidents.

Joshua Shanker, Analyst

And would you expect that over time, those drivers have a different telematics score than a broad cohort of drivers?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

No. The telematics is independent, and actually, we created it as such. So telematics is independent of rating cells. If we saw a lot of correlation between rating cells and telematics, then the telematics wouldn't be nearly as useful.

Joshua Shanker, Analyst

Okay. And then could you update us on what's going on in Georgia, and how that's impacting your policy count?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Josh. This is Dan. Yes, in Georgia, I imagine that you've seen a rate increase approved by the Georgia regulator. We had mentioned on prior calls that that filing had been pending and will continue to evolve. Simply put, we are working to season states and get our special sauce into states. That includes Georgia, which today is in an unseasoned or a new state. And so that work with the regulator is very important. And previously, if you go back, we were underpriced in Georgia. And that's something that as we evaluated the performance there and looked at our models, we have fixed, and we are in the process of fixing. And that's why you see the rate increase in Georgia and the work that's going on there. And we feel now that we are improved in our underwriting. And as we focus growth in Georgia, it will be done in the right way.

Joshua Shanker, Analyst

I understand it's not 9:00, but if I could add one more item. I know you don't provide newly issued policies or gross policy additions. Is there a number in your financials that you could direct us to that effectively tracks new sales?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, Josh, we don't address that in our disclosures. However, I can tell you that retention is consistent with previous quarters and aligns with our S-1. From that, you can gather a lot of information. We have provided extensive disclosure regarding our PIF and its various components.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Brian Meredith with UBS.

Brian Meredith, Analyst

A couple of quick ones here for you. First one, just curious, Metromile announced this morning that they're going to now start accepting Bitcoin for premium payments as well as claims payments. What's your thoughts on that? Any challenges that, that presents?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

This is Alex. We think that there certainly could be challenges to accepting Bitcoin, but we don't see that as a strong consumer demand right now. We really just do whatever our consumers are asking for and make sure that we're really focused there when we think about payment flexibility and payment options. And although it might be a fun item to talk about, we just don't see real consumers really wanting to transact with Bitcoin at this point.

Brian Meredith, Analyst

Okay. Great. And then I guess my second question, I'm just curious, as we're transitioning from a period where there was very, very low miles driven and consumer driving habits may have been kind of different back in 2020 than kind of today. Are you seeing anything different? And how is that kind of affecting your kind of telematics product just because now all of a sudden people may be driving 20 miles to work where they weren't during 2020?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Well, that's a great question. We monitor the impacts of COVID very closely. We've seen mileage in general basically rebound to pre-COVID levels. And we also, through the pandemic, were making sure that we are monitoring our scores so that we weren't overreacting to temporary dips in mileage. And we've done that now. We feel good about where the algorithms are, where they're coming out. And again, like I said, we've seen mileage fully recover in our book at this point.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Josh Siegler with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Joshua Siegler, Analyst

Can you provide some color on how we'll be approaching pricing and base rate increases moving forward, both in new states and existing ones?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Absolutely. The way that we approach pricing is on a very segmented individual state basis. So we have a state management function that we have built out that really constantly looks at what are the claim cost trends in each state, where do we believe that's headed, and therefore, what rate do we need to take or not take. Right now, we feel good about where our overall national indication is. You can expect us to continue to make fine-tune adjustments on a per state basis, though, going forward.

Joshua Siegler, Analyst

Great. I was also wondering, how does the recent Apple privacy update really impact your ability to attract data on the phone, both for telematics and for national?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

This is something we've been managing for quite a while. With the introduction of the new iOS systems, we have encountered various privacy changes. However, we haven't experienced any significant impact. We went through the rollout of iOS 14.5 and managed it effectively, so we have not noticed a substantial decrease in the sharing of data from our consumers.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Ryan Tunis with Autonomous.

Ryan Tunis, Analyst

My question is about the pull forward aspect of growth. You added a similar number of PIFs this quarter compared to a year ago and spent about twice as much on marketing. This suggests the average cost per ad has increased. Given that customer acquisition cost efficiency has decreased slightly, why would you assume that there's some pull forward happening? Why not consider that increased advertising spending might be less efficient and this is just the situation? I'm trying to understand why you believe this is related to stimulus.

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

Seasonality, whether due to stimulus or tax season, is a consistent factor for our company and is generally true across the industry. We observe this trend each year. Regarding customer acquisition cost, especially in comparison to last year, we do not manage this metric in isolation. Instead, we consider it relative to the mix of business we're acquiring and the target loss ratios to ensure we effectively manage the unit economics concerning lifetime value versus customer acquisition cost. We recognize that many customers will remain with us for decades, which justifies a higher acquisition cost compared to customers who may only stay for six months. Therefore, we cannot evaluate customer acquisition cost in isolation. This understanding is partly why we've implemented various data science models on our marketing platforms to help us bid appropriately for the right consumers. Regarding the pull forward, we anticipate this occurrence annually. Seasonal factors associated with stimulus do have some influence on pulling forward that demand.

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

And just to quickly expand on that, this is Dan. The way we really saw that show up is just from a conversion standpoint. As we look at channel diversity that Alex just touched on as well as some of the brand building expense, obviously, one of the things that we track very carefully is conversion and timing of conversion. And that's where we saw, we believe, the impact of pulling forward into March.

Ryan Tunis, Analyst

Got it. And just, I guess, from thinking about the, obviously, vehicle miles driven are up more frequency we've seen at all the underwriters hasn't fallen as much as we'd have thought. I think Texas has kind of helped industry results a little bit in the first quarter. Can you just talk a little bit about maybe what you saw in February, from a frequency standpoint, the type of benefit you thought you might have gotten from the Texas freezing event?

Alexander Timm, Co-Founder and CEO

The Texas freezing event certainly had an impact, particularly because we consider weather factors. Any winter events typically lead to an increase in frequency. Additionally, during that time in Texas, there was a decrease in demand since many people lost power. However, we do not anticipate this being a significant factor moving forward or affecting frequency.

Operator, Operator

Your next question is from Youssef Squali with Truist.

Robert Zeller, Analyst

This is Robert, on for Youssef. Just wondering if you can touch on how policies enforced growth and retention have trended thus far in the quarter or maybe in April?

Daniel Rosenthal, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Robert. We're here today talking about the first quarter. So I don't want to get into development thus far in the second quarter. Obviously, we're encouraged by the growth that we saw in the first quarter, showing up in direct written premium, showing up in PIF at the same time that our loss ratio came down.

Operator, Operator

And there are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.