Customer Journey Mapping the Commercial Agents' Application Process

Situation

As a User Experience Designer II at IMT Insurance, I contributed to projects that support the Commercial Lines area of the business.

Task

The Commercial Lines leadership wanted to develop more systematic knowledge of how the commercial agents experience the whole process of quoting and binding new policies with the company. They also wanted to identify any areas of weakness in the current process.

Action

I worked with the Commercial Lines area to conduct customer journey mapping of agents' experiences from the time they send applications for new business to the time the business is issued. Customer journey mapping is a technique that allows a company to develop knowledge about customers’ experiences as they move through a process. I used process guidance from NN/g to conduct internal and external interviews in order to develop a customer journey map. First, I interviewed four commercial lines underwriters and developed an assumption customer journey map. The assumption-based map gathered our internal understanding of the process. Second, I interviewed 12 external participants and developed a research-based customer journey map.

Results

The research-based customer journey map found that participants think highly of the application process and underwriters. The map included the process steps, needs, pains, positives, and potential improvements. Some of the potential improvements included the following:

• Participants wanted more opportunities to quote online
• Participants wanted more consistency of underwriter responsiveness
• Participants wanted to improve the data transfer from the Agency Management Systems to IMT systems
• Participants wanted the ability to get "quick quotes"
• Participants wanted comprehensive proposals (multiline), in clear language, with line-specific details
• Participants wanted quick access to policy numbers and ID cards after after issuance
• Participants wanted the ability to bind all policies at once
• Participants wanted the ability to obtain umbrella policies with everything else
• Participants wanted an option to bill the customer for the down payment

Much of my work a IMT has been finding and implementing best practices to support the maturing of the UX area. This project is an example of how I implemented a method to provide systematic results and support the maturing of the UX area.