Project Directive
- Create an engaging onboarding experience for new users
- Reduce the number of calls from new users
- Increase enrollment rates in notifications, storage, and location services
My Role and who I worked with
I was the UX Researcher on this project. I partnered with UI designer to generate graphics, Android and iOS engineers on the registration flow implementation, and a PM serving as subject matter expert on mobile app enrollment, who supplied the call-volume data that framed the business problem. The research was mine end to end — recruiting, interviews, survey design, and synthesis — with findings reviewed in weekly sessions with my PM and design lead.
- Create an engaging onboarding experience for new users
- Reduce the number of calls from new users
- Increase enrollment rates in notifications, storage, and location services
Phase 1
Understand the Business Problem
GEICO Mobile was not fulfilling its role as a policy management tool.
New customers were:
- Calling instead of using the app to make updates
- Dialing for roadside assistance rather than initiating claims electronically
The application was falling short of its goal of 100% digital self-service.
Phase 2
New Customer Interviews
New policy holders were the target audience for this research. I interviewed eight customers that had purchased insurance within the past six months.
Interview Objectives
- Assess what thoughts users have after purchasing an insurance policy
- Identify user expectations and expose product gaps
Key Discoveries
For accidents, updates, cancellation (big stuff) users call
Wanted peace of mind; confidence & accuracy
New users want to look for confirmation; make sure address, drivers, and vehicles were correct
The process was overwhelming, hesitant to add another step in an already lengthy process; too many questions
Phase 3
Existing Customers Survey
I distributed a survey to existing customers (Power Users) to compile data on the perceptions of active users and create a well-rounded model of what it meant to be a “new customer.”
Rating Scale
- Strongly Disagree
- Somewhat Disagree
- Neutral
- Somewhat Agree
- Strongly Agree
Survey Results
2.9
I was confident in my knowledge about insurance.
Even tenured customers sat below neutral on insurance literacy — and new customers would start lower still. Education couldn’t be an optional extra.
3
I had everything I needed as a policy holder.
A dead-neutral score from power users meant the app wasn’t fully serving its best customers, let alone newcomers.
3.8
I needed the help of technical person to use the app.
The most alarming result in the study: our most active users agreed they needed help to operate the app. This became the project’s clearest mandate — if power users need assistance, new customers don’t stand a chance alone.
3.5
I would like to use this app frequently.
The appetite existed. The confidence didn’t. That gap — willing but unequipped — is precisely what onboarding exists to close.
Phase 4
Generate Personas
Following Nielsen Norman Group’s guidance on qualitative personas, I synthesized the eight interviews and the power-user survey into a single primary persona: Sue. Concentrating on one persona was deliberate — Sue represents the highest-risk, highest-volume new customer, and designing for her confidence gap would serve the broader population.
Phase 5
Establish context for personas
New Driver Sue needed to feel confident in her choices and have peace of mind that she’s fully covered in case of emergency.
I created context for Sue by designing templates that explained why permissions were essential. Simultaneously, Sue learned about the range of capabilities the app had.
Design Templates
Phase 6
Usability Testing
With templates in hand, I collected feedback from users about account activation and the permissions UX.
Pivot point: cutting my own designs. Testing delivered a humbling finding — too much context is not a good thing. I had designed 7 full-screen educational templates, and participants, already fatigued from a lengthy insurance purchase, read them as more homework, with one participant asking me “Is this really how many questions they’re going to ask?” Rather than defend the templates, I worked with my PM and UI designer to find the smallest intervention that preserved the confidence-building goal. We landed on three slides, shown during registration, at the exact moment permission requests appear — context paid for in seconds, not minutes. The research didn’t say users don’t need context; it said context has a budget.
Outcomes
Comparing Registration Flows
Results from a satisfaction questionnaire suggested the new registration process with added context (orange) out performed the old registration process (red).
Business Impact & Final Designs
In production, context-building onboarding increased permission enrollment across notifications, storage, and location services for the first login after purchase. Satisfaction scores for the new registration flow (orange) outperformed the legacy flow (red). Call volume from new customers — the metric that started this project — declined over the same period.
