Get a Life (Insurance)
A new approach to the purchasing process.
I was overseeing a multifunctional team (UX Design, Content Design, Visual Design, and UX Research Vendor), leading a transformation of legacy products into a self-service platform while closely collaborating with our business partners and technology. This engagement resulted in identifying a new market segment and creating an offering that simplified product complexity, reduced approval times, streamlined purchasing process, and clearly showcased benefits. We created a product that met our KPIs and increased the number of quotes from 42.7% to 45.8%
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Allstate created a new fully digital Life Insurance unit (ADLS), replacing the business area that was sold. The “old” way of selling life insurance was via specialists at insurance agents' offices. It was a lengthy, cumbersome, and time-consuming process. Combined with consumers' low awareness and life insurance knowledge, acquiring new customers presented a challenge.
The ADLS aimed to create a new life insurance product offering that would appeal to a general consumer and sell life insurance directly to a customer. We were to simplify and transform some of the old offerings sold via agents into a fully digitally enabled self-service platform.
PRODUCT GOALS
Business Goals
Activate commitment upfront, decreasing barriers to purchase
Increase acquisition retention and engagement by 3%
Streamlined underwriting process (time reduction from days to minutes) Increased speed to market
Identify and tap into new markets
Understand if direct-to-customer digital delivery is appropriate
Identify who the product would resonate with and what are the motivators and barriers
Simplify complex insurance product and make it appealing to a consumer
Create a streamlined and engaging user experience meeting user needs
DISCOVERY
The initial hypothesis was that we could create a simplified insurance product called Simple & Affordable, which offered lower coverage and shorter terms for lower-income and younger customers than the traditional target market for life insurance. It was clear that research was needed to validate this assumption. To provide the needed research resources, the decision was made to engage an outside research vendor to augment the team. We conducted a thorough discovery process to understand how to create a distinct offering and position ourselves in the market.
Conducted 24 customer interviews
STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT
Once our design and technology vendors were onboarded, the goal was to obtain alignment and map out clear next steps.
Before the start of development, we grounded everyone in the work done to date and plan MVP, and Post-MVP features. Also, ran a quick round of interviews and a survey of 60 Small Business Owners.
We learned that Small Business Owners (SBOs) are:
63% of customers find commercial auto insurance confusing
70% of customers do not trust their insurance companies
They trust and rely on the recommendations of their peers
Constantly strapped for time with many things to manage
Their business shifts between states of growth, stability, and decline
User Experience Goals
LEADERSHIP & DESIGN OPERATIONS
Designers from Allstate and Accenture functioned as one team in a highly collborative envirnoment.
The Interaction Analyst was fully embedded in both UX and development ceremonies to ensure the correct implementation of design.
Artifact Reviews were decision making and product defining sesions with key stakeholders.
EXECUTION PHASE
The team designed and tested wireframes, and then visual design was applied. Concurrently, content design was underway, with weekly legal reviews to prepare the final content for visual mockups.
Persona creation
Research Highlights
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
The majority of participants were not very familiar with life insurance and didn’t fully understand its benefits.
Reviewing stages of the Small Business Owner user journey helped us define the features for Purchase flow and the post MVP, Manage & Interact flow.
Working sessions with key stakeholders allowed us to:
Define main functionality and use cases
Establish vision and direction
Arrive at the alignment between all the groups
User Journey
Sketches
Low-income consumers who make 12,000 to 28,000 annually are typically an un-targeted audience.
Customers are favorable to a simple self-service experience.
Participants value flexibility and affordability.
USABILITY TESTING
After several rounds of internal iterations with SMEs, it was time to test the product with real users. In the screening process, we specifically targeted and vetted small business owners and tested the prototypes.
Key questions:
Do users understand the product?
Is the experience simple and effortless?
Are we adequately setting the expectations for the customer?
Do we meet their expectations?
Are they able to understand the quoting questions?
Do they know what to do after they purchase their policy?
Do we offer enough protection?
57
Visual Comps
“When we first started exploring this new product, I quite literally couldn’t spell UX :) I now think of the experience as what will differentiate us in the market.”
Responsiveness
MEASURES OF SUCCESS
We were using Adobe Analytics to track the performance of the new quoting tool, especially since it was built in a new channel and on a new platform.
The numbers were speaking for themselves. The product was a huge success, and by the end of 2022, it was rolled out in 8 additional states with a plan to go nationwide.
The success of this project paved the way for the overhaul of additional products within ABI portfolio.
41
Customer Interviews
$300M more
in revenue
SUMMARY
RECOGNITION
VISUAL DESIGN
Allstate was undergoing the visual identity rebranding then, and the design system was in flux. Daily communication with the product design team, Branding, and Design System was necessary to stay up to date on the changes. Click here to view more comps.
We were crating content strategy on the fly while requirements were being defined. And constantly responding to changes in company’s visual identity.
MVP LAUNCH
In 100 days, we built a new auto-quoting product in a new channel on a completely new technology platform. The team performed a feat of endurance, coordinating the efforts of multiple internal teams and two external vendors.
The initial MVP product was launched in 1 state on January 12, 2021.
Within the first year, the new platform generated $300M in business, exceeding results from the old legacy system.
108
Wireframes
It was the first time ABI had engaged with UX. We gained a seat at the table and now serve as a critical part of the organization. The president of Allstate Business Insurance sent handwritten notes to several team members to acknowledge our accomplishments.
OUR VISION
Review of secondary marketing and UX reserach
Competitive analysis of direct competitors
The first step was synthesizing secondary research and a competitive analysis of similar products already on the market. We identified 9 companies that could inspire Simple and affordable market positioning based on the established criteria.
View assessment criteria here
Next, we undertook a formative research effort, conducting 24 customer interviews over a two-week period. We presented Simple & Affordable as a low-cost/low-commitment solution offered on the customer’s terms paired with a simple experience. The goal was to learn:
Audience Definition: Who would Simple & Affordable most resonate with and why?
Motivators and Barriers: What are consumer motivations and barriers to purchasing life insurance?
Delivery: How and when is Simple & Affordable best delivered?
The goal is to create an experience for a streamlined, direct-to-customer, fully digitally enabled product for selling and servicing life insurance that provides flexibility, customization, and just-in-time education to increase sales and engagement.