EVERYDAY BENEFITS PLATFORM
Strategizing and designing content first for product pages, quote, and purchase flows for pet insurance, home & auto insurance, student loan assitance, and purchase programs all in one platform.
OVERVIEW
Role
UX Content Strategist & Copywriter
I worked with my core design team of a designer, information architect, UX lead, product stakeholders, configuration and development team, and legal & compliance officers.
Goal
Launch a benefits platform that could be localized for the U.S. and other countries for a business-to-business-to-consumer audience.
Impact
As a result, we had a successful launch with several companies using the platform to offer benefits to their employees. After the U.S. site launched, it became the basis for the localized Singapore version.
PROBLEM
How might we design a unified benefits platform where 5 very different benefits live? How might we cut through confusing insurance jargon?
I had the challenge of creating reusable content modules and template designs for disparate products (from auto insurance to student loan assistance) while creating a tone and voice that makes insurance and benefits sound friendly, easy to understand and worthy of trust. The company had a revenue target of $4.9 million.
The Consumer Experience and Design team anticipated common user pain points and reasons for drop off, including:
• Requiring sign in too early before user commits to products
• Too many form questions that overwhelm users
• Users being unfamiliar with certain products and their value
PROCESS
Focusing on principles
Findable
• Designed content so users could easily find helpful information like how much insurance coverage to get, what jargon means in plainspeak, and how products work
Clear
• Deductible? Dwelling coverage? Uninsured/underinsured coverage? I explained all these terms in a clear and concise way when it counted to cut through confusing jargon.
Connected
• Strategized content to connect and flow together end-to-end. e.g. I planned the same order of the coverage types in the home insurance product pages and plan cards in the quote flow to mirror each other. e.g. Dwelling is first in every screen so users can scan and understand the information more quickly and so it more easily maps to the insurance API (Dwelling is Coverage A or the first in the API)
Human
• Led a voice and tone workshop that an aspirational, approaching, assuring, and transparent voice would distinguish us from competitors and connect with users.
Helpful
• Ensured the content and value of the benefits were easy to understand so users could make better decisions about covering what mattered to them.
How I worked
Collaborators
• Lead designer
• UX lead
• Information architect
• Product managers
• Director of marketing
• Director of product and strategy
• VP of customer experience
• Dev lead
• Developers/QA
• Configuration (content management) leads
• Legal & compliance officers
Work I did
• Content design and information architecture for home, product, help pages, and purchase flows
• Social proof (client metrics) design
• Expert-backed articles template
• Helpful tooltips/FAQs in plain language
• Case studies and calculator tools
• UX copy and motivational transaction pages
• Email marketing templates
• QA/user acceptance testing for design and functionality
• Input content/edited HTML in content management system
• A/B testing for tone/messages
Skills/software used
• InVision
• SharePoint
• Microsoft Suite (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
• Google Suite
• SEMrush (SEO tool)
• Azure Dev Ops (ADO)
• HTML
• Eloqua email marketing
• Kentico content management system
• Competitive analysis
• SEO keyword research
• Voice and tone workshop
1 Empathize
Solving user pain points
User pain points
• May not know what voluntary/anytime benefits are
• Unaware of or confused about what kind of benefits they could take advantage of (how much coverage to get, what they’re losing by not getting it, etc.)
Process
• Conducted competitive analysis of other insurers and benefit platforms to identify content/UX strengths and gaps with product marketing/user flows
• Participated in demos and interviews/Q&As with subject matter experts and stakeholders to learn about user pain points, product information, client APIs and more
• Performed SEO keyword research to understand user intent and FAQs for all product industries, including search volume and keyword competition levels
• Researched typical buyer’s journey, including negative reviews about competitors that adversely impacted customer experience (e.g. lack of clear language around covered conditions or exclusions)
“Age 29 – 45
$40,000 – $60,000
Married, has children
Employed full time
High school / 2-year college education”
2 Define
Considering user intent and goals
• Understood goals to funnel traffic to quote and purchase flows, educate users on products and grow conversion rates for new benefits platform
• Had Q&As with tech leaders on input requirements, content needs and error messages or validations based on client APIs and legal/compliance
• Considered pain points resulting in user drop off e.g. when they’re asked to sign in too early in the “get a quote” process before committing to their potential purchase
• Confirmed demographics and audience segmentation of target users with business stakeholders and UX teams
3 Ideate
Designing content first
• Led a voice and tone workshop with business stakeholders to pinpoint ones most likely to motivate them throughout user journey. Reviewed existing UX research and competitor’s voice and tones then created our own unique voice/tone combinations to user test
• Experimented with content design and hierarchy for product/UX content based on design system components before business review and design prototyping in Sketch/InVision
• Created content strategy to cultivate trust, translating industry jargon into plain language and communicating high value and savings for products using real world calculations and case studies
• Wrote voice and tone guidelines and a content strategy deck after competitive analysis of other brand personalities in insurance & benefits industries
Voice and tone workshop
To kick off the content-first approach to design, the first step I took was to determine voice and tone.
Competitive analysis of tones
I led a workshop with executives to find out how to best speak to our audience and distinguish ourselves from competitors in the insurance and benefits industry.
Empathy for user emotions
I walked through the wheel of emotions to get executives in the headspace of consumers to consider their feelings. This exercise would end up shaping the entire experience.
Voice and tone guidelines
In the end, we wanted to create a platform that sparks interest, earns trust, and inspires serenity.
Content strategy
I created presentation decks for tone and voice guidelines, SEO best practices and overall content strategy to business stakeholders (including product owners) and their roles throughout the user journey.
SEO query research to anticipate user questions
I performed keyword research with SEMrush for all 5 products, including by product category, brand, question, and other related keywords. This influenced the content for the product pages, product details, quote flows, FAQs, and help center.
Competitive analysis of traffic and engagement metrics
Mapping user intent across the user journey
I mapped common SEO queries to the user journey and what kind of content might be most helpful depending on where the user is in the journey.
In addition to qualitative analysis like comparing voice and tone, I also performed quantitative analysis of competitors for trust and engagement metrics to determine how can compete in the market.
Information architecture
The content strategy and voice and tone greatly influenced the information architecture of the pages—from the home page to product pages to purchase flows.
Translate content strategy into design
The structure aimed to quickly answer common questions like is it worth getting this benefit and how does a certain benefit work or how much coverage to have?
OUTCOME
Before
Money Left Over in-app, landing page, and app store content - before
❌ Beta testers were confused about where their Money Left Over prediction came from and how it was calculated (the cornerstone feature of the app and the first thing they saw as they landed on their Home screen)
❌ Participants in the landing page content research were concerned about security and the catch behind a personal finance app that’s 100% free
❌ Participants in the app store content research found complex visuals made the app seem difficult to use
After
Money Left Over in-app, landing page, and app store content - after
✅ Added microcopy to make it clear how the app calculates Money Left Over
✅ Created content around reassuring users about security and why the app is free
✅ Updated app store visuals from more complex line graphs to simple bar charts so users got a better impression the app was simple to use
FEEDBACK
“THANK YOU SHEENA. You’ve been amazing. You’ve gone above and beyond. We would not be in a position to launch our app so soon without you. Great partnership.”
— Travis Bjorklund, Principal Product Manager, MoLO