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Portfolio · Discovery & Delivery

Usage-based insurance: from research to MVP

The in-between space of real-time tracking technology and the reassurance users demand about their data.

Role
UX Designer
Client
Datafolio (startup)
Deliverables
Qualitative and quantitative attitudinal studies, UX research process, design system with translation built into Figma (Phrase), finished MVP
Period
2021
Context
Adaptive, pay-per-kilometre car insurance; studies carried out in Italy
"We deliver values out of connected data": Datafolio's promise, over a spiral structure visual.

The intent

Datafolio was offering a new product: car insurance matched to actual use, by the kilometre. The risks and opportunities of this product had to be established with its target population.

The tension lay in a contradiction. The product’s value rests on journey data that users are reluctant to give. We needed to know whether interest in a risk analysis could outweigh distrust of insurers and the worry of sharing real-time data.

The mechanics

The challenges

  1. Objectivity: bring internal biases to light and prioritise the hypotheses to check with users.
  2. Scaling up: finish a robust design system, with translation handled directly in Figma through Phrase, for a multilingual product.
  3. Proving it fast: move quickly to testing to validate the concept.

The plan

  • Launch the UX research process: a schedule and protocols, with a survey of 50 people and interviews with 20 people, carried out in Italy.
  • Finish the design system in Figma, with Phrase for translation.
  • A first prototype, focused on drivers under 51, to test journey planning and route calculation that takes risk into account.

The survey showed both sides of the issue: 84% of respondents refused to be geolocated all the time, but 91% of drivers wanted to be covered when they rent a vehicle.

"Good tech for good live": the brand's tone.

Managing mobility risks: collect data under the user's control, map the risks, cover what needs covering, prevent, protect and assist.

Sketch of the three-screen onboarding: prevention, protection, assistance.

The app's home screen: the map, the choice of vehicle (car, e-scooter, bike) and the menu (journeys, mobility, insurance, payments).

Journey details: price, risk level during the trip and at the destination, broken down by road quality, time slot and traffic.

Contamination-rate filter on the map, "On the Spot" cover offered at departure, then the journey in progress.

Evidence and deliverables

  • The survey results, which set out the tension between the need for cover and the refusal of geolocation.
  • User verbatims: distrust of insurers, a preference for a monthly subscription.
  • The first prototype: the difficulties found (price, battery, geolocation) and the answers proposed (monthly risk reports, modular insurance).

The impact

The major change was finding a mobile sensor solution.

The MVP was finished on the basis of these studies rather than on intuition, with a design system ready for a multilingual product.