Valuation on Quote Integration
Research indicated that users were dropping out of the insurance quote flow at the vehicle value field. The obvious assumption was that users didn't know the value of their vehicle off-hand and there wasn't an option to save quotes at the time this project was conceived. The primary goal became determining how to seamlessly integrate the Vehicle Valuation Tool into the quote flow without risking user fallout, while minding system constraints and resource limitations.
Year: 2015
Tasks: UX/UI, Interaction Design
Tools: Axure, Photoshop, Inspectlet
Collaborations: Usability Manager, Developer
Click the "I don't know the value" text link to trigger the interactions
Constraints & Limitations
Though the Vehicle Valuation Tools were available for use on another section of the website, the consensus was that moving the user away from the quote flow - even if the tool was opened in modal, which would have been the most efficient solution minding development resources - wasn't worth the risk of user fallout. The bigger issue with using a modal was that the system couldn't autofill the value in the quote form vehicle value field, leaving the user responsible for manual input or copy and paste and both methods carried risks for margin of error.
We knew that we needed to find a way to directly integrate the valuation functionality into or near the vehicle value field, but found ourselves up against a UI challenge:
The quote flow had an established pattern of using "Help" buttons next to the field input labels triggering informational tooltips.
Piggybacking off this existing "Help" button seemed like the obvious solution for integrating valuation tool content, however - due to resource limitations and the requirement to maintain the Guaranteed Value Policy content - we were unable to do so.
A Workable Solution
At this point in the quote flow, the user had already defined their vehicle Year, Make and Model which we were able to pass through to the valuation section. The only remaining data required in order to generate a value was the corresponding vehicle body style and engine type configuration. After some brainstorming and user validation, we decided on the addition of an "I don't know the value" text link placed next to the Vehicle value field, expanding to show a drop select containing possible body style / engine configuration combinations:
Info icons trigger tooltips describing vehicle condition requirements
Multiple Scenarios
Since we couldn't provide a value for every vehicle body style / engine configuration option due to an incomplete database, we needed to provide design solutions for 3 conditional scenarios:
-
Vehicle value available
-
Value unavailable for body style / engine type configuration, and;
-
Value unavailable for year, make, model configuration.
Vehicle Value Available
In Scenario 1: Vehicle Value Available, we offered the user a way to quickly autofill the vehicle value field by selecting the "Use this value" text link. The field remained editable for manual input changes.
Value Unavailable for Body Style / Engine Configuration
Reviewing this conditional scenario design solution in 2022 and 7 years after the fact, I would have, at a minimum, changed up the messaging to include alternative instruction for input and a phone number / live agent chat link for instant assistance access.
Value Unavailable for Year, Make, Model Configuration
My 2022 recommendation in this scenario would have been to simply hide the "I don't know the value" text link, though it's possible that this solution wasn't possible at the time due to a backend system constraint.
