SECONDARY RESEARCH

Scoping out the competition 👀

I began the project by conducting secondary research to understand how the different coverages and deductibles worked, read reports on consumer behavior, and analyzed competitor websites to learn about industry standards and offerings.

Putting myself in the users’ shoes

Having never personally bought auto insurance before, another key part of my secondary research was putting myself in the users’ shoes by completing the quote process for myself (unknowingly subjecting myself to dozens of spam emails and calls).

Key Takeaways💡

• There’s little product differentiation between the insurance companies, which all offer similar insurance types, services, roadside coverage, etc. The variation comes from the price, brand recognition, convenience, and quality of customer service.

• Website IA seems to be standardized amongst the different insurance company websites. They all have prominent CTA’s to “get a quote” and their main navigations typically include insurance, account, about us, resources, and claims. Their quote processes are all very similar as well.

• As a result, there are lots of 3rd party websites and services that help consumers compare the different insurance companies, such as J.D. Power, Forbes, Zebra, etc.

USER INTERVIEWS

Understanding insurance customers

To learn about how potential users choose their insurance plans what their pain points are, I conducted user interviews on 6 participants between the ages of 18-42 that have purchased some form of property insurance (e.g. auto, renters, homeowners, etc.) in the past.

Insights Gathered💡

Pain Points

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Following industry standard information architecture

As I had discovered in my secondary research, many of the competitor websites had very similar IA. The Secur website will offer the same products and content as these competitors, so I decided to use that same structure for Secur’s sitemap rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

Keeping the user in mind, I also made sure to include and emphasize beginner-friendly resources in the IA.

 Navigation elements in the final homepage design

TREE TEST

Verifying the information architecture with users

While the industry-standard looked intuitive to me, of course we never want to assume. To test whether or not the IA was actually intuitive to users, I conducted a virtual tree test on 5 users in the target demographic.

Tasks Given

1. It’s your first time buying insurance and you want to learn the basics. Where would you go?

2. Where would you go to buy renters insurance?

3. You’re in the process of choosing your home insurance and want to talk to a live agent about the different options. Where would you go to find a live agent?

Results

• 5/5 users were able to successfully navigate to the correct pages for the given tasks 🎉

• In the post-study survey, 5/5 users indicated that they found the website structure clear and easy to navigate.

SOLUTION #1

Delivering value to users on the homepage

As the homepage would be the first thing users see, I wanted to make sure to communicate Secur’s value proposition and provide easy access to beginner-friendly resources.

Homepage

• Make get a quote and view resources the primary CTA’s

• Communicate trustworthiness by including customer reviews, as interviews had revealed that users tend to rely on others’ recommendations for social proof when choosing

• Make it easy for users to navigate to different sections of the website

SOLUTION #2

Emphasizing beginner-friendly resources

SOLUTION #3

Expediting the quote & checkout process

As convenience was the most important factor to most of the users I interviewed, I aimed to make the quote process as quick and convenient as possible.

Reducing users’ cognitive load

The insurance quote and checkout process generally requires the user to answer a long series of questions. To avoid overwhelming the user, I broke out the process into 7 different steps.

Saving user’s time

To save users the time and trouble of entering their vehicle information, the users’ vehicle details will be automatically populated by referencing the users’ name and mailing address against public DMV records.

Error prevention

Before checking out, the user will be given the chance to review for errors and edit any details if necessary.

 USABILITY TESTS

Getting user feedback on the prototype

I conducted a usability test on 5 users within the target demographic.

Test Objectives:

1. See if users are able to successfully complete the auto insurance quote and checkout process

2. See if users find the available resources helpful

3. See how users feel about the Secur website experience and identify areas of improvement

Overall, the results of the usability test were mostly positive.

ITERATION

Making priority changes based on user feedback

While the majority of user feedback was positive, there were a few issues that the usability test had uncovered. I prioritized fixing the issues that came up the most.

Improving the “confusing” quote page

Before usability testing

• 4/5 users were unsure how to interpret the coverage amounts (e.g. “$50k/$100k”)

• 3/5 users wanted to be able to compare all the plans more easily

• 3/5 users still wanted more detailed information on what’s covered and what’s not

• One user said the coverage details & definitions “looks more like a resource than it does my numbers”

Improving information scent

Before Usability Testing

3/5 users said they expected the link in the “Compare auto insurance quotes” section to take them to a page that will allow them to compare quotes from competitors, not to “Get a Quote.”

After Usability Testing

I updated the header to be more clear that users should be getting quotes from the individual companies (including Secur’s).

“How did it get my car information?”

Before Usability Testing

4/5 users initially expressed an confusion as to where the website would’ve gotten their vehicle information from, but figured out that it probably came from public records (and appreciated the time it saved them from having to fill out the information themselves).

After Usability Testing

I added in a “?” icon so users can quickly learn where the information was coming from.