Our RESEARCH GOALS were to gain a better understanding behind the decision-making process of choosing an insurance subscription. Attaining this goal will help us design a website that can be a trustworthy, usable platform for users to buy insurance.
- Determine age demographic
- At what age do users consider purchasing insurance?
- Demand for insurance types
- What types of insurance do users generally purchase?
- Determine user priorities
- How do users come to decisions when purchasing insurance?
Initial SECONDARY MARKET RESEARCH was done to better understand the business, goals, and target audience of Kaus and the insurance industry. During COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS I discovered the similarities and differences in site taxonomy between the biggest insurance companies, which gave me a direction of how I want to approach the redesign of Kaus.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS of direct and indirect competitors helped me gauge the of current trends and standards of the insurance industry while taking note of usability and pain points of their websites. Many of the older, traditional competitors have a similar site map and layout, whilst newer companies such as Metromile and Oscar seem to utilize modern design patterns for a smoother experience such as breaking down large sign up forms into digestible parts.
There were 4 IN-PERSON USER INTERVIEWS conducted during the research phase where participants were asked questions based on their personal experiences purchasing insurance. This helped me gain valuable real-life insight on reasons behind purchase decisions.
Several PATTERNS and PAIN POINTS were discovered through analysis of user interviews . . .
- Health insurance provided by employers
- Auto insurance purchased when buying a car (est. ages 16-23)
- Homeowners insurance purchased when buying a home (est. ages 20-30)
- Recommendations from friends or family are highly effective
- All participants noted that customer service and knowledgable reps are important
- Often times home and auto insurance are provided by same company
- Purchases made through in-person agents or help of a third party member such as friends or family members
- Priorities steer toward pricing and coverage
- Participants find online subscription of accounts of modern digital very convenient
- Shopping for insurance is limited and occurs usually during specific times of user’s life
- Participants lean toward purchasing policies through in-person agencies
- When researching insurance online, task can be overwhelming due to saturated market
- Going to agencies to talk to specialists can be a pain point of inconvenience
- Variety of participants have different definitions what is good price and good coverage
To better understand and relate to my user's needs, I developed a USER PERSONA, Aaron Dauder, to whom I will stay focused on while coming up with solutions. Aaron's persona is created based on the data from user interviews done in the research phase.
EMPATHY MAP is a visualization of Aaron's thoughts and feelings behind his decisions for purchasing insurance and to stay geared in empathy while designing.
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After research, analysis, and defining the problem, it’s time to put all the data together to design the right solution. To start, I brainstorm ideas on how to approach the design solution through site maps, flow charts, wireframes and UI design.
- Provides insight on how participants organize the given information in their minds.
- Useful information to help group data in ways that is easiest or most fluid for users to understand.
- About 35 CARDS were sorted into an average of 4 GROUPS.
- Aides in the construction of IA (Information Architecture), user flows, and task flows.
Creating this TASK FLOW chart helped me identify paths that will lead Aaron (user persona) directly to the designated goal. They also help me identify pages needed in order to create a prototype that can complete the task. For the first prototype, the task at hand is completing auto insurance payment from the landing page.
A USER FLOW for Aaron specifically helps me think about what paths any user can use that strays from the intended. In this case, Aaron might branch out using the search bar, navigate from the header, or complete the task from the landing page itself. This helped me account for the paths he might take.
- Brainstorming and moving elements around during low fidelity wireframe phase was a quick method I used to help me with the arrangement of hierarchy in the design.
- These blank building blocks give designers and developers the first visualization of the designs to look at.
- This provides an easy way for designs to change and move elements before finalizing my decision.
- Responsive design of the home page for scaled down versions in tablet and mobile form.
The low fidelity wireframes are cleaned and replaced by HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES, implementing the design elements from the style tile including color palette, typography, logo & icon designs. The overall feel that was aimed for is achieved in these high fidelity frames. A dark-themed black and blue style conveys a sense of professionalism and maturity.
The UI KIT is created as a means to keep all of the foundational design elements in one place. This is used as a hand off tool to other designers/developers, and as a reference point to overall design atoms and molecules for future pages. As the design evolves after my first iteration, the UI KIT was updated as well.
USABILITY TESTING of the built prototype is conducted to help validate our assumptions of the user flow, as well as find pain points that could cause confusion and frustration. My findings tell me that testers were mostly satisfied and able to complete the task assigned, and users found the design was able to convey a sense of security and trust.
- 8 Testers (2 in-person, 6 remote)
Ages: 24-33 - Users are able to complete tasks assigned with little to no friction
- Users are able to navigate the website to product information pages to learn more about insurance
- Understand how users navigate the website and find potential areas that need clarity
- 100% completion rate of prototype
- 8/8 rating of TRUSTWORTHY design
- 100% agreed task was easy and flowed
- 100% of users stated they did not struggle
- One user navigated to products page for more information
- One user stated she prefers longer forms with less steps
- One user stated not all questions and details are necessary for quote
- One user stated satisfaction with quote wizard design features that included quote number and hotline
- 100% of users found information relevant and straightforward
- KEY WORDS: Cool, refreshing, friendly professional, presentable, simple and fluid.
With all notes and feedback gathered from usability testing, an affinity map was created to sort and organize the data. Based on similarity of feedback, I categorized the data based on wins (validation), pain points, and suggestions.
- Placing all the struggles and suggestions into a PRIORITY MATRIX helped making decisions on which fixes should be in the next ITERATIONS easier.
- Fix Products Page
- Fix connections in Auto-Products page
- Remove repeat questions
