Zurich Car Insurance online calculator
With more than 1.4 million customers, Zurich is one of the top insurance companies in Switzerland. Car insurance is one of the company's flagship products, and its online calculator is one of the most requested tool by users. In 2024, more than 130.000 users accessed the Car Calculator.

Role
Product designer

Year
Ongoing since 2023

Team setup
Product Owner.
Data analysis team.
UX Researcher.
Product designer (myself).
Stakeholder: Digital Business Lead.

Deliverables
High fidelity design file for desktop and mobile.
Prototypes for user test.
Documentation for development.
Resume for stakeholders.

The challenge—

Despite high demand for the product, the dropout rate was very high. Thanks to data analysis and user testing, we discovered valuable insights that allowed us to understand the reasons. Our challenge was to carefully adjust the flow and ensure the user understood the product and the possible combinations so they could move on to the final quote.

Empathize—Research Users' Needs

Quantitative
50% of users who start the process abandon it after the second step
20% advance to the product offer (where they see the price and coverages)
3% complete the process by purchasing insurance or requesting a quote (contacting an insurance agent).

Qualitative
Users find the process very simple, quick and well guided, but when they land on the offer page they struggle to understand the different packages and how to configure them.
Finding their own car sometimes is hard because of the several options available.
Many users start the process on the mobile version, but when it comes to comparing and defining, they use the desktop version. This information is key to understanding that we must have a consistent UX and UI across both platforms.

Competition
We analyse the main competitors to understand what services and features they offer.

Define—State users’ and business needs and problems

We analyze the observations and synthesize them to define the core problems:

Despite the good volume of traffic, the conversion rate is low compared to what the business expected.
We need to improve the car selection process.
Many users struggle to understand the products and additional services offered; some don't fully understand that they can customise their insurance.
There is too much information and options, users abandon the process overwhelmed.

Ideate—Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas

After analysing the implementation impact and timing we have:

✓

Improved the flow by reducing the amount of data required to display an initial price.
✓

Improved the car model search engine and added filters to narrow down the options.
✓

Improved the copy to make it easier to understand.
✓

Designed a new feature to save progress, helping users pick up where they left off without having to start from scratch.
✓

Redesign the packages screen, highlighting key benefits of each product and the configuration package feature.
✓

Added new micro animations to help users understand what they've selected and how it impacts the price.
✓

Improve the consistency between desktop and mobile.

Optimized coverages page to make comparing alternatives as easy as possible.

New components build through atomic design from our Design System

Prototype—Start to Create Solutions

Thanks to our design system, we were able to deliver Hi Fidelity prototypes, which helps stakeholders and testing users feel the experience is real.

Test—Try the Solutions Out

We conducted new user tests and we obtained the following key insights:

01 Users can better find their exact car model. Filters have been frequently used.

02 Save for later function seems interesting, especially when users get to the package selection and configuration.

03 Users better understand the coverage and differences between products, although the language is sometimes very technical and confusing.

What we have achieved

✓

Users find the exact car model more easily.
✓

The conversion rate has improved by 3% in the second half of 2024 compared to the first half.
✓

17% of users who start the process use the "save for later" option. Of this 17%, 7% end up purchasing the product or requesting a quote from an agent.

What we have not achieved yet

╳

For many users, product customization is still not entirely clear; they come and go without understanding the benefits of optional coverage.
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On mobile version, some information is difficult to navigate.

Conclusion

Car insurance is one of the most popular products, with price often being a determining factor in the decision. The improvements implemented help retain customers, although many of them abandon their purchase later in the process. We must continue working to simplify the process and information, considering improved writing methods that are more accessible and easier to understand. Alignment with the business is key to understanding which part of the product you want to promote and which part you don't want to highlight due to its high internal cost.

Next steps

We are currently designing a new version of the calculator, whose key advantage is its modular configuration. This allows the user to view all the options in a single table and play with them freely, always keeping the different options and prices in view.

We are also testing the possibility of redesigning the stepper to make it dynamic, allowing users to access it if needed. A summary of the product configuration is a new component that will allow users to view the selected coverage at any time.

Note: due to information sensitivity, the data presented here is not 100% accurate, and several processes and screens are not displayed. If you'd like to learn more about this project and my approach, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thank you.