American Family Insurance: Auto Sales Tool

ROLE
Senior UX Designer

DURATION
6 Months

TEAM
Business Analyst
Product Manager
UX Researcher
Tech Lead

TOOLS
Adobe XD, Figma, Microsoft Teams

“Life's Better When You're Protected Under Our Roof.”

American Family Insurance, also abbreviated as AmFam, is an American private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty, and auto insurance, and also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage as well as investment and retirement-planning products.

According to IBISWorld, the auto insurance industry in the United States is valued at approximately $316 billion as of 2022. Around 215 million drivers in the US have car insurance, and they pay an average of $1,771 per year or roughly $148 per month for it. A recent report by J.D. Power in 2022 shows that AmFam has only managed to attain customer satisfaction in four out of eleven different regions.

CONTEXT

Over the course of 20 years, American Family Insurance did not invest much time updating its customer acquisition process. They primarily relied on traditional brick-and-mortar methods while their competitors shifted to digital platforms.

OVERVIEW

AmFam's design team was divided into 4 pillars: Auto, Home, Life, and Renters. I was responsible for the Auto Sales Tool, with the goal of creating a seamless user experience that addresses the common frustrations of customers. How can I design a user experience that effectively solves the challenges faced by customers today?

CHALLENGE

Several cross-functional partners were involved in developing the Auto Sales Tool, each with their own design expectations.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL PARTNERS

  • Create documentation for business partners.

  • Find financial and technical updates of the Auto Sales tool.

  • Work with the content editor.

  • Cross reference legal restrictions.

Business

  • Develop a plan to move from a waterfall to an agile release schedule.

  • Record Figma video tutorials.

  • Hold design workshops.

Tech

  • Collaborate with research based analytics.

  • Assist in A/B testing.

  • Conduct user interviews.

UX Research

  • Iterate on visual design options.

  • Establish biweekly sync with the design team.

  • Move Adobe XD files to Figma.

Design

The process of purchasing auto insurance from AmFam involves 18 steps divided into two parts: Quote and Bind. To obtain a quote premium, users need to go through 9 steps. However, due to page falloffs and hard stops, 69% of all users are unable to reach the Quote premium.

DESIGN PROCESS

The Bind flow consists of 9 additional pages and results in an 87% drop-off rate for users attempting to make a purchase online. Only 0.13% of users successfully complete the entire quote and bind process from start to finish.

Collaborating with my business and tech partners, I created an updated user journey that reduced the original 18 steps with hardstops and fallout to only 9 steps by utilizing modernized API systems.

PROPOSAL

Taking ownership of the Auto Sales Tool meant inheriting the existing design, which had been in place since 2014 and had clearly run its course.

VISUAL EXPLORATION

Visual iterations

After several visual iterations and technical enhancements, we have achieved the final design that you will see today. In this design, the navigation menu has been moved to the left side and displays progress percentages to reassure the customer about their position in the purchasing process. This reassurance helps the customer to allocate the necessary time and effort to complete the insurance purchase with confidence.

OUTCOME

Designing for American Family Insurance's Auto Sales Tool was a challenging but rewarding experience, requiring the balance of simplicity, informativeness, and accessibility. It was enlightening to learn about the idiosyncracies of the auto industry.

TAKEAWAY