Reimagining Insurance quoting, purchasing, and management.
Bound is an insurance company that has been in business for 30+ years, selling 100’s of types of standalone and bundled insurance for individuals, such as: property, motor, liability, marine, aviation, life, health and protection.
This project focused on designing a responsive, e-commerce website for Bound Insurance, that allows customers to derive a quote, purchase insurance, and manage claims/payments on the same platform.
User Research, Market Research and Competitor Analysis, Persona, Journey Mapping, User Stories, User Flows, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Branding, UI Design
4 weeks
Figma, Maze Prototyping, Illustrator
Individual, Academic Project
** Bound Insurance is a fictional company & this project was completed as part of Designlab's UX Academy program.
To-date, Bound has been selling insurance through regional agents instead of a direct-to-consumer model.
Bound wants to pivot and create an e-commerce website that allows them to sell insurance online, directly to consumers.
Bound wants to pivot and create an e-commerce website that allows them to sell insurance online, directly to consumers.
1. Inability to scale customer offering.
Selling insurance policies through regional agents not only drives up costs, but more importantly, doesn’t provide an efficient solution for users to leverage when purchasing insurance for their unique needs.
2. Lack of effective & intuitive information architecture.
Displaying hundreds of types of insurance to users in an intuitive way (from bundled to standalone, and individual to business), is no easy feat. The purchase journey becomes incredibly strenuous and time consuming, since users ‘don’t know what they don’t know’ in an already complicated, nuanced industry.
3. Out of touch branding.
Users in a younger demographic are often not reached at all, due to a lack of an online presence and updated branding that entices these users to use their platform.
To build on our understanding of what Bound’s particular user needs are, I then interviewed 4 users in 45-minute virtual interviews, with the intention of understanding the following:
What I discovered from interviewing users was the following:
What then became important, was to highlight key behavioral and thought patterns amongst our interview participants, to inform the direction of our product development. To do so, I created an empathy map to create this cohesive view of our users and what motivates them.
Having established our direction and user needs, I outlined what a user’s journey would entail. This raised questions around what an ideal interaction would be for the user to quickly calculate their insurance quote and evaluate their options before purchasing.
I developed a core user flow that mapped how a user will interact with entry, key decision, and exit points throughout the process of purchasing insurance.
To understand how this would translate to a functional product, I began ideating what information and pages users would need in order to complete their insurance journeys. I conducted a remote, open card sorting exercise to test my assumptions around how users’ mental models categorized and organized potential information they would see on Bound’s website.
The 5 main categories of information that became clear users recognized were:
homepage, my account, insurance products, simple quote calculator, and checkout process.
Beginning with sketches and then wireframes, I was able to create mockups of what the homepage, quote process, and checkout flow might look like.
Bound Insurance’s branding was then re-designed to set an inviting and optimistic tone, while maintaining a sense of professionalism.
Orange hues, blue accents, and modern typography create a warm and energetic feel for users that empowers them while they are making difficult insurance decisions.
Illustrations and a logo redesign featuring a leaping bunny are meant to introduce the whimsical breath of fresh air that the insurance product needs, in order to feel enticing for users.
Once the UI design was completed, I created the first iteration of high fidelity screens required for users to complete the core task flow of calculating and purchasing an insurance quote.
Next, I conducted usability testing with 4 participants in order to identify and prioritize changes to the designs. The test objectives were:
Feedback from users prompted 2 main categories of revisions: 1) revisions to the homepage and 2) revisions to the quote customization page presented to customers.
Before
After
Before
After
The homepage design allows users to:
- Filter and select relevant insurance options for them
- Select standalone or bundled insurance
- Review key features and value prop for Bound Insurance.
The quote calculation process is swift, delightful, and easy for users to navigate. It prompts users with questions to alleviate the stress and confusion related to complicated insurance questions required as part of the quote process, as that is the part of the user journey filled with the most friction.
This checkout flow allows users to review their package options and add customizations as well.
Bound Insurance was a great introduction to the product design process, as I was involved in each step of the design process from conception to high fidelity design.
Creating more pages in a design isn't necessarily a bad thing. Often times, what the user needs is actually simplicity and clarity, especially when it comes to complex products like insurance. Creating one page per step, made the process more focused and faster.
Despite Bound Insurance being a fictional company, I see a lot of opportunity for expansion on this design including: animated interactions and creating an insurance / claims management platform.
In this design project, I designed with a focus on ensuring all user needs were met. In reality, I know that I would be balancing business needs and the bottom line as well. Because it was such a complex product offering, I found it difficult to hypothesize how I would balance business and user goals. This highlighted the importance of constant iteration with stakeholders.
