Company: Hellon

Client: Vodafone

Country: UK

In 2020, a leading telecommunications company entered the digital insurance market to diversify its offerings and leverage its extensive customer base. This initiative aimed to integrate insurance with telecom services, enhancing customer loyalty. The company faced a saturated market with intense competition and regulatory challenges. Initial attempts through retail channels resulted in low conversion rates of just 2%.

The target market included existing telecom customers across various European countries, influenced by significant cultural differences. The objectives were to develop a customer-centric digital insurance offering, increase conversion rates, and seamlessly integrate with existing telecom services.

The Process
The project began with extensive research, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, engaging 159 participants across Spain and Germany. Methods included interviews, surveys, contextual diary tasks, stakeholder interviews, and literature reviews. Insights on customer preferences, cultural nuances, and behavioral profiles guided the design phase.

Using a triple diamond approach and future-back methodology, the team conducted co-creation workshops, prototyping, and iterative testing to refine the product concepts, ensuring they resonated with user needs.

Outcomes
The research and iterative design process led to innovative insurance concepts featuring dynamic risk-based pricing and modular bundling. Key deliverables included customer insight reports, refined journey maps that visualized customer experiences, service blueprints mapping service delivery processes, and validated prototypes extensively tested and refined based on customer feedback.

These deliverables seamlessly integrated with the company's telecom services, resulting in a revamped digital insurance product with personalized packages, transparent communication, and easy-to-understand terms and conditions.

Main Impact
The design-led approach exceeded initial objectives, showcasing the power of human-centric design. Conversion rates increased from 2% to 8%, a 300% increase. The landing page dropout rate decreased from 68% to 43%. The customer base grew by 21%, and revenue increased by 19%. Initially launched in two markets, the insurance proposition expanded to nine markets globally, demonstrating scalability and adaptability.

The project's success enhanced performance metrics and increased customer satisfaction within the telecommunications company. The positive market reception strengthened the brand position in the insurance sector. Other stakeholders, including business partners and investors, recognized the innovative approach and its potential for future projects.

The project's impact matched and exceeded the initial objectives, addressing immediate
challenges and setting a precedent for future innovation. It highlighted the importance of aligning brand promise with customer needs, showing that true growth requires boldness, innovation, and a deep understanding of consumer trust.