Improving Order Status Communication for Insurance Products

My Role: UX Researcher

Research Type: Discovery, Generative, Primary research

Methods: User Interview (remote), Secondary Research, Cognitive Interview, Jobs to be Done

Deliverables: User journey map, Readout deck with research findings and recommendations

Tools: UserZoom, Microsoft Teams, Miro, Excel, PowerPoint

Research Motivation

After receiving anecdotal comments, the product team wanted to design a page to communicate with users the status of their insurance orders, but they were unsure of the benefits it would bring to the users. Additionally, they were not certain what specific status information would be helpful to users.

Process

I started by interviewing the Product team members to better understand the research request and define the problem statements. Some of the questions I asked include:

• What information do you need to have to feel confident to start the project?
• What do you know about our users’ preferences around this topic, and what are we not yet sure about?
• Are there competitive examples of what we’re building that we should take a look at?
• Do we understand how this information is being communicated to users currently? Through what channels?
• Who are the difference user segments at play in your opinions?

To achieve this, I drafted research objectives and proposed a research plan to conduct 1:1 interviews with the targeting use segments. The plan involved recruiting 12 participants with different levels of product expertise and from different states, as the types of information in users' order updates for this insurnace product vary greatly by state. I then invited them to participate in remote interview sessions via UserZoom, and key stakeholders were encouraged to join and observe the sessions.

During the interviews, I collected data to understand foundational user needs, behaviors, pain points, and motivations by prompting users to tell stories around searhcing or requesting order status for their order and by following the “Job to be done”(JTBD) framework exploring the journey and the causes of user beheviors. After completing the analysis, I presented detailed findings and my recommendations to the product managers, designers, business analysts, and key executives working on this product.

Deliverable

• 15-minute post-session debrief: For interview sessions where stakeholders were present, I hosted a quick debrief call immediately after to discuss key takeaways.
• 30-minute readout: After completing my analysis, I presented detailed findings and my recommendations to the product managers, designers, business analysts, and key executives working on this product.

My deliverables included a journey map of inquiring order status: user actions, where the information came from, how it is provided, tools that are used, pain points, and needs, and potential areas of improvement, as well as a deck that identified the specific information that users find valuable with accompanying quotes and recommendations on next step product strategies.

Conclusion and Impact

The results of my research had a significant impact on the product team’s understanding of the user needs and provided foundational user knowledge that informed next-step product strategies and design decisions. The research empirically validated the assumed business value of order status updates and surfaced additional value adds for users, such as increasing user trust through greater transparency.

In conclusion, my research provided critical insights into the user needs and behaviors surrounding order status updates, which will help the product team make informed decision early on to design a page that meets users' specific needs and adds value to their overall experience.