Guardian Life: Inspire Well-being

Imagine yourself as a new mom... You're excited but also facing the complicated leave policies and insurance benefits. It's easy to feel confused and worried about how much time and money you'll have. How can you start to prepare?

Team

• 1 Product Researcher
• 1 Product Manager
• 2 UX Designer
• 6 Stakeholders as revenue, administrative, and tech teams

Contribution

User interview

User journey mapping

Ideation

Paper prototype

High-fidelity prototype

Interaction design

My Role

Design Lead

Tool

Figma; Miro; Sharepoint; Userlytics; Dscout

Timeline

2023. 10 - 2024. 3

Impact

The result was a significant increase in customer satisfaction, as evidenced by a 40% improvement in satisfaction rates

post-implementation.

Context

01

Background

In 2023, 30% (24K) of Guardian's STD claims were maternity claims, prompting us to explore opportunities to meet the needs of our customers

Having a new baby is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. Parents have so many concerns and having a baby often leads to a reevaluation of financial & Insurance considerations.

Challenge

How can we address the evolving needs and unique scenarios each family faces from pregnancy discovery to returning to work?

Research Process

02

Process Overview

I located problems through data, and interviews and developed solutions through ideation, iteration, and collaboration.

Dark blue parts indicate how much I contribute to a team.

Qualitative interviews

What makes it hard for users to navigate the journey?

" I just don’t understand what I am entitled to and how that translates into the time I receive and the amount of money I get. "

" It was so stressful to have a baby,
and then I still needed to fill all these forms and complete various processes. "

I collaborated with one researcher to create a mod guide and conducted 15 external and internal interviews to understand the current journey map and identify pain points that trigger dissatisfaction and task errors.

Pain Points

Uncertainty about the time & money they will receive

Users struggle to manage 4 departments and 12 different claims within a year, each on separate timelines and websites, creating significant frustration and inefficiency.

Struggling to effectively manage time and easily forgetting tasks

Users often struggle to remember submitting all required files on time and feel overwhelmed due to a large number of tasks.

Stressed about the new norms when returning to work

Users felt anxious returning to work, facing hundreds of emails, and uncertain about how to adapt to the new normal.

Competitor Analysis

Most carriers treat maternity/paternity leave as a transaction rather than a significant life event.

To understand the solutions provided by the current market, I collaborated with researchers to conduct a competitor analysis of 16 products. This helped us identify what NOT to build while pinpointing integration needs and platform opportunities.

Opportunity

We identified a large white space in the market for a carrier to embrace a modern maternity leave with empathy, digital planning tools, inclusive language, leave and payroll planning, and assistance with navigating complicated leave laws.

Solution

One Step Leave Planner

Dashboard

Create a one-stop shop to holistically support the life event. Be a single source of trust and truth.

Action Items > Checklists. Enable to path to motherhood, not the claims & absence processes

Onboarding Tips & Resources Center

Advise members on how to prepare for life beyond the event. Project relevant future scenarios and solutions to help,

Design & Iteration

03

Foundational Needs

Simplified Language

Enhance clarity by refining information with familial language

Effortless digital experience

Increase engagement and efficiency by reducing friction and barriers.

Engagement

Create meaningful and lasting interactions with members.

Personalized

Offer relevant actions and content that curate an individualized journey

Solution 1.0

A leave planner that creates specific time & money plans based on user profile & preferences.

I facilitated 15 moderated usability tests through dscout & userlytics, focusing purely on enhancing desirability. Collaborating closely with researchers to synthesize the data, we gathered critical insights that significantly improved application visibility and user efficiency.

Exploration & Iteration

Iterate to a more straightforward and customized process that helps users easily understand their plans.

I took the lead in designing and preparing interview materials, ensuring we kept company information secure during external interviews. All prototypes were thoughtfully crafted to differ from The Guardian's design system.

Feedback

Business goals and user goals may NOT always be aligned...

Although the auto-generated leave plan met 70% of user needs during testing, we couldn't fully implement it due to technical limitations. However, this experience taught me how to compromise effectively without completely sacrificing the user experience.

Final Design

Provide a multimodal experience that allows users to interact as they choose.

Although some of my proposals were rejected due to business and technical constraints, I continued to collaborate with researchers, product managers, and designers to develop alternative solutions that not only save users' time but are also customized to their needs.

Solution 2.0

Provide user direction, simplify essential tasks, and be a dynamic companion across each stage of the journey.

While testing in the initial rounds, I focused on listing all action items in a streamlined method to share as much information as possible. However, users showed a lack of motivation due to the overwhelming amount of information. In response, the new version was made clearer, resulting in a 40% increase in user satisfaction rate.

Solution 3.0

Advise users on how to prepare for life beyond the event.

Project relevant future scenarios and solutions to help users. From postpartum depression to loss of life, help them bolster their resources. Don't be afraid to sell benefits that have relatable value.

Final Outcome

04

Scenario

Billa just found out she was pregnant, and she opened Guardian Anytime to plan her leave...

01 ｜ One-Step Leave Planner

Guide the creation of a personalized leave plan

Leverage the actual benefits and surface real options to help users craft the best plan. Allow the user to analyse the tradeoffs between time & money and craft a unique plan.

02 | Dashboard

A reliable "companion" who supports the member through their journey

Eliminate frustration and confusion allowing for personal moments that matter.

03 ｜ Onboarding Tips & Resource Center

Assist the workers during the transition & invision future help

Increase understanding and awareness of available benefits, products, and resources.

Takeaway

05

What I learnt

User's strong emotions towards design could help in gathering design feedback

Instead of repeatedly hearing "that looks good" during the interview, I made a concerted effort to prompt users to elaborate on their potential needs and insights.

Embrace Ambiguity

Ambiguity... ambiguity... ambiguity...
This word encapsulates a transformative journey, imparting invaluable lessons along the way.

Frustration? Certainly! However, maintaining an open-minded stance in the face of uncertainty has allowed for creative exploration and the emergence of innovative solutions. Gradually, I've learned to trust the iterative process, embracing feedback and iteration as essential steps towards refining ideas and achieving meaningful outcomes.

Think Beyond Design

As a designer, while improving the user experience is important, I also need to actively consider other factors, such as how to balance design innovation and feasibility in the development process. All these factors are related to cross-functional collaboration to help the product launch on schedule. Any plan has trade-offs, what should we do is think holistically about the impact of each choice and make adjustments.

As Design Innovation Team...

Always bring some creativity after work!