The challenge
The HCF Member Portal project was a significant part of HCF’s journey to become a more customer-centric organisation and uplift their digital experience for its members. Their primary objective was to deliver an improved digital experience to help members self serve when managing their cover and to bridge the gap with competitors. To ensure this experience met customer expectations, HCF engaged CEC to apply a customer centric lens on the experience. By testing the proposed solution with customers prior to implementation, we were able to input insights from customer testing to inform us of the most desirable experience.
The situation
The approach
The research
We used a number of methods including understanding users’ mental models, qualitative research and prototypes to help explore a mixture of concepts with customers. This enabled us to fully understand the ‘why’ behind what customers expected from their interactions with a health insurer, and how best to support them to achieve their goals.
The findings
User flows were initially developed through collaborative workshops with key HCF stakeholders to analyse and prioritise requirements. This allowed us to understand the business needs and technical feasibility of the design concepts, and to push the boundaries on how the experience could be improved.
For customer testing, we used high-fidelity clickable prototypes to gain contextual and functional insights throughout the experience. Research participants were asked to complete tasks like make a claim, or update their details. We observed their actions, probed underlying expectations, and unpicked their choices.
This enabled us to breakdown the barriers between HCF and their customers.
The solution
HCF launched the MVP of the Online Member Services platform in July 2019, and the mobile application in September 2019. Since the launch of both applications, HCF are monitoring feedback from members and capturing insights to inform future improvements, and continuously working to add new features to meet customers’ needs.
HCF have become ambassadors for a user centric process and have a strong belief in the power of engaging with their customers, and the value of customer testing.