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AUTO QUOTE FLOW
USAA is a financial, banking, and insurance company. The auto insurance quote flow is complex and is comprised of many different crucial data inputs.
CONTEXT
USAA is a financial company with proprietary information and therefore I am not legally allowed to disclose certain details. User testing was very difficult at USAA in the short amount of time I was an intern, due to all the necessary regulations and specifications. Please contact me if you have questions or I can help with clarification.
ClienT
USAA (United Service Automobile Association)
San Antonio, TX
DURATION
May - Aug 2018
FOLKS INVOLVED
Design Director: Darin Duvall
Mentor & Producer: Brandi Hearn
Experience owners across the Auto Insurance Sector
ROLE
Creative Design Intern
Skills & Tools
Competitive analysis, User Testing, Wireframing, Sketch & InVision
THE OPPORTUNITY
Problem Statement: Encourage collaboration and create cohesion across the entire auto quote experience
Unique perspective: Fresh eyes/perspective, I had never requested an auto quote; I didn’t know what VIN stood for
Intended Outcomes:
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Competitive analysis auto insurance quotes
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Redesigned auto quote flow/experience
RESEARCH
Competitive Analysis
This project began as only a competitive analysis of the top auto insurance companies but those results created and influenced the entire quote flow redesign.
Forrester Data
The research started with over 200 companies worth of Forrester Data and was filtered down to 10 companies based on experience rating and platform type (for relevancy). However, there were 6 companies that seemed to be the best to use for future research and testing - 2 that were similar in size to USAA and 2 that were much smaller and much younger insurance companies, with another 4 falling somewhere in the middle. These 6 would be what upcoming research and redesign would be based on, among other factors.
Testing, PRINTING & GRADING
Analysis of each flow
A user test of all 7 (USAA and other 6) auto quote acquisition flows was completed with screenshots and detailed notes taken from each. The following were noted throughout each experience: total completion time, wait times on load screens, search results ranking, delighters, how and when navigation was noticed, "learn more" options, number of steps to completion, the design, and accessibility of the company website, and the speed vs. efficiency of flow.
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Printed experiences
The screenshots taken while completing each quote flow were printed screen by screen and laid out one after the other to represent that flow from start to finish on the office floor. Then another flow was laid out below and so on.
Experience Section Mapping Comparison
This was done to better understand the correlation between the number of steps and how that might have impacted completion time. But also to analyze the organization patterns of each flow - sections for an auto quote might include: Driver, Vehicle, Discounts, Final Info, Purchase, etc. (*Disclaimer: Those steps are in no particular order, are not USAA's sections, and are general sections that one might encounter on any quote flow experience)
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Scale Based Grading
The original plan was to grade each step in a flow for a company on a number scale and then give the flow for a company, the letter grade of A, B, C or D, and see how each company compared to the others. After laying them all out and having a chat with my design team though it was clear that method was not going to further the understanding of a method to improve the USAA quote flow.
So began to look more closely at why certain quote flows were easier or more enjoyable to complete (even though an auto quote is not something that someone wants to fill out) and how they were formed and designed.
Wireframing
Once all the data had been analyzed, it was time to start redesigning the screens. I first drew each screen/step out on individual pieces of paper and then reviewed and tested them with my mentor, director, and a fellow intern.
I made all necessary and productive suggestion changes accordingly and created the next version of mockups in Sketch and then also uploaded to InVision so animations, actions, and transitions between steps of the flow were easier to communicate in future rounds of user testing I would go onto conduct.
Sidenote
Days before creating these screens mentioned above I learned how to use Sketch in just 48 hours. As a part of the Intern Innovation Design Challenge for the summer of 2018, I worked with two business interns, two IT interns, and one full stack developer intern.
I cannot reveal specifics of the design challenge prompt, however, I had the opportunity to lead a mini design session where each of my teammates had a certain amount of time to draw out as many of their wildest ideas as they could. We then went around as a group to constructively critique each idea, pulling the best and scrapping the rest, to reach our final design. My role within this team was primarily a designer and I did learn Sketch in 48 hours, to make all the mockups the team needed to clearly communicate our ideas to stakeholders.​ I also had the unique opportunity to act as a Creative Director, helping to write the script, construct, and produce the video portion of our presentation.
(Certain design aspects and all colors have had to be removed from below the below designs as they are proprietary.)
Eagle's Nest mockups created in Sketch and then imported to InVision for demonstration and user testing.
User Testing round 2
Internal User Testing
The test group for the newly created Auto Quote Flow InVision prototype was a bit tricky because of the confidential nature of the project. I determined that the best test group would be other USAA design interns, but outside the Auto Insurance sector. It meant they were farthest removed from this project, while still legally able to help.
Insights
It was interesting to learn that I had used words, acronyms, and descriptions that would make no sense to someone unfamiliar with auto insurance. I had become too close to the project. I had almost forgotten where I had started and had not incorporated enough "learn more" options and easily accessible information.​
presentations & protoTypes
Stakeholder Presentation
On the final day of my internship, I had the opportunity to present to all stakeholders and experience owners in Auto Insurance by physically displaying my redesign, step by step, on paper, pasted on the wall of the conference room. Alongside my redesign, hung the current USAA flow for comparison and then all took the opportunity to ask in-depth questions and collaborate on how they might implement these changes across so many different sections and PO's.
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More than a prototype
I knew I was able to leave something behind that was bigger than mockups or a prototype. I was able to leave a way for all parts of the auto quote flow experience to come together and truly understand how they all interact and affect one another. How to create the best experience they could for the users, one that was clear, concise, and consistent.
Supervisor feedback 4 months post-internship
“I can tell you that people still reference the work that McKenzie did. Kim Ryan [Digital Product Manager] brought it up when we were planning improvements to the quote flow for next year.”