InsurLink
A page editor template that leads to a customizable end experience for insurance consumers.
ROLE: Product Designer
TIMELINE: Dec 2021 - Mar 2022
COMPANY: Vertafore
PROBLEM
Insurance agencies were looking to present a familiar interface to their end insureds for a one stop shop on their policies.
As a new design system was being implemented across the product, Vertafore’s customers wanted to keep the customizable branding elements on their end insured platform to curate a seamless experience for the insureds as they log in to check their bills, view their policies, and contact their agents. This posed unique challenges to work through with an entirely new design system.
BACKGROUND
HYPOTHESIS
Create a customizable template on the admin portal to let agencies choose colors, imagery, and content that when implemented, convey their branding on the end insured portal.
WHY?
Since InsurLink is a B2B2C product, this solution allows the end insureds to stay in familiar territory, instead of disrupting their experience with Vertafore’s stark unrecognizable branding.
RESPONSIBILITIES
My task was to create both a page editing experience on the admin portal and design the complete end insured portal inclusive of how the two affect eachother. These two platforms had different user bases and personas to be kept in mind.
RESEARCH
I interviewed 4 participants who are active users of InsurLink.
The goal of the research was to see how admin users are currently customizing their platforms and what fields are relevant to their branding success.
I ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT:
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How they went about configuring the templates page
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What elements they customized
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How helpful the preview section was
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How often they are changing the settings on this page
RESEARCH
“The less we have to think about, the better”
“We need a set it and forget it UI”
INSIGHTS
Admin users want full control of the end insured portal
They do not want to think about redesigning the template once it’s set
Users are not too tech savvy and need a friendly interface
I needed to find the happy medium between letting users customize the experience to feel in control, but not giving them too many options that could poorly impact the end experience. The key was to let them adjust only the most impactful elements on the page.
I then performed market research and presented the findings to stakeholders.
CONCEPT
SKETCHES
CUSTOMIZATION MAP
Since we were using a new design system, I mapped out each user selection to what it would affect within the design system. This helped the developers make sure everything was linked up right and helped me make sure I had every element accounted for.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
I worked with the lead developer to build out a proof of concept site so we could see the responsiveness of changes in action. Through this I was able to play around with different color schemes and put myself in the agencies shoes to see how they could customize the pages to their brand.
DESIGN
This proof of concept site inspired the final designs of the page. It went through many iterations working closely with my product managers, developers, and design manager. I performed market research and gathered examples of other in-page editing templates to come up with each iteration of designs. Eventually, we landed on this because it let the preview be the star of the show and users are able to clearly see what each color picker will impact in the end experience.
Here are a few examples of pages in the end insured experience based on the selections made above in the admin side
OVERVIEW
BILLING SUMMARY
POLICIES
MOVE DOCUMENTS
VISUAL SYSTEM
I thought through what the system would look like if a user doesn’t customize it or is a first time user to come up with a default color scheme. Based on color theory research and common colors used by our clients, I chose a neutral blue palette to convey security, order, and tranquility.
COLORS
TYPOGRAPHY
Mark Pro
Bold for headings
Source Sans Pro
SemiBold and Regular for content
ICONOGRAPHY
KEY LEARNINGS
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
As stated in Hicks Law, the more choices someone has, the longer it will take them to make a decision. I learned it can benefit the user to limit their choices by giving them only the most impactful options.
SET IT AND FORGET IT
Users were asking for a simple way to set up their end insured experience because it was very rare they would ever come back to make changes. I kept this use case in mind as I was designing each iteration to know my audience.
COMPROMISE WITH USERS
Users often like to tell designers exactly what they think they want. It is up to us to find a better way that they may not have thought of to give them the best experience possible.
OUTCOME
DELIVERABLES
Designed a templates page in the admin view as well as the entire end insured platform and ensured they worked together cohesively to create the best experience for each user.
SUMMARY
InsurLink was previously a very outdated software system that was causing users frustration and wasted time for miniscule tasks. By truly getting to know the users and designing a space to meet their specific needs, we were able to speed up processes and created a pleasant experience for them.
The InsurLink admin portal is a user-friendly page editing template allowing them to quickly customize the end insured experience with ease. The InsurLink End Insured portal reflects the branding of the clients’ agency for a seamless experience from start to finish.
FUTURE ROADMAP
The next step in the process will be to implement the designs into the software program while working with the development team. Once that is finished we would bring this to another round of user testing to make sure the new designs fullfill the needs of the user.
THANK YOU!
For questions, contact me at erinblumenthal19@gmail.com.
Or check out another case study below.
