This is Ruairi's and my presentation from the UX Masterclass conference in Copenhagen, April 2011. We presented a case study, and explained how our agile-esque process created a successful design.

1. Agile in action
Our Process for
Optimising Conversions

2. Who are we?
iQ Content Interaction designer
Content Strategist (not pictured)

3. Project
Process

4. The project
One of Ireland’s insurance companies hired us to redesign their health insurance funnel.

5. The context
This company was under a lot of pressure. They were partly state owned, and the state
(Ireland) wasn’t doing so well. They had to increase sales and their offline sales model couldn’t
support that number - unless they hired hundreds more call centre staff. This was a high
pressure project.

6. The problem
a 1% conversion rate

7. The investigation

8. A closer look
The problem came early:
78% of people dropped out between
step 1 and 2 of the funnel

9. When they got here. . .
. . . they left.

10. The pogostick
What does it mean?
. . . Users went back and forth between pages

11. The desire to compare

12. We user tested
THE TASK:
Buy health insurance for you and
your family.

13. “It’s not
obvious what
the
differences
are”

14. Impossible to compare
Product X Product Y Product Z
People had to go deep into a plan to get the details. And getting to another plan from there
wasn’t easy.

15. Memory overload
Product X: Product Y:
Features Features
Costs Costs
Name Name
T&C’s T&C’s

16. 30 + plans

17. The value of strategic
engagement
design around too many products
vs
change the product strategy
This is why it’s so important to integrate yourself with your clients. It’s not enough to put a pretty
design on something - the web has changed business.

18. The paradox of choice
“A colleague of mine got access to
investment records from Vanguard, the
Barry Schwartz: http://www.ted.com/talks/ gigantic mutual fund company of about
barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html a million employees, and about 2,000
different workplaces. And what she found
is that for every 10 mutual funds the
employer offered, rate of participation
went down 2%. You offer 50 funds, 10%
fewer employees participate than if you
only offer 5. Why? Because with 50 funds
to choose from, it's so damn hard to
decide which fund to choose, that you'll
just put it off till tomorrow. And then
tomorrow, and then tomorrow, and
tomorrow, and tomorrow, and of course
tomorrow never comes.”

19. How we make decisions
Pete Lunn: http://bit.ly/eQxx5i
“Our decision making is hugely influenced
by subtle little cues about the decision
making of others around us”

20. Finding what your
audience cares about
Site search terms categories
2% 1%
2%
6%
14%
53%
health terms (like
23%
“pregnancy”)
Health Product
Tools Product related
Claims Other
VHI
Most people searched for what was relevant to them, instead of plans in their entirety.

21. Confusing product
descriptions
“Health “Hi-Tech
Maintenance Hospital”
Organisation”
“Pre-Existing
Condition
Exclusion
“Excess” Period”
But the language was inaccessible (in the sense that no one could understand it)

22. We user tested
“I wouldn’t know the
difference between a
private hospital and a
high tech hospital. I’d
probably put it in for the
craic.. . . Before I’d
commit, I’d call them
and ask them what it
means.”

23. Our process, our success
Interaction
Content
design
The sweet spot
Our process meant that we were working together throughout the research phase as well as
the design phase. And as you can see, the interaction and the language are one and the
same. Our ‘specialties’ are for our sake, not the design.

24. They had a long form

25. Non essential fields

26. No context

27. Content was isolated
Purchase
flow
Content

28. The good part (the
design)

29. It started with destruction
We started our design ‘sprints’ with some content deconstruction.

31. Taking the plans apart
for our users’ sakes.
Site search terms categories
2% 1%
2%
6%
14%
health terms
53%
(not branded
23%
ones)
Health Product
Tools Product related
Claims Other
VHI
We did this because people were searching for things inside the plans. So we took the plans
apart.

32. The bog standard health
plan description
Meaningless titles, the important information is a list without details.

33. Something radical
Remove the head

34. Something radical
Remove the head

35. Conceptual . . .

36. Conceptual . . .
This was important - the plan was no longer a plan, it was information about elements of the
plan. And they were optional - you could read about them if you cared about them; skip
them if you didn’t.

37. Actual

38. Actual
Plan title replacements

39. Form design
...we had a fight on our hands

40. Reducing form fields
44 21
Win!

41. Moving fields beyond
‘done’
Win!

42. We didn’t win them all

43. Getting the right
people in the room
We didn’t win those arguments because marketing weren’t in the room. So talking to the right
people is as important as your design - because you approval for that design from those
people.

44. Form design principles

45. Form design principles
No global navigation, exit
points, or distractions

46. Form design principles
Users are well
oriented

47. Form design principles
Reducing
cognitive load

48. Language
Fun with legalese
Dated eligible receipts on headed
We will pay benefits up to the paper will be necessary to avail of
level covered under the plan of this benefit.
which you are a member at the
time you receive treatment
subject to any applicable
waiting period, exclusion for
pre-existing conditions or
supplementary exclusion
period. A €75 excess per episode of care on
private and High-tech hospital
treatment applies.

49. Set the tone with
specifics
Simple
Warm
?

50. Less like . . . More like . . .
Tone descriptor Less like . . . More like . . .
Simple . . . staffed by Qualified nurses
qualified nurses are available
who supply around the clock to
information on a answer all your
wide range of medical questions.
medical conditions
and queries
This chart comes from Content Strategy for the Web, by Kristina Halvorson

51. Tone descriptor Less like . . . More like . . .
Warm Subject to prior Make sure you get
approval and approval for the
satisfaction in full treatment before
of specified criteria you have it done.
Weʼll outline all the
criteria for elective
treatments in your
policy starter
documents.
Notice that the better text is longer - because it needs to be.

52. Set a scene

53. Humans respond to
other humans

54. Example content
“ When you go on holiday or a business trip abroad, you're
still covered. This means we'll cover €65,000 for the
following:
• Emergency treatment you may need while you're
abroad. Your trip abroad must be less than 180 days.
• Elective treatment abroad (give us a call to check which
treatments we cover)
◦ Surgeries - ones that are available in Ireland and
◦ Treatment not available in Ireland.
Make sure you get approval for any treatment or surgery
before you get them done.
Setting a scene is simply sentence construction. Images are far easier to remember - and
there are lots of details to remember.

55. ...the results

56. In the first week,
conversions increased
by . . .
888%
. . . and since then, we’ve consistently tripled
conversions

57. Set an objective
Everyone has the same goal
This is an easy one - but essential. Setting a goal means everyone in the room has a point of
reference, and something that they’ve all agreed on.

58. No surprises
Nothing was thrown over the wall - the team worked together so that they knew what was
going on every step of the way.

59. Clients with us every
step of the way
which means they won’t say no to scary stuff
Clients helped us as subject matter experts - we couldn’t have designed well without them
there. And they could also see our reasoning, which meant we had greater buy-in. Having the
clients in the room is essential to our process.

60. Avoiding politics
Every company has politics. If you’re working with them, best to be aware. It’s a balance
between workshops with everyone in the room, and one-on-one information gathering.

61. Lots of input can mean
chaos
Input

63. Thank You
Randall Snare: @randallsnare
Ruairi Galavan: @ruairi_galavan
iQ Content: @iqcontent