Insurance for Millennials: A Quick UX Case-Study and Solution
Insurance has been a business that has long eluded me.
As a millennial, raised by GenXers, I always know I have to have it, ‘just in case’, but I also know, quite involuntarily, that insurance has been around as a constant source for rip-offs, scandals and a series of very cringe-worthy debate for a very long time.
I have always either relied on whatever company I’m working for to provide it, at least where health is concerned and though I read my policies carefully and thoroughly, I never considered I actually had the need or know-how to strike out and search for my own insurance.
After this little UX exercise, however, it became increasingly clear that there is going to have to be a major disruption in the insurance industry world if my generation is going to have anything to do with it.
The Problems
The golden rule of UX is, has been and will continue to be ‘You are not your user’, but for the sake of this case-study, strangely enough, the user happens to be someone exactly like me.
I decided to approach the problem as if I were to purchase insurance for myself.
I do, however, know at the very least, the main companies under which I’ve been insured and the ones that currently dominate the market.
The problem was clear from the get-go: There are WAY too many things that can be insured, that I have absolutely no interest in insuring.
Once again, the millennial card brings me back to the fact that I have no house, no car, and other than my small white schnauzer, no dependents. I have been renting the same fully-furnished apartment for the past two and a half years, and have no desire to relocate for the time being.
Health-wise, I’m still covered under a company plan, and my actual concerns are oriented to, precisely, my pet, and any inconvenience that might require a bit of help, such as an accident, a break-in, or perhaps being mugged or attacked. Three things that I am constantly worried about are my phone, my iPad, and my computer, which travel with me wherever I go and I have become increasingly dependent on them as a source of income. I don’t see any insurance that might cover what I need, under my kind of lifestyle, that I know to be quite generic amongst my peers, coworkers, and acquaintances.
On all counts, insurance applications require me to submit an excruciating amount of data, official documents that I have no access to and is a redundant process that will ultimately only cover around 20% of what I actually need it to. Why bother?
My research shows that, indeed, my generation is not bothering with insurance.
This got me thinking:
How might we develop an insurance solution that will cater to millennials?
How might we explain insurance in a simple, quick, and efficient manner?
How might we override bureaucracy and provide honest coverage for real things?
How might we make registration seamless and accessible?
How might we sell coverage for things that align with the values and lifestyles of my generation?
The answer would have to be, first of all, to make sure people can access all the different things they actually need to have insured, in a single platform.
I don’t believe a simple umbrella policy will work for us, as it did for our parents. Our needs are much more fleeting and diverse. We should be able to manage several policies seamlessly under a single platform or application.
Secondly, these policies should be direct and to the point. What’s Insured? What’s covered? What are the premiums/deductibles? And where do I sign?
Thirdly, we are creatures of the cloud. We already trust someone to manage our personal information and data, because we simply have to. That should be integrated into the platform that’s basically going to become a lifeline if anything should happen. We should both able to access quickly and register seamlessly.
The Solution
As this was meant to be a quick exercise, I drew up some wireframes after sizing up a few different insurance apps.
I tested, and came to the conclusion, that we would have to make sure the users could sign up using the apps they used most frequently, that already have keychain access to their personal data, while still keeping it safe. (Amazon, Apple, and Google)
In terms of UI, the goal was to keep it short and sweet. Simple but dynamic illustrations that allowed for empathy, while keeping it minimal and clean.
Buttons and interaction are kept direct and to the point, but it has a few colorful animations that invite users to delve deeper.
Obviously, iteration would be required, to fix all kinks and bugs, as well as to make any modifications that might be necessary on the end of UI.
But you can access the first draft of the prototype here.
Hopefully, exercises like this can help us make better, more disruptive products that alter our everyday lives.