Thea Chard

Thea Chard

Writer, Editor, Designer, Content Producer, Feminist, General Awesome Person

Meet Kaus

CLIENT

Kaus Insurance/Designlab UX Academy

ROLE

UX/UI Designer, Researcher, Prototyper, Animator

THE CHALLENGE

Rebrand the company and launch a responsive e-commerce platform that will allow the brick-and-mortar insurance provider to transition to a direct-to-client business model, where customers can easily research, customize, bundle and manage their policies.

TARGET USER

Millennials looking to buy insurance and develop a longstanding relationship with their policy provider.

PROJECT DURATION

4 weeks at 20 hours/week

PROJECT ELEMENTS

THE CONCEPT

Kaus is a large insurance company with a 30-year history in the B2B space, with policies for both individual and business needs. Offering insurance for everyone and everything and specializing in prepared packages that keep rates low, Kaus is hoping to expand their business direct-to-consumer and poise themselves as the choice provider for the millennial market via a responsive e-commerce portal.

The company?s primary directive is to keep costs low while providing easy solutions and a good user experience for their customers.

PROJECT GOALS & OBJECTIVES
  • Design a new, modern and fresh logo for Kaus
  • Develop a responsive e-commerce website that is both pleasing to use and provides customers the ability to easily browse and filter through products, for an overall thorough and enjoyable shopping experience
  • Help Kaus grow their online business, focusing on driving expansion within the Millennial market to build a strong, loyal customer base
BRAND MESSAGE

Kaus believes in protecting people in an easy and affordable way. The brand is:

  • Trustworthy
  • Modern and fresh
  • Clean and clear

Satisfying their customer?s needs is their number one priority.

RESEARCH

goals

  • Understand the major contributing factors and particular pain points informing insurance decisions for millennials
  • Understand how the market currently engages the younger, tech-savvy demographic
  • Understand how other ?sister industries? (those dealing with complicated sectors with high-stakes issues?finance, safety, health, etc.) have successfully appealed/marketed to young people
  • Determine what factors will help earn the consumer?s trust in shopping for insurance online

methodologies

Secondary Research?Gained greater insight into both the insurance sector and millennial market via the exploration of literature, news articles, blogs, statistics, etc. covering industry trends and millennial desires/motivations

Competitive Analysis?Identified the strengths and weaknesses of both competing companies as well as neighboring industries that are excelling online, giving us an indication of potential opportunities (where we can build upon and exceed) and threats (pain points to address)

User Interviews?Gathered qualitative data on our users (through both observations and direct interviews), providing greater understanding of their motivations, needs, expectations and concerns when selecting insurance.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
USER INTERVIEWS

Conducted 5 one-on-one user interviews with research participants within the millennial demographic (ages 30 to 41; two men and three women)

Primary takeaways:

  • Insurance is a necessity?5 out of 5 users say they plan to purchase additional coverage in the next five years
  • Accessibility is key?users were split between mobile and computer when it came to how they prefer to shop for and manage their insurance, though all said they would like their account information to be available online in all formats
  • Trust & transparency will build loyalty?5 out of 5 users have negative feelings toward insurance companies based on past experiences, but expressed brand loyalty toward products and companies that exhibit transparency and earn their trust
  • Online will drive sales?5 out of 5 users say they frequently shop online
  • Price is more than important?5 out of 5 users listed ?affordability? as the highest priority when searching for an insurance policy

user quotes

Emma

Emma Designer, 31

?Insurance companies always feel very untrustworthy to me because you pay them a lot of money for something you barely use, and the insurance companies make a ton of money and try really hard not to pay it out to you? It?s also scary to not have it because if something does happen it?s super expensive, and you?re in debt forever. So the trade-off is something probably isn?t going to happen to you, but in the off chance, you pay $300 a month just in case.??

Eyal

Eyal Architect, 41

?I think the way the insurance is set up is extremely confusing on purpose?it?s like 60 pages. Websites and companies need to make things simple, clear, and comparable, and transparent. It literally took me an hour, after I downloaded the PDF, to find where the hell it?s written that my renters insurance covers fire (after I bought it), and that?s what I bought it for. That shouldn?t happen.??

Christin

Christin Property Manager, 37

?I have absolute loyalty to any company that hasn?t done me wrong. I?ll hang on to you. I?m old school like that. And if they mess up that?s it.??

DEFINE

USER DESIRES
  • Users want to trust that their insurance providers will be there when they need them, but struggle to: 5 out of 5 (100%) believe that insurance companies intentionally confuse, convolute, or obfuscate information about their policies and expressed a desire for ?honesty,? ?transparency,? and ?simplicity?
  • Users see knowledgeable agents as a resource, but not a necessity: 4 out of 5 (80%) say personal relationships with consistent claim agents adds value and trust
  • Users would like to see value and options in their policies: 5 out of 5 listed ?affordability? as the highest priority when choosing a policy, and 4 out of 5 expressed negative feelings when spending money on policies they ?never use,? while 4 out of 5 also said they have been forced to select a sub-par policy in the past due to lack of options
PROJECT GOALS

PERSONA, EMPATHY MAP, STORYBOARD

Tracks a typical user?s purchasing task flow from the first engagement on the landing page, via the custom ?build a quote? tool, all the way through to order confirmation

Tracks a typical persona?s purchase user flow through three primary points of entry to the Kaus website:

  • Friend recommendation > direct landing page
  • Google > direct insurance policy page
  • Ad > direct to custom ?build a quote? tool

DESIGN

WIREFRAMES

TESTING

CONCLUSION