Responsibilities: Client communication, team leadership, journey mapping, creative direction, prototyping, user testing, and design delivery.

Naturally, the continuous improvement of new search and tracking touchpoints is mission critical. I was brought on to lead multiple internal UX teams in releasing new versions of two core products.

1. State Prospect Problem
2. Identify Work Streams
– Customer Journey
– Sales Cycle
– Campaign Strategy
– Buyer Journeys
– Scenario Mapping
– Service Designs
– Back End Services (AEM)
3. Execution
– Strategy
– Campaign Design
– Content Mapping
– Analytics/Back End
– Outcomes

Kaiser Permanente

Introduction

Kaiser Permanente is unique in that they are both a health system and an insurer. KP was responsible for the first modern HMO. At a higher level, there was a need to create personas and map the journey of the various corporate sponsors responsible for plan selection and renewal. This included pathing a large client library of cases and plan materials to specific niches, and developing better industry archetypes.

The work included strategy, visual design, CX, and UX to help create an improved end-to-end experience for prospects, member onboarding/renewal, and

Role: CX / Creative Director

Timeline: August 2024 – January 2025

Skills: Research and Analysis
Creative Strategy
Service Design
Experience Design
Visual Design

Me: Client communications
Project design/planning
Team management
Competitive research
Data analysis/visualization
Creative strategy
Workshopping
Presentations
Test design
Service blueprint
Copy concept
Experience design
Visual design
Prototyping

Background

Problem Statement:
Lay the groundwork for a better experience at every level and phase of the member lifecycle. Broader trends in customer behavior illustrated CX shortcomings which should be addressed from a strategic and tactical perspective.

Goal:

Analysis and interpretation of available data to create an initial toolbox of short-term and long-term solutions for member communications, based on new frameworks and tactics.

Content Mapping
Content Allocation
Industry Archetypes
Corporate Personas
Online Self-Assessments
Plan Sponsor Journeys
User Scenarios
Phase 1 Service Design
Phase 2 Service Design
Desired Opportunities:
Overall, the client needed to mitigate member attrition during plan rollout, enrollment, and renewal. By providing useful and timely information to members and sponsors at pivotal moments, the client also hoped to increase perceived value to both he customer and the end customer.

Research

Quantitative Data:
Google analytics for current site
Plan enrollment and retention data
Banner conversion metrics
Dropped requests for service
Sales lead maturation data
Surveys:
Customer surveys of plan sponsorship
Customer surveys of plan membership
(+show quote from website)
Qualitative Data:
Journey Map:
No existing journey map; rollout, enrollment, and onboarding steps were combined to build an idealized journey for the plan sponsor and plan member communications lifecycle
(+show journey map)
Feedback:
The reasons for not renewing a plan at the company level and the factors driving member satisfaction were largely different, but there were some important overlap
Plan costs and copayments
Plan features and benefits
Depth of plan coverage
Breadth of care providers
Convenience of interactions
Ease of plan enrollment
Broker service quality/clarity

Interviews:
The client had large quantities of interview and survey data that were collected and organized through their CRM platform, which was incorporated into the strategic development process. This library was collected and organized according to industry type and client motivation, which made initial development of archetypes and personas easier.
(+show pull quotes from client documentation)
Personas:
The development of personas included individual plan sponsor types within the client organization, as well as the major stressors on the entity itself. Specific industries were organized into interest-driven categories that represented these motivations. An initial set of scenarios was developed from this information.
(+show personas)
(+show industry archetypes)
(+show scenarios)
Usability
Number of Users:
Focus groups of client sponsorship and membership were conducted to qualify, then focus the development of archetypes and personas. 18 individuals were interviewed on two separate occasions.
User Types:
HR staff
HR leadership
Corporate leadership
Broker salesperson
Unenrolled F member <45 Unenrolled M member >45
Enrolled M member <45 Enrolled F member >50
Prospective SMB customer
Prospective mid-market customer
Prospective large-cap customer

This initial cross-section was used to craft better segmentation and map initial journeys.

It is interesting to note that the specifics of the service designs were strongly influenced by a respondent’s age; in particular plan enrollment; where the phone was considered a more “valid” contact method. Preliminary determinations about where and when to eschew total automation and AI were made based on a triage model, with the most “at-risk” member accounts being singled out for an agent response
Questions:
Questions asked to research and validate a baseline were different based one the audience, and included; “Can your recall a time when your health plan’s performance was unsatisfactory or overtly negative?”, “How much direct communication do you expect from your health insurer and when?”, “Is controlling cost more important than premium plan features like an online dashboard?”, “How much do you think a health plan impacts an organization’s ability to be competitive?”, “What are the things that give you a positive impression of a health plan?”, and “Do you think these industry categorizations are valid?”
Methods:
After initial strategy development, an initial version of a new self-assessment tool was wireframed. The tool itself was tested with members of the audience and the questions asked were refined further based on this input.
Results:
Blueprint for industry alignment
User persona background
Service design implementation plan
Potential questions for self-assessment
Actions:
Initiation of Persona and archetype development, with development of the service design blueprint and assessment to follow
Quotes

“Pull quote from website goes here.”

Hypothesis

Crafting both a customer and end-client specific solution to each blueprint was intended to position the targets properly in their unique journey.
(+show

Meeting the target where they were at pivotal moments in the process gave use the ability to abbreviate the convoluted live agent approach the client was using; automating certain processes while still increasing overall efficacy. Scenarios were created for the most common of these decision points. These made use of the information we had about various customer types.
(+show scenarios)

This is important, because KP was really only interfacing with customers when there was an actual problem. This was leading to needlessly negative associations. Making the right connections began with creating a new, comprehensive journey representing not just the broker selection process, but also the mid plan-year maintenance and retention phases leading up renewal.
(+show journey)

Rethinking the initial service design blueprint would require generating several configurations of the basic building blocks, based on the target. It would also require that we develop better language to make individual plan communications more effective.
(+show presentation deck)

We began by developing the automation model based on the client’s Marketo instances. This accounted for CDP data storage, entry, and retrieval, as well as the points where legacy stores would need to be integrated. Working with the agency’s marketing automation team was key to drafting accurate blueprints for real world users.

(+show initial automation process)

Competitive research was conducted prior to beginning the UX, so we had a solid general understanding of how similar tools were used by competitors and industry analogs. We found that there was a lack of value to drive user participation, with most self-contained interactive experiences simply offering to put participants in touch with a broker or agent.
(+show competitive research)

Because so much of the journey is ultimately controlled by the broker, we believed it was possible to ultimately make the tool available for white labeling. Doing so was one way we’d be able to collect the same types of information at a different stage in the process. The nature of these interactions would vary based on the user’s primary motivations.
(+show journey focus)

Concept

Wireframes:
Effective placement on the website and third-party sites needed to be determined and tested. Correlating specific assessments with specific content was a good place to start, and allowed us to use the customer priorities from the client’s research to quickly build out different versions of the tool for different audiences.
(+show website placement indicators)

By packaging a series of unique interactive banners as self-assessments, and assigning a score to each org based on user inputs, we were able to provide meaningful insights and use these as a launchpad for follow-up conversations with both individuals and entities. Ideally, these would cut through the clutter and offer the user an assessment of tangible value. The results were unique to each user, based on the data they provided about themselves and their organization.
(+show raw wireframes)
Information Architecture:
The modular assessment tool was only one facet to the overall reimagining of the service design blueprints.
(+show blueprint 1)
(+show blueprint 2)
(+show blueprint 3)
Test Mid-Fidelity Designs

Usability Testing:
Initial testing was done with simple prototypes using the resources we’d previously used to aid in strategic development. These tests were largely automated and could be initiated at any time by the user but had to be completed in a single sitting. Above all, getting the “find a new doctor” scenario to near-perfection was most important, so that’s where our tests began.

Results from these unmoderated tests were then detailed with a smaller group of moderated tests. Although the assessment was designed to be completed in under 60 seconds, we observed that there were still points where attention was not fully retained, and that there was confusion about what was being offered.
(+show wireframe 1)

The second round of tests was primarily moderated, with a smaller set of respondents using an automated solution. Some tweaking of the inputs was done to gamify them as much as possible. This meant adding interface components such as sliders, card sorts, and a results summary screen to make the journey’s destination more enticing for the user. The tone and voice of the language was made more conversational to lend the messages some magnetism.
(+show wireframe 2)
(+show wireframe 2 highlight)

Final UI Design

Final Designs:
Visual design work required us to make use of the client’s existing design system – which provided the basic building blocks for the final layouts. Together we developed layouts that reflected KP guidelines. A full WCAG review was required with the pertinent creative and compliance teams on the client side, which led to additional refinements.
(+show designs)
Design System Components:
Client design system elements were not interactive, so we developed a few additions to the library that incorporated some basic interactive components; using the client grid and styles.

Image selection was critical to the success of the designs, so we audited several thousand images from the client DAMS to identify a core group of visually striking images that could be used in all manner of applications.
(+show components)
(+show style sheets)
(+show photo library)

Design Impact

Performance Data:
Clients often prefer to handle change management in-house, so it’s not uncommon for me to have offboarded on a project by the time full analytics are available. By any metric, though – this effort was a rousing success and began a wider ongoing working relationship between the agency and KP.

Highlights
(+show results graphic)

After 12 months
24% decrease in unregistered enrollees
1.25% referral increase via existing brokerage outlets
19% decrease in the need for agent responses
71.5% self-assessment completion rate
4.1k additional (unqualified) leads via the website
29% increase in time spent per page
6x better performance than a static form
Grew system-wide new business inquiries by 3.35%
Reduced year one losses from large-cap account attrition by ~29M
Reduced year one losses from large-cap account attrition by ~40M
Reduced year one losses from large-cap account attrition by ~75M
(+show better metrics; get from Jonelle)
(+show results graphic)
Successes:
Reimagining the member registration process was clearly effective from a numbers perspective. While it’s not possible to be 100% certain, it’s very likely that the new SBD had some impact on business retention and site performance in year one. Another factor may have been the clients’ overall business performance – better revenue typically means fewer audits, more time, and more expenditures.

A direct connection we can be certain of exists between page traffic/sales impact and the assessment tool. Because the assessment teases a “score” for a participant’s business, it’s possible that existing clients wanted to see how they scored in relation to other organizations. Interestingly enough, the conversion rate for prospects was similar to the conversion rate for current customers.

The new detail pages and revamped search experience were clear winners with the audience, as well. Feedback on the design and styling were almost universally positive. Based on the data, users had little problem finding a caregiver to meet their needs in most cases.
Areas for Improvement:
There are still many instances when a live agent is tasked without a real need for doing so. These represent the very thinnest branches of the journey, so extra effort is needed to isolate the triggers for remaining edge cases. A follow-up to agent encounters is being developed using the assessment tool architecture for this purpose.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is personalization, which will require improving/replacing the CDP as it exists today to improve interoperability.

Long-term analysis is not yet possible, so we don’t have a good baseline for value judgements. Having multiple years to work is likely to highlight additional improvements that can be made.
Opportunities for Optimization:
Only two versions of the SBD were fully produced. This means that we don’t really know whether different scripts and supporting links provided could move the ball even further.

Better guidelines about when, why and how agents are engaged are needed. Unfortunately, the sensitive nature of healthcare-related interactions means that the system can not (and probably should not) be exclusively autonomous.

While the site was WCAG compliant, there is an opportunity to sharpen the assessment designs further in this regard. Additional interface elements like a floating accessibility jump button are now under consideration.