A comparison chart that listed the strengths and weaknesses of well-known competitors helped to identify areas in which Kaus can stand out.
STRENGTHS
• Plentiful insurance options
• 24/7 Customer Service
• Strong brand recognition.
WEAKNESSES
• Bland-looking UI
• Lacks local agents
STRENGTHS
• Great customer service
• Discount programs
• Smooth quote process
WEAKNESSES
• Higher than average rates
• Uses recycled parts for auto claims
STRENGTHS
• Robust roadside assistance
• Large multi-policy discount
• Thorough quoting system
WEAKNESSES
• Lacks brand presence
• Limited insurance options
• Need agent to sign up
STRENGTHS
• Extremely affordable
• Easy sign-up and claims
• Fully online
WEAKNESSES
• Availability varies by state
• No human available
To gain better understanding and gather insight about young adults' needs and behaviors pertaining to insurance, I set up one-on-one interviews with 4 policyholders ranging in age from 32-41.
Goals
• How do risks play into the lives of young adults?
• What influence(s), experience(s) or activities lead a younger adult to purchase insurance?
• What is their process of choosing an insurance company?
• How do finances impact policy decisions?
Key Findings
Young adults purchase insurance out of fear of financial consequence due to unforeseen incidents.
Young adults don't like going through an agent for account management or policy changes.
Choosing a company is heavily based on affordable coverage and ease of user experience on website.
Due to cost-saving measures, most young adults are underinsured.
After gathering my findings from the secondary research and user interviews, I created a user persona that best represented Kaus' target consumer—young and tech-savvy insurance novice. The persona allowed me to summarize the qualitative data and keep the users' needs at the forefront as I moved through each stage of the design process.
The key priority for users like Quincy is interacting with a site that's easy to navigate so the experience is less time-consuming, overwhelming and confusing. A card sort was set up to help determine which insurance products and categories made sense together.
The research gathered until this point has illustrated how the site will be used as well as how user interactions will function within the site. Moving on to this next phase, I created task and user flows that focused on the quoting process as this is the key area where users are onboarded. The user flow identifies potential roadblocks and ensures there aren't too many decisions that could overwhelm the user along the way, and the task flow illustrates steps users will take during the quoting process.
I sketched out potential homepage layouts, mainly exploring levels of importance for each component and seeing what made sense based on the user's needs.
I went through many iterations of the lo-fi wireframes. Some issues that popped up in earlier versions were component choices that weren't user-friendly enough. The overall goal was to make the user experience of finding information and getting a quote as straightforward and painless as possible.
Modal –vs– Immersive
Making the quote wizard a modal initially seemed like a good idea. As I began to build out the forms, it quickly became clear that the wizard needed to be immersive to provide a better user experience since the task requires a lot of text entry. Immersive wizards are also more familiar for users.
Segmented Controls
The use of segmented controls for parts of the form brought up issues of ambiguity as users might not recognize the active state immediately. The segmented controls were replaced with radio buttons.
Review Section
The initial layout for the policy review page was too long and information needed to be collapsed to prevent from overwhelming users. Accordion menus were used to condense the information for each section. Payment details were also brought to the top for more prominence.
For Kaus' logo, a bold serif typeface was chosen to instill security and trust. The umbrella attached to the "a" represents safety and protection—it can also be detached and used separately as the fav icon or an app icon. The color palette consists of cool pastels for a calm and friendly vibe.
Hi-fi-wireframes for the homepage and quote wizard were fleshed out for desktop, tablet, and mobile. The policy sections on the homepage needed to be condensed to cards on mobile to prevent users from endless scrolling.
Key findings
All participants were able to complete the task of generating a quote for homeowners insurance and purchasing a policy seamlessly. Errors that were made along the process were very minor and all users recovered quickly.
Age also played a role in tech-savviness. For example, participants who were within the age range of 65-70 were not familiar with accordion menus and struggled to find their way back to the home page without a dedicated link. This was not an issue with participants who were 45 and under.
Being presented with lots of customization options, especially for users who were not as familiar with insurance, caused paralysis in their decision making.
Ease of use and simplicity were two of the main factors that tied all participants together when asked about their overall impression of Kaus.
I revised the "Review & Customize Your Quote" page to streamline customization as users were more comfortable with fewer options—simplicity was key. Instead of being able to customize each line item, users are now provided with three options to choose from based on their coverage needs. Moving the policy amount and call-to-action button above coverage details also improved the clarity of information.
Initial layout with accordion menus on the right and policy total on the left.
Revised layout with policy total on top and three package options from which to choose.
Buying insurance is a daunting process and something that most people find to be a necessary evil. I've learned the following things from this project:
• Transparency and simplicity are key in users' confidence and decision-making when purchasing something as consequential as insurance.
• Hand-holding through the process was welcomed.
• The best user insights come from storytelling; unexpected information was often discovered from someone sharing their personal experience with a product.
For next steps, another usability testing would be beneficial to see if the revised "Customize & Review Your Quote" page improved clarity for users. I would also start the design process on the product pages as well as the member account area, which would focus on an efficient self-management system for users.
