Policygenius

Increasing life insurance signup conversion 20% in 90 days

Policygenius is an online insurance marketplace that helps people compare quotes and buy coverage, from life insurance to home and auto. I led design on the life insurance product, from the first quote to the submitted application.

January is the busiest month for life insurance, and Policygenius was about to launch its biggest campaign yet: a New York City subway takeover, with roughly 3x our usual ad spend. Our application funnel was already highly optimized, so small tweaks and adjustments weren’t going to cut it.

The goal: lift online application conversion 20% in the 90 days before the subway ad launch. I paired a rapid experiment schedule with customer interviews to find what actually made people apply.

Note: these are highlights, not full case studies. Want the full story? Reach out.

My role: Lead Designer
My process: Interview customers, run rapid A/B tests, and redesigned the flow around one idea: easy
Team: 1 Marketing Manager
1 PM
1 Designer
7 Engineers

Our first two big swings missed. Both came from interviewing shoppers who had saved quotes but never applied. Explaining the process inside the flow gave non-committal shoppers a reason to leave, and spelling out the differences between policies overwhelmed them. We had been designing for people who weren’t our customers.

Early test: Okay, let’s select your coverage amount, with a guide named Frank

Early test: These policies are your best match, with detailed policy comparisons

We initially added more content into the experience, which overwhelmed and confused shoppers.

So we flipped our research and interviewed customers who’d had a great experience with Policygenius. From these interviews, we uncovered a key insight: customers didn’t want to spend time evaluating the nuanced differences in life insurance plan offerings. They just wanted to protect their family, complete the purchase, and get the task off their todo list.

Easy became our design principle for every step of the flow: less effort, less thought, less reflection. We shipped it as three experiments: a simpler flow to gather the basic information, quotes you could choose between at a glance, and a lighter application to close it out.

Results

+8%Conversion lift from Easy Flow

+11%Conversion lift from Easy Quotes

+6%Conversion lift from Easy Application

Looking back, the biggest lesson was who to listen to. Skeptical shoppers told us what to explain. Happy customers told us what to remove.