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Case Study:Sureify

Design Team:Marysol OrtegaDiana ArvayoMiguel MedinaMisael León

Prepared by:Marysol Ortega & Misael León

UX Clinic Generative Research


The UX Clinic is an initiative made to share our design expertise with the software development community. Using different design methods, our aim is to facilitate planning, exploration, concept generation, early prototype iteration, evaluation, and refinement of websites and applications submitted to our program.

Each edition of the UX Clinic culminates in a 25 minute-long episode via Hangout On Air (HOA). We broadcast our process and recommendations for a new case study every three weeks. This report is the final outcome of an analysis we have made for the seventh episode’s case study Sureify, a source for life insurance education for young adults—specifically Millennials.

This document compounds findings resulting from utilizing a Generative Research1 approach during the discovery phase of our design process. We conducted a series of workshop sessions with groups of Millennials to understand their sentiments, attitudes, and expectations toward life-planning and life insurance with the aim of developing a platform to support and prepare them to make informed decisions when selecting and getting life insurance through Sureify’s service.

UX Clinic Generative Research


a. Case Study: Sureifyb. Preliminary Analysis: SWOT Analysis / Benchmarkingc. Design Strategy 1. Current Task Flow 2. UX Blueprintd. Our Process 1. Generative Research Sessions 2.AffinityDiagrame. Results 1.UserJourneyMap 2.VisualDesign 2.1LandingPage 2.2 Real Life Stories 2.3BuildYourStoryf. Conclusionsg. References

UX Clinic Content


Sureify is an educational service with the goal of helping young adults —specifically Millennials among the ages of 20 to 40 years old— to understand life insurance and create a personalized life insurance plans to prepare them in the decision-making process of purchasing one.

Through visiting a website and completing a 4-step process, Millennials can receive via email or download a free estimate of a life insurance plan according to their needs. The purpose of the website is to constitute a hub where Millennials can learn, compare, and understand life insurance options and policies.

Case Study Sureify

The site offers entry-level information regarding the different types of life insurance and the most common concepts using everyday language in materials such as videos, charts, blogposts, and a terms dictionary. Sureify aims to be a trusted resource of life insurance education/counseling for young adults and industry professionals alike.

www.sureify.com

Sureify landing page, November 2014. The user is explained how to get a Life Insurance plan according to her/his specific needs.

http://www.sureify.com


Case Study Sureify

On the 1st step the user is explained the differences between the existing life insurance options.

On the 2nd step specific data is requested for better estimates. The 3rd step consists on comparing the available options.


This is an example of a life insurance plan the site generates according to the user's unique needs.


Prior to select a design method and the specific areas we would be focusing our efforts on, we made a SWOT analysis2 of Sureify. SWOT analysis stands for an evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that describe and affect the service. During this preliminary analysis we identified that the approach for engaging users through the completion of the 4-step process to estimate their needs left unanswered questions in terms of the benefits and advantages of having

PreliminaryAnalysis SWOT & Benchmarking

a life insurance requiring users to access other platforms to perform deeper research to resolve this kind of inquiries.

The SWOT Analysis provided a framework for understanding the problem we were going to tackle. In addition, the analysis allowed us to have an initial evaluation of the current task flow of Sureify’s and its overall service offer.

HELPFUL HURTFUL

Strengths WeaknessesINTERNAL Advantages the competition does not have Characteristics that are at a disadvantage

Characteristic ofthe website

* Navigation is quick and simple

* Innovative product (IaaS)

* In-person communication channels are open

* Process is short and well established

* Usage of video to explain the product

* Terms dictionary section is thorough andhelpful

* Design execution is weak, doesn't conveytarget audience lifestyle (millennial)

* Visual dissociation between the process andlanding page

* The gain and advantages of using theproduct are not well established

* No clear straightforward language

* No FAQs

* No full mobile support

Opportunities ThreatsEXTERNAL Factors that can aid in reaching a goal Factors that can harm the site functionality

and performance or hinder company's goal

Characteristicsof the

environment andcompetitors

* There are basically no competitors, its goalis merely educational

* Usage of algorith

* Millennials are concerned about theirfinancial security but don't act upon it

* Insurance market growth. Many benefitsfrom acquiring life insurance at early age

* Millennial want to have a level of educationinstead of just buying

* They don't sell anything directly, they turnusers into third parties leads

* Millennial don't seem to care about lifeinsurance due their age and lifestyle

* Millennials have had very supportive parentsthroughout their life. Thus the need for lifeinsurance is low

* Perception of life insurance being moreexpensive than it really is

* Users don’t know what to expect from thesite. Perceived benefit is still unclear

* Life Insurance is perceived as somethingyou worry about at some distant point in thefuture


After interpreting the results from the SWOT analysis and being Sureify’s principal strategy, we decided to evaluate and possibly strengthen their educational approach for life insurance. As a starting point, we did a breakdown of the current 4-step process found in Sureify’s website to identify the variety of information available and how that information is presented.

Learn ~ About life insurance optionsEstimate ~ Estimate life insurance needsCompare ~ Compare personalized life insurance policiesDownload ~ Receive a free life insurance plan

Design Strategy Current Task Flow

u

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Right now, the site aims to educate Millennials through the following 4-step process:

1. When users enter the website, they are prompted to “Get Started” (first conversion touchpoint) with a customization process. The first step is called: “Learn”. Here, the difference between Term Life Insurance and Whole Life Insurance is explained through two videos that demonstrate through definitions and hypothetical examples the benefits of each Life Insurance; each video has a complementary diagram synthesizing the information provided.

2. The second step is “Estimate”. Users are asked to answer a questionnaire to evaluate their general coverage needs depending on their particular obligations and financial commitments. The data required ranges from basic personal data to monetary specifics such as income, loans, assets, housing, dependants, etc. After entering the data, the website will display a suggested coverage amount that users can compare on the following step.

3. The third step called “Compare”, offers a comparison among the two types of insurance policies —Term Life and Whole Life Insurance— previously explained in the introductory videos., The comparison is broken down into a few new concepts: Monthly Premium, Yearly Premium, Cash Value, a Select Duration is given (only for Term Life)—some of these terms are explained in the section of “Terms Dictionary”. If desired, the two types of life insurance can be also compared and contrasted overtime. Users need to select one type of life insurance to move forward to the next step.

4. The fourth step is“MyPlan”, where an estimate of the previously selected Life Insurance Plan is generated. The website offers users two options: to download the Life Insurance Plan or to save it

Design Strategy Current Task Flow

for later. If users decide to download the plan, they will receive it via email; if users decide to save it for later, the website will ask for their email address as well (2nd conversion touchpoint), sending them a link they can download once they are ready. As a complementary strategy, users can also contact a local advisor or explore suggested carriers from the provided list.

The Life Insurance Plan generated at the end of the process contains the same data and diagrams shown during the 3rd Step (“Compare”) along with a suggested local advisor and contact information so users can make any further questions.

Through the analysis of the current task flow we could trace the different resources and information access points of Sureify’s website, allowing us to take those as a starting point to develop a UX strategy and begin to formulate our research questions. We established the need for knowing Millennials sentiments, expectations, and assumptions towards life insurance as our main investigation focus. Our purpose as design team is to reformulate/strengthen Sureify’s overall system and offer comprehensive resources for life insurance education/counseling for young adults.


Defining a UX Strategy Blueprint helped us to establish focus points when applying the method:

Challenges~ Sureify currently faces a conversion rate issue, users that land on the website are not completing the process of getting their personalized life insurance plan. According to the statistics Dustin Yoder —Sureify’s CEO & Head of Product— shared with us, there is a poor user acquisition and a high bounce rate. In addition, we did not have any conclusive data regarding Millennial’s attitude regarding life insurance.

Aspirations ~ Our main goal is to offer a source for life insurance education and counseling for young adults that accounts for Millennials’ real expectations and behavior toward life insurance and life-planning. We want to determine the best way young adults could obtain advice on life insurance topics, and raise the site’s conversion rate.

Focus Areas ~ Our target audience are Millennials (young adults from 20 to 40 years old). We want to focus on their motivations, barriers, and emotional states toward long term planning. Also, we want to explore the current ways young adults are planning to achieve their life’s goals and their perspectives on services such as life insurance.

GuidingPrinciples ~ The SWOT analysis suggested Millennials do not have a mindset of needing life insurance, yet due to their current lifestyle. First of all we need to determine whether or not young adults think they do not need life insurance, and if that is the case, we need to find out the causes for that reasoning. Additionally, we want to explore what aspects of young adults' lives are the most important for them right now and how those aspects could be linked and benefited by life insurance.

Due to the broad nature of the information we want to gather, we decided to follow a divergent approach

to reveal Millennials sentiments regarding planning for the future, and understand what they think and feel about services such as life insurance. A divergent approach will allow us to design for the interactions needed to support and prepare young adults make informed decisions when selecting a life insurance.

Activities ~ Based on our guiding principles we planned two Generative Research sessions1 with Millennials, inviting them to create a timeline of their current and future life goals, making an emphasis on their future goals and how they plan to achieve them. Our objective with the activity is to understand people’s mental model for life planning and reinterpret Sureify’s service to respond to their needs and aspirations.

Following the Generative Research sessions, we projected to organize the collected insights in the form of an Affinity Diagram1 as a way to identify emerging behavioral patterns. As a final step, we outlined a User Journey to describe the path Millennials would follow, including the different stakeholders and the interaction touchpoints during the process of exploring life insurance programs and potentially get a life insurance policy.

Measurements ~ The metrics to gauge the success of the design proposal would be the decrement of the initial bounce rate and raising the conversion rate of users engaging with Sureify’s website. The measurement of these metrics is beyond the scope of this report— the implementation of our design proposal is required to measure them— therefore this document is an invitation for Sureify’s team to implement the design proposals included here and share their measurements with us.

Design Strategy UX Blueprint


The process of preparing a UX Blueprint provided a guiding path consisting of four main stages we could follow throughout our design process. In the first stage we ran two Generative Research sessions with five Millennials. We took a divergent approach by asking Millennials to embody their mental models regarding lifelong planning through the construction of their future life timeline. For the second stage we analyzed each one of the user-generated artifacts and stories by arranging them in an Affinity Diagram with the purpose of finding emerging patterns among the group of Millennials.

Based on these emerging patterns we formulated a series of ‘How Might We’ questions and ran a session among the design team focused on generative reasoning of possible ways we could tackle the different issues concerning life insurance. Our third stage consisted in the creation of a User Journey Map1 where we envisioned a variety of possibilities for Millennials to engage with Sureify’s service. Finally, we selected three key touch points and designed three mockups to visually represent a section of the overall design proposal for Sureify.

Generative Research refers to a series of collaborative activities involving people—designers and non-designers3—using tangible artifacts to represent aspects of their personal experiences with the aim of generating meaningful insights for the issue to explore. Generative Research helps in the process of discovering what people know and feel allowing design teams to empathize with participants and obtain inspiration for the design of an artifact, service or system.

In terms of our investigation regarding Millennials and life insurance, we planned our Generative Research sessions taking as a frame of reference our need for understanding Millennials’ attitudes towards their own future projection in terms of aspirations and goals, and see in what situations

Our Process Generative Research

and how they would seek for professional counseling.

As a result we conducted two Generative Research sessions with co-design activities using tangible artifacts with the purpose of using an attitudinal approach to detect Millennials’ sentiments and beliefs that might be difficult to explain with simple words. Furthermore, we wanted to discern if the information currently displayed on Sureify was relevant towards Millennials’ way of life-planning, and how we could explore different ways to facilitate the process of planning for the future.

The five participants of the Generative Research sessions had a set of general characteristics such as holding a Bachelor’s degree, currently developing a professional career, and be digital natives. Each Generative Research session took place with a specific subgroup that fit the two different persona profiles we defined for Sureify. The first subgroup consisted of single young adults, in their mid-twenties, not necessarily owning any property. The second subgroup were married young adults, in their late twenties or early thirties that should own a property. Three main characteristics define our research process:

1. Qualitative ~ Evaluate the subjective emotional spectrum,

2. Attitudinal ~ Description of the participants' mental model towards life goals and financial stability, and

3. Generative ~ Active users participation of potential users producing a collage of their perspectives and ideas.


OUR PROCESS Generative Research

The participants are given assorted objects to represent different aspects of their lives.

The toolkit can vary on every session depending of the activity.

This is the blank canvas given to each participant.

An essential component of a Generative Research session is the toolkit compounded by tangible artifacts. For Sureify’s sessions, we collected assorted items that could easily represent aspects of a life story such as:

• Human figures (adult males and females, babies, children, etc)

• House appliances and devices• Buildings (houses, offices, factories, stores, etc)• Transportation (cars, boats, planes,

motorcycles, etc)• Communication tools (phones, computers,

letters, etc)• Money (bills, coins, checks)• Institutions (banks, schools, government,

companies, city buildings)• Travel items• Lifestyle magazine cutouts• Office supplies (markers, highlighters, scissors,

glue, sticky notes, color sheets, tape, eraser)


Each session had a duration of 60 minutes with a facilitator guiding the activities and two observers taking notes. In the first part of the session we asked participants to describe their current lifestyle using the aforementioned artifacts. The goal was to produce a collage showing where they live, whom they live with, what kind of possessions they have, where do they work, what are they leisure activities, and if they have any dependants. The participants’ description of their current situation was the starting point to start a conversation about their future plans and life goals.

Then we asked participants to move forward on the next decade of their lives, prompting them with the question: “How do you envision all these aspects of your lifestyle in the upcoming decade of your life?" Using more artifacts they constructed the next chapter of their lives.

The hands-on nature of the activity facilitates the conversation.Participants are given total freedom to express their creativity.


Observers take notes of every insight given by the participants.The facilitator asks open-ended question in form of a conversation.

We used the same dynamic for the following decades. As a result, participants produced a colorful and playful collage representing their present and future lives. Along the way this group of Millennials talked about their motivations, obstacles, attitudes and feelings toward the different aspects of their lifestyle. We realized that talking about their future is particularly difficult, but providing a set of hands-on tools facilitated the dialog.

After they generated a collage out of physical artifacts, we asked participants to describe with a word or short phrase what each decade represented to them. Each participant wrote down their word/phrase on a sticky note and placed it on top of each decade. The short exercise of naming each decade of their timeline was the last activity of the first half of the workshop.


Each collage is different as participants have different mindsets.

These sessions produce a rich visual representation of emotions.

Users express their motivations using tangible objects

The mindset of participants is revealed by their collage.


The goal of the second half of the workshop was to narrow down the conversation to the topic of life insurance. In this part of the activity we presented participants with an unexpected scenario they could easily to relate to: an accident.

We used this introductory question to get the conversation started: “What would happen to your family if you were in an accident at 35 years old? (In addition and depending on each particular situation, we introduced a key aspect of the future scenario they described and how it could be affected.)

The question was received with surprise but got participants thinking about that troublesome scenario, most of them mentioned that by that point of their lives they would probably have some kind of insurance. The ‘accident question’ allowed us to move forward and dig deeper into the participants’ expectations for the process of purchasing life insurance.

The general process our group of Millennials talked about can be summarized in five steps:

1- Seeking information2- Comparison3- Evaluation4- Purchase5- Post-sale services



The following tables contain the insights collected during the Generative Research Sessions.

PARTICIPANT1/Jesús/Married/30yearsold/payingmortgage,ownstwocars,steadyjob,takesfreelanceprojects,wifehasajob,planstohavetwokidsinthenexttwoyears

"I share the house expenses with my wife. I pay 70% and she pays the remaining 30%"

"My wife slightly depends on me, because my income is higher than hers"

"I help my mom with some expenses"

"My freelance projects give me some flexibility to act upon"

"In the future I want to own properties and profit by leasing/renting them"

"Within 10 years I'd like not to pay mortgage, have two kids and a family car"

"In case I lose my job I have a back-up plan, some money saved"

"All my things are under some type of insurance, and my wife is the beneficiary"

"I'm planning to buy life insurance once I have a child"

"It is important to me that after I'm gone my wife inherits no debts and has money to eat"

"The mortgage provides me with unemployment insurance"

"My car has insurance"

"I'd look for trustful references (friends, relatives) so I can learn from their experience"

"I'd like my life insurance policy to cover funeral costs"

"I want my future kids to receive Life Insurance money on small increments"

"I'm afraid of fine print on Life Insurance contracts"

"I always tend to think Life Insurance companies want to screw me up"

"I want clauses to be well explained so I can trust them"

"I'd get a Life Insurance around my 40s when I'll be more susceptible to accidents"

"Apathy and laziness are the reason why I don't search for more information about Life Insurance"

"I'd like to get in touch with my Life Insurance company every three months so I find out about new terms"

"I know I have some insurances but don't know the details of how much they worth, because I'm not dying. I have enough with knowing my wife will be secured after I'm gone"

30s: the foundation of what I want to achieve

40s: consolidation

50s: conclusion

60s: I'll be a Senior


OUR PROCESS Contextual Inquiry

PARTICIPANT2/Sandra/Single/28yearsold/hasacar,entrepreneur,mighttakecareofherlittlesisterinthefuture,noplanofhavingkidsuntilshereacheseconomicalstability

"I live by myself on a house my parents own"

"I don't pay rent, only monthly services"

"I had a bad experience with car insurance. They promised me a brand new car after the accident, but didn't get it"

"I have a car and no dependants"

"Within five 5 years I see myself in the same town, having a master degree and a brand new car"

"I'd like travel a lot with enough money"

"I'd like to have a kid when I'm 38, 39 years old"

"My parents have life insurance coverage, but my little sister is the beneficiary"

"I'm not interested on life insurance, during my 20s I've been all over the place, with no real plans for my life"

"I would have to take care of my little sister in the future, if my parents were gone"

"I have no life insurance, because no one depends on me"

"My car is insured and I'm planning to insure the house I live in"

"When I have a kid I'll get myself a Life Insurance"

"Life Insurance is confusing. They don't tell you exactly what are all those clauses and how much will you get out of them"

"I get the feeling Life Insurance companies want to trick you"

"I'd search for information online, reading the references and reviews first"

"I want my life insurance to cover death causes resulting from specific women conditions"

"I'd close the deal if they cover funeral costs and allow me to have multiple beneficiaries"

"I'd be in touch yearly with the Life Insurance company to see if they have changed the terms or if there's any news"

"Kids are a great reason to buy life insurance"

"I don't trust any insurance company because of the fine print"

"I want my life insurance company to secure the education of my future kids"

"I learned from my family the value of having properties to rent, I want to do the same"

20s: explore

30s: build up

40s: stability

50s: explore

60s: recreation



PARTICIPANT3/Martin/Single/24yearsold/splitsrentofanapartmentwitharoommate,paysacar,hasasteadywellpaidjob.

"I'm paying rent, I'm living with a roomie, paying my car and saving some money"

"I imagine myself married with kids, pets and more money"

"I would like to start my own business"

"I don’t care too much about insurance right now"

"I don’t care too much about planning my professional life"

"I’m very young and I’m not interested in insurances, I consider it a waste of money"

"I don’t think of an action plan until something happens"

"Would like to hear references about insurances before buying one"

"Want to know about the deductible, costs, etc"

"Also, I want to know about the total insured"

"I want to get notified about any changes on the contract by email"

"I think I need more education about life insurance"

"I also think that there isn't the appropriate education about the process of buying an insurance"

20s: work

30s: fun

40s: stability

50s: enjoy

60s: tranquility



PARTICIPANT4/Crystal/Single(gettingmarriedsoon),28yearsold/livesinanapartmentwithherboyfriend(payingrent),stillpayinghercar,steadyjob,plansforkids in the future.

"I live with my boyfriend in an apartment"

"I own a car that i'm still paying for"

"I'm saving some money"

"In my 30's I see myself with more money, a child, a new car, and my own house"

"Want to travel a lot"

"Used to have a savings account to save money, now I don't"

"I own a medical expenses insurance"

"I feel comfortable with my medical insurance"

"Would think on a life insurance when I have a child"

"The reason to have a life insurance it's to leave something to my dependants"

"Would like to ask acquaintances for references and experiences about insurances"

"Also would like to search online and compare insurance companies"

"Want to evaluate which insurance offers more benefits"

"Insurance deductible check"

"Wants to know about the real sum insured"

"Want to check for additional services aside the insurance"

"I would like to have contact with the company over internet about specific info about the product or new products they offer"

"I consider life insurance good and necessary, just needs to pick the right one"

"My father explained me insurance early on in my life"

20s: fun!

30s: work and kids

40s: work and travel

50s: work and time for myself

60s: work less and rest more



PARTICIPANT5/Luisa/Singlemom,35yearsold,liveswithteenagerdaughter,receiveschildsupport,usedtoownaboutiquestore.

"I have a teenage daughter that lives with me in my parents house, but I don't pay rent"

"I'm almost done with my car payments"

"I receive child support for my daughter"

"I save some money on a bank account for unforeseen events"

"In 10 years I see myself with my own house, a brand new car, and perhaps a new kid"

"In 10 years or less, I'd like to buy my daughter a car"

"I'd like to have my own company and travel to Europe"

"I'm also planning to send my daughter to a nice university using a trust fund"

"I don't have life insurance because I don't trust them due a bad past experience of a relative"

"I'd like to know how they work, how much I'm gonna get, interest rate, terms of delivery"

"I'd compare the information of several Life Insurance companies so I know what's more convenient to buy"

"I'd like to see success stories of other people or testimonials"

"Life Insurance companies need to deliver their promises exactly like was agreed in the beginning"

"I don't have a life insurance yet because I think my income is insufficient"

"I might get life insurance around my 40s when I earn more and I'm older"

"When you are in your 20s you don't think too much about Life Insurance, you think about work and having fun, not about dying"

"I'd do a yearly follow-up to see if the company is still up and won't run away with my money"

"I'd trust the life insurance if they contact me on a regular basis to give me information about my numbers"

30s: productive age

40s: opportunity to secure incomes

50s: enjoy family and money

60s: comfort zone


Once we gathered data through the Generative Research sessions, we needed to sort it out so we could understand all the ideas effectively, facilitating the ideation process of a design proposal.

As a first step for the synthesis and analysis of the large amount of data we obtained through the

generative sessions we arrange our research notes in an Affinity Diagram. During the process of forming clusters of notes with related information, we found relationships between ideas and then gradually structured them from the bottom up into meaningful groups. Through the generation of a hierarchical structure of data we could have a holistic view of the issues we investigated.

Our Process Affinity Diagram

Final version of the Affinity Diagram. The yellow stickie notes contain quotes from the users. Blue notes are the main headers that group two or more similar issues. Orange notes represent the "How Might We" questions that address those issues. Finally the pink notes represent possible solutions and design ideas.

© N

earsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.theuxclinic.com

Affinity Diagram for Sureify

Final version of the Affinity Diagram. The yellow stickie notes contain quotes from the users. Blue notes are the main headers that group two or more similar issues. Orange notes represent the "How Might We" questions that address those issues. Finally the pink notes represent possible solutions and design ideas.



~ How might we motivate young adults to get informed about life insurance?

2. Dependant related reasons. Millennials think life insurance is necessary until they have dependants

~ How might we encourage new parents to get informed about life insurance?

WhatMillennialsknowanddonotknowaboutlife insurance:

1. They are unfamiliar with the product2. They are aware they have to do research to solve

their doubts

~ How might we provide easy-to-access content about life insurance?

WhyMillennialsdonotbuylifeinsurance:

1. They have not dependants 2. They do not care about taking action about their

future yet, they care about living today and now

~ How might we talk to Millennials about life insurance?

Life insurance expectations:

1. Family related. Who and how Millennials’ dependants needs to be covered

2. Money related. How the insurance money should be delivered

3. Communication related. How they want to be in touch with the company

4. Additional services. Assorted benefits they expect, non-money related.

~ How might we tell people about different life insurance packages companies offer?

~ How might we build millennials’ trust that a life insurance will meet all their expectations?

Emerging Patterns & “How Might We” Questions:The analysis yielded to five key insights Millennials focus on when thinking about life insurance. We took each area and began to ideate how we could generate concepts through the formulation of how might we questions to have a baseline framework to rework the user experience of the current educational approach of Sureify:

Key Insights:Millennials do not trust life insurance companies and policiesMillennials rely on peer's experiencesThey're postponing financial commitment for a later ageThey find Insurance to be complexThere are many unanswered Life Insurance questions

Millennialsdonottrustlifeinsurancecompaniesandpolicies:

1. Millennials do not trust life insurance unless the information comes from peers’ recommendations and/or close friends/relatives experiences

~ How might we trigger action using other people’s recommendations?

2. Millennials associate life insurance with complex legal information

~ How might we clearly explain the legal aspects of Life Insurance?

3. Millennials have a negative image of life insurance

~ How might we build trust for life insurance companies?

WhenandwhyMillennialsareplanningtogetlife insurance:

1. Age related reasons. Millennials do not think life insurance is important now, but they plan to get it at a later age

u

vw

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OUR PROCESS Affinity Diagram


Based on the observations and data generated during the generative sessions, analyzed through an Affinity Diagram, we were able to ideate and visually represent the journey Millennials would undergo when searching for life insurance information and deciding for a life insurance policy.

The creation of a journey map allowed us to envision the habits and manners that shape the process of getting life insurance. The User Journey Map1 illustrates the new strategy we are proposing Sureify to follow for their next design iteration. The strategic guidelines to develop the content for Sureify can be summarized in these five points:

1. Sureify’s website as a hub for life insurance Resources, functioning as a learning center

2. Use a storytelling-based approach to develop an emotional connection

3. Present life insurance as way to prove Millennials’ autonomy and self-determination for improving their present well-being

4. Explain the benefits of life insurance using a present-oriented language

5. Allow room for exploration at the Millennials’ own pace letting them take an active role throughout the purchasing process.

As a UX deliverable, the User Journey Map tells the story of a Millennial’s actions, interactions, and expectations as they experience the different touchpoints of Sureify’s system. The journey portrays Millennials potential interactions with the website, and depicts the broader system of relationships and exchanges with the system and the different stakeholders involved.

The User Journey Map story is described in the following steps:

1. A typical Millennial —as a digital native— is prompted with a message related to life

insurance through online media, it could be an infographic, a video, a post or a news feed that leads her/him to visit Sureify’s site

2. Alongside, s/he looks for advice and listens to experiences related to life insurance from her/his closer network (parents, friends, colleagues, peers, etc.)

3. S/he might also search for more information online: blogs, forums, social media, life insurance companies websites, eventually redirecting her/him to Sureify’s website, referenced as a trusted source of life insurance education.

4. On Sureify s/he is presented with a very straight-forward landing page. The main message is to highlight life insurance as autonomy tool.

5. The landing page shows three videos, each one featuring a real story of a Millennial’s experiences with life insurance, making an allusion to the emotional connection we want to develop.

6. The Millennial explores one or more of the stories— for demonstrative purposes of this design proposal we came up with three potential stories to show the variety of situations that could be shown:a. Mike — with a new job & student loans.

He tells his story of getting a new job and how life insurance helped him to pay for his student loans.

b. Nomadic Julia — working on the go. She explains what it means to be a Digital Nomad, travelling all over the world and working on the go, and what it means to take responsibility of herself while having fun and meeting a lot of people and places.

c. Ben & Jess – the new parents. They tell their story of having a newborn and the type of questions and challenges their baby brought up to the table.

Our Process User Journey Map


Each video is complemented with its own landing page with information regarding the advantages of having life insurance in that particular situation. Then the Millennial is invited to explore the rest of the stories.

7. An alternative way s/he can learn more aboutlife insurance is by creating/telling his own story whiles/ he asks her/himself how s/he could benefit from life insurance in the present

8. DefineMyStory section. The Millennialbegins to create her/his story in the form of an infographic by filling out a questionnaire to estimate her/his particular needs. The questions required to build the story are related to: • Age• Profession + Income• Marital Status• Student Loans• Housing + Assets, etc.

9. As a result, the system generates an infographicof her/his story along with a rough estimate ofher/his LifeInsurancePlan

10. The Millennial can see a preview of her/his LifeInsurance Plan

11. The website gives the Millennial the optionto download the Life Insurance Plan in a PDFformat

12. S/he receives an e-mail with estimated LifeInsurance plan

13. S/he also gets access to two types of advisors:life insurance expert/consultant and Millennialswith similar Life Insurance Plan (we calledthem peer advisors)

14. If the Millennial wants to understand thesuggested Life Insurance plan and/or exploredifferent options s/he can do a thoroughresearch for her/his specific concern in Sureify’sFAQ section containing common questionsabout Life Insurance (Quick snippets)

15. The Millennial goes through a decision-making process, raising awareness about theimportance of Life Insurance

16. To clarify any other concern not explained inthe FAQ section the Millennial visits differentlife insurance sites in order to compare pricesand policies

OUR PROCESS Userj Journey Map

17. S/he might compare insights with peers and/orpeer advisors in similar situations

18. Millennial can decide to reach a life insuranceconsultant. S/he seeks professional counselingto learn more, not to buy yet

19. The Millennial and the Life Insurance Advisordiscuss the different insurance options

20. Advisor keeps in touch with the Millennial.S/he asks advisor to get quotes and help her/him decide for the best option and assist her/him on how to read and interpret the fine printin each policy

21. The Millennial selects a specific plan22. The Millennial has periodical contact with his

insurance company and/or insurance advisor tobe informed of any updates or changes

23. S/he can also continue with his communicationto other Millennials that are insurance ownersand Sureify's website

24. S/he keeps in touch with this support network:life insurance advisor, peer advisor, Sureifywebsite, and the life insurance company

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earsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.theuxclinic.com

User Journey Map for Sureify

The User Journey Map1 illustrates the new strategy we are proposing Sureify to follow for their next design iteration.



Results Visual Design: Landing Page

To demonstrate how the User Journey Map could be used to generate design ideas we created a visual design proposal for three sections:

a) Sureify’s Landing Page b) Real Life Stories c) Build Your Story

From the use of images to the messages on the copy, the purpose of Sureify’s LandingPage is to communicate how life insurance can be taken as a course of action to gain autonomy and get a sense of self-determination, all under the premise Millennials can benefit from life insurance today.

During the Generative sessions, our group of Millennials expressed concern and disbelief toward insurance companies and their services. Additionally, participants repeatedly mentioned the importance of people’s opinions, especially from their friends and family. Based on the information our group of Millennials provided, we decided to use a storytelling-based approach to develop an emotional connection. The stories are in the form of videos showcasing real Millennials sharing real stories related to how they use life insurance. Through storytelling we communicate and evoke situations Millennials can relate to, showing

them similar situations as the ones they might be experiencing, encouraging them to form an opinion.

As mentioned before, our design proposal shows three stories for demonstrative purposes. We developed the stories based on three personas we created to facilitate the design process:

a. Mike — with a new job & student loans. He tells the story of getting a new job and how life insurance helped him to pay for his student loans.

b. Nomadic Julia — working on the go. She explains what it means to be a Digital Nomad, travelling around the world and working on the go, and what it means to take responsibility of herself while having fun and meeting a lot of people and places.

c. Ben & Jess — the new parents. They tell their story of having a newborn and the type of questions and challenges their baby brought up to the table.

The stories shared showcase the immediate benefits of having a life insurance policy using everyday language— from peer-to-peer.

Life insurance is presented as a way to gain autonomy and be independent, as these are the virtues Millennials aspire.


RESULTS Visual Design: Landing Page


Results

When Millennials select one of the stories, they are redirected to a page of that specific story where they can watch a short video explaining the specific situation. In addition to the video, each real life story page includes information about the benefits a life insurance holder can get when being in a similar situation as the one shown in the video.

The idea behind having real life stories is to reinforce the concept that Millennials can use life insurance as a tool for improving their lifestyle from the moment they purchase an insurance. By showing a variety of stories Sureify establishes a walk through the different situations showing how a product like life insurance can be customizable according to each person specific needs.

Every ‘Real Life Story’ page has two main call-to-actions. The first call-to-action is located above the video encouraging users to discover the benefits of life insurance in their particular situation by building their own storyline in a infographic-like task flow. The second call-to-action prompts the user to start a conversation with an advisor; this call-to-action redirects users to a list of life insurance coaches and carriers in partnership with Sureify. At the bottom of the page users can find the rest of the stories available where they can explore each individual situation.

An emotional connection is developed using video to add a more personal dimension to the service.

Visual Design: Real Life Stories


RESULTS Visual Design: Real Life Stories


Results

When users choose to build their own story they will be directed to an initial page in which they select what type of story they would like to use as a starting point for a series of questions they will respond in order to build the story. The questionnaire is adjusted depending the initial type of story users select, since questions from one

situation might not apply in another.The final outcome of the questionnaire is a visualization of the user’s life timeline in an infographic, along with a personalized life insurance plan including contact information of life insurance advisors and a peer advisors.

Millennials respond better to immediate gratification, therefore is key to present Life Insurance's present benefits.

Visual Design: Build Your Story


RESULTS Visual Design: Build Your Story


Our aim with the entire process we went through as a design team is to invite Sureify to implement our recommendations on their next design iteration. The ultimate goal is that the investment of our expertise and time can bring a positive impact to Sureify’s business objectives, while improving the overall experience of their users, specifically in the educational approach to spread the benefits of life insurance among Millennials.

As a summary we have a series of takeaways that compile our proposal for Sureify’s new strategy:

Sureify’s website as a hub for Life Insurance Resources, functioning as a Learning Center that Millennials can rely to guide their decisionsUse a storytelling-based approach to develop an emotional connectionPresent life insurance as way to prove Millennials’ autonomy and self-determination for improving their present well-being Explain the benefits of life insurance using a present-oriented language as an answer to the question: "What's in it for me now"Allow room for exploration at the Millennials’ own pace letting them take an active role throughout the purchasing process.

The proposed strategy is the result of the analysis and interpretation of the mindset of the group of Millennials we had in our generative sessions. The Millennials main concern was a lack of trust in the life insurance companies and the ways the whole system works, therefore we make the process of building trust and confidence the main focus of our recommendtions. Our generative process allowed us to acknowledge that people are the real experts at understanding their own ways of living, helping us to truly engage and empathize with them4.

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Final RecommendationsConclusions

In addition to any recommendation we can give to Sureify —our featured case study—, we would like this report to be a resource for designers and non-designers getting started using design methods and incorporating users’ input into their design process. Through the UX Clinic report we share our process, the type of design methods we use, and most importantly how we use those methods and adapt them to each project’s unique characteristics, finally transforming people’s insights into experience design, mainly for online platforms and services.

Lastly, we would like to invite designers and non-designers to feel free to contact us if you want to chat about UX Design or participate on an episode of the UX Clinic. We want also to extend an invitation to all startups and companies that would like to obtain UX guidance to submit your case study to our initiative, we will contact you and see if you are a good fit for our program, and hopefully be featured in one of our upcoming episodes.

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1Martin, Bella, Bruce Hanington. Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions, Affinity Diagramming (Method #03), Generative Research (Method #44), User Journey Maps (Method #95). Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2012

2Grundy, Miles. How to Perform a SWOT Analysis for Your Website. http://www.intechnic.com/blog/how-to-perform-a-swot-analysis-for-your-website/

3Sanders, Elizabeth. B.-N., Eva Brandt and Thomas Binder. A Framework for Organizing the Tools and Techniques of Participatory Design. Sydney, Australia: PDC, 2010

4Sanders, Elizabeth. B.-N. Perspectives on Design in Participation. In Wer Gestaltet die Gestaltung Praxis, Theorie und Geschichte des Partizipatorischen Designs, Mareis, C., Held, M. and Joost, G. (Hg.), Verlag.

References Generative Research


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