StashAway helps customers build their wealth through investments. As the business began to grow, there was a need to expand beyond investment as an offering to include insurance coverage.
The challenge was to craft the experience and introduce the product in a manner that shifts our customer's perspective of StashAway as a robo-advisor to a holistic wealth management service that also included protection coverage.
We learned that the general attitudes our users had towards insurance products was skeptical. Their experiences with insurance agents was often that of being pushed to purchase new products; they felt like agents did not have enough understanding of their current financial and coverage status to be qualified to advise them on what to purchase. Customers want to feel like the product they're purchasing is right for them, and often worry about over-coverage or under-coverage.
Research highlights
→ Insurance products are overwhelming, and customers need to be guided on how to think about insurance products
→ Customers need to assess their coverage needs based on a framework
→ The concierge agent experience is convenient — how can an app elevate that further?
Insurance products are overwhelming
How can we better guide customers on how to select the right product for themselves?
When it comes to evaluating insurance products, customers were not sure of the types of insurance to get because of the sheer number of product types, providers, and complexity of each product’s coverage terms.
It's not about the facts
The initial design assumed that users needed to understand the board differences between insurance types before making a decision, for example, understanding the difference between Term life and Whole life products. User testing revealed that this comparison table only frustrated users more.
While the table laid out the facts of each product, the facts don't tell them whether or not a product is suitable for their circumstances. Users wanted to know how they should evaluate on whether or not our offer of a Term Life product is suitable for them.
Users simply wondered "Why (StashAway) Term Life?". There’s 2 parts to this question we needed to explain clearly:
- why should they get Term Life out of all other possible insurance types, and
- why buy it through StashAway
Answering the why
Based on my conversation with users and the pain points they shared about their experiences of purchasing insurance, I started to raise questions on what the strategy of our product was, and what we could do differently for the benefit of our users. I worked across teams to ensure that the thought process behind this decision to offer a Term Life product was articulated clearly, and the product narrative was made consistent throughout product marketing efforts, launch communications and shaping the product policies itself.
Product line aligns with the company’s wealth management outlook
Term Life product aligned with StashAway’s wealth management philosophy that "Insurance and investments shouldn't be linked". This was always a principle we held as a company, but the phrasing sounded like a platitude that not all users would resonate with, especially when they are already invested in other product types. We adjusted the copy to be more positive instead, focusing on what it helps users unlock to do — getting the ease of mind and flexibility to invest when they want to, and terminate the policy when they need to.
The impact
In most cases, we'd want to help users get through the flow quickly, but in this case, it was an intentional slow down, because we needed users to understand the context in which this new product made sense amongst our current investment offerings.
Shaping the product policies
The other pain point users shared was that they disliked the sales-driven calls they often get from insurance agents. Despite the potential business upside of earning commissions, the company made a strategic decision to negotiate a contract that protected our user’s interests, and disallowed insurance agents from contacting our users about anything other than their policy. Being bombarded by sales calls was not the experience we wanted to give our users.
Coverage assessment framework
Design patterns for ease of completion
With a coverage assessment form, users feel more empowered to make the right decision for themselves on their purchase. Within the form itself, it's critical to optimise the design to encourage users to fill in the form confidently. I explored 2 patterns patterns to test the ease of completion and understanding.
Optimise the ease of understanding and speed of completion with different form input patterns
While the conversational input made it more friendly and natural to answer, it also slowed users down considerably because of the component led their eyes back and forth cross the screen. I proposed using the classic form input pattern to optimise for speed and clarity by using sectional chunks to help users identify the type of information instead as the tradeoff for speed with the conversational input was not worth the extra effort.
User flow optimisation
I experimented with changing screen flow to make coverage assessment optional. Before, we placed the assessment form before showing the insurance plan quotations. However, not all users need or want the assessment. Some user's priority was to see the product offering choices. The flow below shows the option coverages we offer on first glance.
Additionally, to improve the assessment form experience, I introduced a new sticky button card component to the design system that would update dynamically based on user's inputs; it was revealed in testing that the feedback helped users feel re-assured that their inputs were being taken into account.
The impact
✅ Longer average time spent on coverage assessment indicated actual usage
✅ Reduced dropoffs on the coverage assessment page
✅ Increased completion rate of the form
Now, average time spent on the assessment form has gone up, which could indicate that the right users who wanted help with assessment are staying on the page to engage with and use the tool. The completion rate of the tool went up as well.
Overall, user types who wanted to know the coverage options can now do so and proceed to the next pages quickly, while user types who wanted an assessment found their option to do so.
Concierge experience
Finally, the other research finding had to do with the question "What next?". With an agent, customers got whatever they needed through a message or call. We distilled the next steps into 3 simple steps to follow, accompanied by a large visual aid to wrap up the experience of the purchase.
Concluding thoughts
Co-designing with a partnership
This project expanded our design system by exploring and introducing new patterns to improve user understanding and engagement with content. When working in a partnership, recognise early on that each company will have their own compliance and product requirements that could greatly impact on your imagined user flow, copywriting, and branding. It's important to sync up often to get a good grasp of their requirements. It's also critical to define which parts of the product experience should be owned and led by which partner.
Preparing for a new product vertical launch within the context of an established product
Introducing a new product vertical, especially insurance, is not an easy task because of the preconceived notion of insurance as an opportunistic sales channel. StashAway's reputation as a robo-advisor is already well established, and introducing a new product vertical could put the brand and business direction in question in the public eye. I worked closely with the team to hire, discuss, and craft product marketing and PR release plans to shape user's perceptions upon the product launch.