The problem
Marshmallow initially gained a competitive edge by selling insurance to the migrant market, having gathered sufficient data to underwrite this typically underserved segment. However, competitors can now also take on this risk using Telematics.
The challenge is: Marshmallow needs to develop a Telematics product to stay in the race but given that many of our customers are non-native English speakers and telematics has a poor reputation, how can we create a unique, appealing product when the business won't offer the lowest price?
The Result
MVP became the top selling product in less than three months
Company targets moved from the red into the green from sales.
Research
What we wanted to learn
What level of understanding do Marshmallow customers have of telematics and what would they value in a hyper competitive space?
Marshmallow customers lean towards migrant healthcare workers who have been in the UK 2–5 years. Average salary £37k.
Method
Survey, card sort and qual interviews.
Result
Contrary to our hypothesis, our audience understood telematics pretty well. However, universally they held negative perceptions towards Telematics, many viewed "black boxes" as a mechanism for companies to exploit their data.
When investigating what would make a telematics product appealing, card sorting revealed that users prioritised a minimum 20% discount and direct financial rewards, valuing these significantly more than incentives like vouchers or eco-scores.
Users were willing to pay up to £1k more to feel more secure that their policy would not "trick them"
Future iterations
AI insight
While AI can demonstrate cost savings, I chose not to highlight this. When I did present it in deeper trips insights, it was met with skepticism, reflecting Marshmallow's demographic, which was more cautious about AI than UK-born customers.
Financial incentives
Though this was clearly peoples' desired outcome the business was not in position to give this, so though mocked and tested well this is not a probable solution.
Cost saving and environment
Financial benefit can come in many forms, so if the business could not provide rewards we could show people how to save? Working with CMT I was able to work out what insights we could show and what data we could connect to, this was chosen as the direction moving forward.
Blockers
Physical device or app only
We spent weeks debating with the business a physical device versus an app-only solution for cost reasons. Working with the lead data scientist research settled it: by surfacing user distrust in recent interviews and demonstrating the unreliability of app-only tracking, we proved that ignoring these concerns risked our credibility.
Design
Getting the fundamentals right
To start this task I built out the flow, this had web to app, purchase to download, onboarding, delivery, activation, fraud. Each with its own levels of A/B testing.
tOO TRANSPARENT PEOPLE WON'T ACTIVATE THEIR tag, too discreet people will cancel later.
Balance in transparency and activation
When selling a telematics product too much information might scare users from purchase, too little can be unethical and increase cancellation later in the journey. My personal stance was to lean more in transparency using visual and written cues for non English speaking. This included video animation, new information components and a comprehensive FAQ.
Email is very much a part of the design
When your biggest risk is activation your email and CRM design are as important as your onboarding. I sketched the cadence that I think balanced the requirement being too aggressive and worked with the PM and the CRM team to agree the A/B tests we would run.
Trade offs
The limitations of the MVP including resource, experience and time constraint were a key factor in my decision to pivot my efforts from app capability and new components for web to our strongest asset in the insurance market, a strong sense of brand. I initially collaborated with our in-house branding and design team. Unfortunately, they were made redundant mid-project, which meant I took over the coordination of external freelancers to ensure the video was completed. The final deliverables included an animated explainer video, a custom-branded box design, new marshforms (brand illustrations) and a tightened visual language for the telematics system.
Iterations
The fear I had with this project would be that the app would stop at MVP so I designed iterations and scoped early with devs and demonstrated how they compared to competitors, as a result trips was a quick follow. I was asked to take over a new 0-1 venture for Marshmallow and more price optimisations have taken over but the foundations are there and the research is there to show the direction which would differentiate for consumers. But ultimately I do understand that when it comes to insurance price wins.
Lessons learned
Understand where decisions get made and show up.
As someone new to Telematics and the company, I initially invested time envisioning a differentiated Marshmallow Telematics product, this was supported by the product team. But Marshmallow isn't like other tech companies I had worked for, while designing, I noticed a lot of secondhand feedback from leadership, leading to mixed priority messages. The PMs would meet with SLT, causing shifts in focus. Design wasn't included in discussions so I arranged a walkthrough to highlight key areas that could impact metrics, seeking guidance on top-level product decisions. From then on design did have a seat at the table leading to better communication and understanding. Being involved earlier could have enhanced my influence and help me understand Marshmallow and how decisions got made. Once I understood this I made sure to have more touch points, more feedback and more aligned goals throughout the project.
What I enjoyed
Variety
We're often asked what we would change after a project but each project reveals what we appreciate about our work too. I enjoyed this project for its variety in design aspects and the depth of understanding required in data and technology, all while collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
