Supporting the culture to launch a user centred service

Understanding the variations of small businesess

We met with varying small business owners and listened to their stories about setting up and running a business. We found a set of behaviours that different companies portray depending on their journey and size; we framed these as three segments and used them throughout our design process. And to help senior stakeholders buy into the value of a user-centred approach to insurance. Our clients put up the segments in their office meeting rooms, halls and kitchens.

Developing a service proposition for a congested market

We made sense of our learnings by creating a value proposition and Service Blueprint to visualise small businesses' interactions with insurance across their journey and size;  it helped illustrate that the insurance experience goes beyond applying and claiming. The client pinned a copy of the service blueprint in their office meeting area.

Co-creating with stakeholders

We produced numerous concepts using our segments, service blueprint and design principles. Concepts ranged from supporting businesses in their early days up to insurance renewal. Then we ran workshops with stakeholders to co-design and define viability, feasibility, risks, assumptions, cost and business delivery ambitions. We supported and challenged the business to go beyond its comfort zone to create a profitable service by doing what most insurers tend not to prioritise - providing a user-centred service.

Translating the strategy into UI

We started with markers and pens and worked our way through to rapid prototyping vital elements of the experience and conducting guerilla research. It helped us design, test and iterate how to translate our strategy into users' interactions with our service; for example, we tested a Companies House API that would help users apply easily and increase conversion. We also worked closely with the client to deliver non-digital touchpoints.

Working with underwriting to improve the experience

We worked closely with stakeholders and underwriting experts to:

• reduce the number of questions
• reduce friction points while minimising risks and concerns
• uphold underwriting requirements

We didn't win all the battles (we weren't always right), but on the whole, we made some great strides - especially considering the inherently conservative nature of insurance underwriting.

Helping businesses understand what they need

We spent great effort crafting how to help businesses understand what insurance they need and why, while balancing 'don't make me think and 'I just want to get a quick answer' attitudes. We explored a number of designs and iterated based on research; some of the key challenges include:

• allow users to compare on one page (which created other UI constraints)
• break up text-heavy and lengthy pages using space and visual aids
• reduce UI friction created by business constraints; for example, some insurances could not be purchased on their own
• creating clear and concise descriptions that resonate and that don't scare users into buying insurance

Designing smoother handovers

With stakeholders bought into a customer-centric value proposition, we were able to design better customer support at different stages of the journey, for example:

• Offer support from purchase to renewal
• If Travelers weren't able to offer cover, we could share details with partnered providers (if users consented)
• offer call centre support that aligns with the strategy; for example, we were able to go beyond stating opening hours to offer call-back supported by service level agreements.