United Healthcare
Switching from one insurance plan to another

When United Healthcare members have more than one plan, how do they go about choosing the plan they want to see? Once they're in one plan, how do they switch to viewing a different plan? These were the questions that the product manager and I tackled as we thought through the best flow for users selecting multiple insurance plans.

Role: Product Designer

Platform: Responsive Web

Year: 2020-Present

Existing design for selecting a plan

The Problem

The average login time for users is 18 seconds which was not the initial first impression we wanted to make. We were tasked to promote a faster login speed and more efficient front door experience for UHC members. The existing design had several challenges:

  • Difficult to understand the differences between the 2 plans at a glance

  • Lack of visual hierarchy made it difficult to know what information is important

  • Not conducive to more than 2 plans

I was tasked to design a screen that made it easy for users to select a plan and quickly move on to the dashboard.



My Role

I was the sole designer for the plan selection screen.


Research & Discovery

I explored products from Netflix to Kayak in order to understand the simplest way to present options to a user. Netflix was the closest example I could find since it acted as an interstitial between login and the dashboard. This was similar to the pattern I was following for UHC's plan selection screen.

Kayak used cards to present various room availability that includes only the most important information and clear call to actions. The interstital screen on Netflix was the closest example I could find to the problem I was tackling.

Invision also has an interstital that allows you to select which team to launch. It was easy to know at a glance what you were selecting. I also referenced the plan selection screen that was being used on the UHC mobile app.


Initial Mockups

I designed 3 different MVP mock ups: 2 using a radio button that followed the same patter as UHC's mobile app and 1 with a card-style approach that followed the existing design. I used these mocks to capture feedback from users in order to inform the next round of iterations.

Iteration 1 with radio buttons and minimal details

Iteration 2 with radio buttons and expandable details

Card style plan selections


Usability Testing

This study assessed the ease in which users were able to select a plan before moving onto the Dashboard.

  • Ease of Use (Is any portion of the experience confusing?)

  • Success Rate (Do users know where to click, can users return to the plan selector)

  • Drop Off Rate (Do users exit before completion)

User feedback:
"What’s the difference between the 2? Maybe a few more details about each could help the user decide which is the one they want to look at."


"I prefer having additional details about each plan"

"I'd prefer to be able to click directly onto the plan that I want instead of having to select it first then click Continue."


A heat map for: "Where would you click to view a different plan?"

Research Insights

From the research, we discovered that users have a hard time knowing where to view another plan from the dashboard. This led to a discovery effort on how to let users know where they can view another plan.


Refinement

Using the insights from the usability tests, I made further iterations. Because users had expressed the need for additional details, I decided to go in the direction of cards - a component that could accommodate more information. I used existing card components in the UHC design system to explore the most effective way to organize plan information onto a card.

Existing card components from the UHC design system

Exploring different card sizes.

I found the more narrow cards to be easer to scan the information since it doesn't require your eye to move from one side all the way to the other.


High-fidelity Prototype

I landed on the size of card that almost could be an index card. It accommodated the necessary plan information in a way that was easy to scan and differentiate from the other insurance plan.

More details were included in the plans so users have a clear understanding which plan is which.


The Future

The plan selector interstitial set to launch in Q1 2022. I'm currently working with front-end engineers on development. After launch, we will be monitoring log-in time and tracking any difficulty in selecting a plan.