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Plumnetic Insurance
The Problem: Plumnetic Insurance does not have a digital footprint, and wants to create an approachable experience for potential buyers.
The Solution: Creating a responsive web design that is inviting and intuitive for both first-time buyers and experienced shoppers.
Role: UX/UI Designer
Tools: Figma, Whimsical, Optimal Workshop
Creating a Digital Footprint
User Interviews
The Brief
Plumnetic Insurance is a large insurance company that offers a variety of policy types. Until this point, they have been selling their policies through regionally-based agencies. They do not have a digital footprint, and want to modernize their approach.
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Plumnetic wants to create an approachable website for prospective insurance buyers, without feeling tied to industry standards.
I began by interviewing five people who had previously bought insurance. I asked about their prior experiences and their goals for future purchases.
Participants
Age 27
Age 30
Age 65
Priorities
Pricing
Reputation
Convenience
Bundles
Customer Service
Recommended
Age 26
Age 60
Wants
Getting the best deal
Having all insurance needs met in one place
Guaranteed coverage for specific needs
Commitment to taking care of the user
Changes
Customizability with building a policy
Upfront honesty about filing claims
A third-party tool that compares different companies & plans
Survey
To gather more information, I asked eight participants to answer questions regarding their past experiences shopping for insurance. Questions were asked on a Likert scale. Participants were also invited to share additional thoughts related to their prior experiences.
"I needed guidance when shopping for a policy"
12.5% Disagree
12.5% Strongly Agree
50% Agree
25% Strongly Disagree
“Agent/broker was a necessity and I’ve worked with him (or at least conferred) all 3 years I’ve purchased health insurance so far.”
"I needed to speak with someone directly in order to feel comfortable making the purchase."
12.5% Strongly Disagree
25% Agree
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25% Strongly Agree
37.5% Disagree
“I wish there was an easy space to compare insurance options that also breaks down what they mean. Maybe there is but I am not aware of it!"
"I would LOVE a better way to figure out my options and what makes the most sense.”
I also performed a competitive analysis to see the services provided by other businesses, and the layouts of their website.
Research Takeaways
1. Some customers feel strongly about having access to help (with an agent or customer service), while others want to work independently.
2. Key concerns: Pricing, Reputation, and Coverage
3. Users who have not shopped for insurance before feel intimidated by the prospect
Ensuring a Better Experience
After compiling all of my data, I created a persona for a potential Plumnetic customer.
Armed with my persona and my research, I felt it was important to name the goals of my user, the business, and consider potential technical challenges, before jumping into planning.
With the project goals defined, I was ready to create a site map for the website. My research showed that my users frequently felt overwhelmed by the amount of information on insurance websites, so I wanted the website organization to be intuitive and categorized.
I decided to focus on the quote process as my user's main task. I created a user flow for some potential ways the user could obtain an auto insurance quote.
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Building a Better Experience
I chose to use an interactive element for my hero section to make the website feel immediately inviting and modern. I also felt that having the user create their own bundle made the process feel more personalized. My hope is that this could help some of the uncertainty that users expressed in my research.
For the logo design, my goals were to make something sleek and modern, but a little playful. For some of the designs, I tried to think of images that captured "loyalty", which is how I landed on the dolphin.
Once the logo was decided, I moved on to the UI Design. I created a UI Tool Kit to maintain consistency throughout the next steps.
Usability Testing
Users were asked to complete the task of obtaining an auto insurance quote. They were also asked how they might navigate the website, and for their general impressions of the design.
Participants
Age 60
Age 30
Age 65
Age 23
Tasks
1. Explore the home page
2. Browse all available policies and select auto
3. From the home page, obtain a quote for an auto policy.
The results were then organized using an affinity map.
Implementing Changes
Overall, the testing was a success. All participants were able to complete the quote flow with few to no errors. Almost all ratings for ease of use were the best possible. Testing did reveal some areas of improvement for the website, which were prioritized & implemented.
Notable Modifications
Added second CTA or connect with agent at bottom of homepage
Simplified task flow to reduce number of clicks
Built new Login screen after Quote, before Checkout
Moved customer contact info fields
until after quote
Added repetition for progress indicator in quote flow
Clarified confusing icons and phrasing
Next Steps for Plumnetic
This project clearly outlined the importance of usability testing to identify ways to make the design more intuitive. While aspects of the first prototype made perfect sense to me, the feedback from my usability testing was invaluable.
If I was to continue working with this product, my next steps would be the following:
Usability Testing
Conducting additional usability testing to verify design changes have resolved previous user issues
Create a Comparison Tool
Develop a tool to compare plans across different companies. This was mentioned in my research by multiple users, and, with additional resources, would be prioritized.
Developer Handoff
Preparing assets for developer work.
Interested in learning more?
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