Four Behaviourally-derived Segments of Traders
With the service provider in mind, we helped a large national insurance provider imagine and bring a new digital insurancequoting tool to market. Using a design-led and behaviourallyinformed methodology, we assembled a panel of insurance brokers who served as our co-designers in the end-to-end process. We engaged in ethnographic research with this cohort to understand the insurance-quoting context by asking:
• What are the preconceptions of different insurers out there?
• Whom do you trust/not trust and why?
• What motivates you?
• What is your current go-to process and what workarounds have you devised over time to make the workflow work for you?
We also accompanied brokers into the real world to hear and observe how they engage with potential and current customers. These ‘ride-alongs’ helped us understand the interactions we needed to get right above and beyond the choice architecture in a digital experience.
Finally, we designed a beta version to pilot, as well as a rollout strategy that involved a national roadshow of the quoting tool. The roadshow brought the insurer closer to brokers, giving them a chance to learn about the tool and even experiment with it together. This simultaneously built deeper connections as well as demystified a new tool on the market. This generative and participatory approach to behavioural design manifested in a real-world product that has high adoption, conversion and renewal rates.
A positive experience can make the difference between having a customer return to do more business and having them tell their friends how awful the organization was. Using principles from Behavioural Science, companies can create more positive interactions and experiences. Of course, not all interactions with a bank can be positive. Being denied a loan or a line of credit can make customers feel that they are being rejected. However, it is important for banks and other financial institutions to understand how to support thoughtful, long-term financial decisionmaking in order to foster better financial health, especially in these types of difficult moments.
We helped one Canadian bank rethink an applicant’s experience of being denied a loan to discover how it might use this challenging interaction to play a role in supporting the customer’s financial health over the long term. Our research revealed that customers were not always clear on why they were being denied a loan or what they could do to be in a better position to be approved for a loan next time. Telling a customer that they need to build their credit — the typical explanation banks provide — is not always useful to customers. Credit is an abstract concept for most people, and many people do not understand what they can do to improve it.
The point in the process where customers receive the loan decision (approval or rejection) is critical in their experience and has a lasting impact on how they view the bank. Unfortunately, it’s also the last interaction many customers have with their bank. But it doesn’t have to be. What if the bank helped the customer understand how they might start to create good financial habits and what specific actions they can take to build their credit?
Moreover, what if the bank showed them other people in similar situations and the actions they took to build their credit? We worked with our client to develop prototype tools that could