Lighthouse
We take care of Medicare for you
An omni-channel broker that lets seniors understand, buy, and optimize Medicare and health related insurance products from multiple insurance carriers
Client
Confidential Client
Role
Experience Designer
Deliverables
User Research, Information Architecture, User Flow, Wireframes, Design System, Prototype
Summary
Medicare, available to nearly every senior in the United States, seems like an obvious choice. However, its complexity often leaves seniors feeling uncertain and overwhelmed when making this crucial decision. In response, our team developed a comprehensive digital brokerage platform. This platform empowers seniors to grasp, purchase, and optimize Medicare and related insurance products through diverse channels.
My role focused on orchestrating a seamless product experience, from identifying user challenges to translating concepts into precise, actionable design solutions.
My role focused on orchestrating a seamless product experience, from identifying user challenges to translating concepts into precise, actionable design solutions.
Research
We conducted in-depth interviews with over 40 seniors ranging from 55 to 75 years old, immersing ourselves in their everyday environments to observe their behaviors and identify pain points. Furthermore, we engaged with 15 Medicare experts and multiple insurance brokers to gain insights into the intricacies of the process.
40+
seniors
4
brokers/agents
15
experts
Key Learnings (pain points)
• Information is too overwhelming
• There are a lot of misconceptions around Medicare
• Jargon is hard to understand
• Comparing plans is difficult
• Brokers aren’t always trusted
• Differences are not as clear-cut as you would imagine
• Long term consequences are unknown to most seniors
• There are a lot of misconceptions around Medicare
• Jargon is hard to understand
• Comparing plans is difficult
• Brokers aren’t always trusted
• Differences are not as clear-cut as you would imagine
• Long term consequences are unknown to most seniors
“Choosing the right Medicare way too complex, I just followed the crowd. I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do, but it’s what I ended up doing.
- Anonymous
Product Vision & Strategy
Based on substantial amount of ethnographic research and expert interviews, the team gained useful insights and came up with a product direction
Our vision is to: Empower seniors who are transitioning into retirement to select the Medicare plan that is right for them, on their own terms.
Goals
• Provide expertise and build trust like a good broker and always have a human ready to support
• Guide with a personalized perspective
• Use data to provide transparency and objectivity
• Empower users to make confident decisions
• Ability to design users' own coverage
• Guide with a personalized perspective
• Use data to provide transparency and objectivity
• Empower users to make confident decisions
• Ability to design users' own coverage
Key Value Propositions
Guided Buying Process: Guiding users through complicated Medicareinsurance learning/shopping process
Custom Plan Packages: Enabling users to build their own insurance coverage
Personalized Experience: Highly personalized user experience in every touchpoint with the users
Medicare coverage structure
As you can see in the chart, Medicare encompasses most of the coverage but it’s also segmented. This allows Lighthouse users to build their own bundle from eclectic choices of plans that will result in getting the best insurance that fits them
Feature Prioritization
The team started ideating the main features that should be on top priority, and also listed potential features we wanted to test before implementation. Based on the feature prioritization mapping, we confirmed that the recommendation funnel will be the main feature along with the contextual learnings while browsing & filtering are table stake features.
Top priority features in MVP
• Plan recommendation funnel
• Bundle cart (pay all at once)
• Contextual learnings
• Easy browsing & filtering
• Bundle cart (pay all at once)
• Contextual learnings
• Easy browsing & filtering
Product Roadmap (high level)
Information Architecture
Site map & flow chart
Initial V1 flow chart for the plan recommendation flow
There are a lot of things to consider when deciding a Medicare plan and you can go as deeper as you want. But through multiple interviews and tests, we gained some powerful insights such as: binary ‘trade-off questions’ made the users uncomfortable.
The design team came up with the simplest funnel with straightforward questions.
The design team came up with the simplest funnel with straightforward questions.
Final flow chart for the recommendation funnel
Screen Design
Key screens
Recommendation Funnel
After a thorough weekly user research and interviews, we have narrowed down the funnel into four basic questions to find the perfect balance between getting to know the users needs and not overwhelming them.
Users will go through this simple quiz-type questionnaire to get the plan recommendation as a starting point.
Users will go through this simple quiz-type questionnaire to get the plan recommendation as a starting point.
Like I mentioned, to come to this point, we have gone through lots of iterations and different versions of designs. Here are some highlights from our iteration process.
Version 1.0(wireframe): We wanted to be as detailed as possible, starting with 15+ questions. It was a bit tiring for most of the users and many of them dropped in the middle of the process.
Version 2.0 : Funnel got much shorter with major trade-off questions. Users still hesitated to answer the questions. It seemed like they need more explanation on each question and jargons.
Version 3.0: A short video clip was added for each screen to better explain each part. Also, we explored different types of inputs and layouts.
Version 4.0: Questions are categorized into different buckets to have fewer page flips. Still, there were too much on one page. We needed to make it even simpler & easier.
Final Design (Alpha): This is what the latest version of recommendation funnel looks like. It shows jargon-free questions, and contextual learnings to provide the reasons behind these questions.
Version 2.0 : Funnel got much shorter with major trade-off questions. Users still hesitated to answer the questions. It seemed like they need more explanation on each question and jargons.
Version 3.0: A short video clip was added for each screen to better explain each part. Also, we explored different types of inputs and layouts.
Version 4.0: Questions are categorized into different buckets to have fewer page flips. Still, there were too much on one page. We needed to make it even simpler & easier.
Final Design (Alpha): This is what the latest version of recommendation funnel looks like. It shows jargon-free questions, and contextual learnings to provide the reasons behind these questions.
Recommended Plans
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Browse Plans
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Cart
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Enrollment
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Design System
Components
Design Tokens
Lighthouse
We take care of Medicare for you
An omni-channel broker that lets seniors understand, buy, and optimize Medicare and health related insurance products from multiple insurance carriers
Client
Confidential Client
Role
Experience Designer
Deliverables
User Research, Information Architecture, User Flow, Wireframes, Design System, Prototype
Summary
Medicare, available to nearly every senior in the United States, seems like an obvious choice. However, its complexity often leaves seniors feeling uncertain and overwhelmed when making this crucial decision. In response, our team developed a comprehensive digital brokerage platform. This platform empowers seniors to grasp, purchase, and optimize Medicare and related insurance products through diverse channels.
My role focused on orchestrating a seamless product experience, from identifying user challenges to translating concepts into precise, actionable design solutions.
My role focused on orchestrating a seamless product experience, from identifying user challenges to translating concepts into precise, actionable design solutions.
Research
We conducted in-depth interviews with over 40 seniors ranging from 55 to 75 years old, immersing ourselves in their everyday environments to observe their behaviors and identify pain points. Furthermore, we engaged with 15 Medicare experts and multiple insurance brokers to gain insights into the intricacies of the process.
40+
seniors
4
brokers/agents
15
experts
Key Learnings (pain points)
• Information overload leads to confusion
• Widespread misconceptions around Medicare
• Complex jargon
• Comparing plans is a daunting task
• Lack of trust in some brokers
• Differences between plans are not straightforward
• Many seniors are unaware of the long term consequences
• Widespread misconceptions around Medicare
• Complex jargon
• Comparing plans is a daunting task
• Lack of trust in some brokers
• Differences between plans are not straightforward
• Many seniors are unaware of the long term consequences
“Choosing the right Medicare way too complex, I just followed the crowd. I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do, but it’s what I ended up doing.
- Anonymous
Product Vision & Strategy
Based on substantial amount of ethnographic research and expert interviews, the team gained useful insights and came up with a product direction
Our vision is to: Empower seniors who are transitioning into retirement to select the Medicare plan that is right for them, on their own terms.
Goals
• Provide expertise and build trust like a good broker and always have a human ready to support
• Guide with a personalized perspective
• Use data to provide transparency and objectivity
• Empower users to make confident decisions
• Ability to design users' own coverage
• Guide with a personalized perspective
• Use data to provide transparency and objectivity
• Empower users to make confident decisions
• Ability to design users' own coverage
Key Value Propositions
Guided Buying Process: Guiding users through complicated Medicareinsurance learning/shopping process
Custom Plan Packages: Enabling users to build their own insurance coverage
Personalized Experience: Highly personalized user experience in every touchpoint with the users
Medicare coverage structure
Medicare encompasses most of the coverage but it’s also segmented. This allows Lighthouse users to build their own bundle from eclectic choices of plans that will result in getting the best insurance that fits them.
Feature Prioritization
The team started ideating the main features that should be on top priority, and also listed potential features we wanted to test before implementation. Based on the feature prioritization mapping, we confirmed that the recommendation funnel will be the main feature along with the contextual learnings while browsing & filtering are table stake features.
Top priority features in MVP:
• Plan recommendation funnel
• Bundle cart (pay all at once)
• Contextual learnings
• Easy browsing & filtering
• Bundle cart (pay all at once)
• Contextual learnings
• Easy browsing & filtering
Product Roadmap (high level)
Information Architecture
Site map & flow chart
Initial V1 flow chart for the plan recommendation flow
There are a lot of things to consider when deciding a Medicare plan and you can go as deeper as you want. But through multiple interviews and tests, we gained some powerful insights such as: binary ‘trade-off questions’ made the users uncomfortable.
The design team came up with the simplest funnel with straightforward questions.
The design team came up with the simplest funnel with straightforward questions.
Final flow chart for the recommendation funnel
UI Design
Key screens
Recommendation Funnel
After a thorough weekly user research and interviews, we have narrowed down the funnel into four basic questions to find the perfect balance between getting to know the users needs and not overwhelming them.
Users will go through this simple quiz-type questionnaire to get the plan recommendation as a starting point.
Users will go through this simple quiz-type questionnaire to get the plan recommendation as a starting point.
Like I mentioned, to come to this point, we have gone through lots of iterations and different versions of designs. Here are some highlights from our iteration process.
Version 1.0(wireframe): We wanted to be as detailed as possible, starting with 15+ questions. It was a bit tiring for most of the users and many of them dropped in the middle of the process.
Version 2.0 : Funnel got much shorter with major trade-off questions. Users still hesitated to answer the questions. It seemed like they need more explanation on each question and jargons.
Version 3.0: A short video clip was added for each screen to better explain each part. Also, we explored different types of inputs and layouts.
Version 4.0: Questions are categorized into different buckets to have fewer page flips. Still, there were too much on one page. We needed to make it even simpler & easier.
Final Design (Alpha): This is what the latest version of recommendation funnel looks like. It shows jargon-free questions, and contextual learnings to provide the reasons behind these questions.
Version 2.0 : Funnel got much shorter with major trade-off questions. Users still hesitated to answer the questions. It seemed like they need more explanation on each question and jargons.
Version 3.0: A short video clip was added for each screen to better explain each part. Also, we explored different types of inputs and layouts.
Version 4.0: Questions are categorized into different buckets to have fewer page flips. Still, there were too much on one page. We needed to make it even simpler & easier.
Final Design (Alpha): This is what the latest version of recommendation funnel looks like. It shows jargon-free questions, and contextual learnings to provide the reasons behind these questions.
Recommended Plans
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Browse Plans
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Cart
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Enrollment
After going through all the questions, they will see this curated plan recommendation while they still have access to view all plans.
Design System
Components
Design Tokens