Journey Map & Service Blueprint
Problem
An insurance company noticed a surge in complaints about their Renter's insurance policies every August and September. Soon after the number of Renter's policies plunged. They wanted to know why.
Solution
Develop an end-to-end understanding of how customers became aware of the insurance product, define the friction points and offer some possible solutions.
Research
Conducted stakeholder interviews, analyzed recorded customer calls and recorded digital interactions, conducted content analysis of written procedures
My Role
Team lead, producer, experience owner, primary researcher, creation of journey map and service blueprint
Deliverables
Journey map, service blueprint, recommendations
Discovery Phase
The cross-functional team collectively responsible for the user experience explored acquisition and post- acquisition areas of the customer journey to identify key pain points and opportunities for improvement. After each research activity we regrouped to discuss our observations and build key insights.
Findings
We discovered that the complaints were specifically coming from parents who purchased Renter's insurance on behalf of their college-aged students who were going off to school for the first time. The parents could purchase insurance on their child's behalf and sign up for automatic payments. Once the policy was in force, there was no way for the parents to see what they were paying for unless their child had given them Power of Attorney (POA). Confused by not being able to see the policy within their account, they called the contact center for assistance. Since the child was an adult, the customer service rep could not provide any details about the policy. They had to council the parents to have their children give them POA.
The Journey Map
The journey map below illustrates the thoughts and feelings a mother would have as she goes through this process. It also includes opportunities for improvement.
Service Blueprint
The service blueprint adds additional context about the intersections between the customer experience, service rep and operations. In the current state it can take up to fourteen days for the customer to receive a confirmation. Unfortunately, that is an Enterprise process that could not be fixed by this team. But there was still a lot they could do.
Recommendations
Tactics for the Parents
Inform the parents early and often during the digital interaction about what will happen after the policy is purchased.
Create a simple POA process.
Provide parents with a seven-day grace period to call and get information.
Send detailed confirmation email that explains next steps for them and for their child.
Add content to parent's account summary that acknowledges that they've purchased the policy and reiterates next steps.
Tactics for the Service Reps
Provide service reps with an easy-to-identify banner within their system to signify that they are within the seven-day window.
Provide service reps with documentation that will help them explain the situation to the parents more easily.
Provide service reps with canned emails they can send to the parent and the child with necessary information.
Strategy for the Adult Child
Based on the first round of research it became clear that the most effective approach to resolving the issue was to employ a child self-sufficiency approach. Since this idea is entirely new to the organization it will require a full research effort to uncover what's preventing children from taking charge and develop approaches to overcome that barrier.