Accident Scene Sketch
Tools Used: Sketch, Zeplin, InVision, Mural
Client: Allstate Insurance
Research Methods: Contextual Inquiry, Concept Testing, Card Sorting, Usability Testing, In-depth Interviewing
Role: Product Designer
Some Background
About where this idea came from
Accident Sketch Scene is a tool used by Liability Claims employees to diagram the scene of an accident. The diagram they draw out then lives on in the claim file as a visual representation of the collision. It also helps the employee understand the different statements they’re receiving from the parties involved.
Our business partners had noticed that Claims employees were using toy cars to reenact what they were hearing from the various participants. I spent some time trying to understand how the toy cars fit into the employees’ process.
#1 Employees were using the cars while taking statements to understand both parties’ accounts for the accident, looking at Google Maps at the same time to try and understand the scene.
#2 When statements weren’t adding up, the cars helped them generate questions to ask, so they could get to the root of what really happened.
#3 The cars came in handy on complicated claims when they needed to discuss the claim with their team. It was a quick way to get everyone up to speed.
Our Users
A few words to describe a Liability Determination employee
Busy: Our users are expert multitaskers: working in multiple systems, taking calls, helping co-workers, making calls, documenting everything along the way so nothing got lost in translation.
Critical Thinker: Liability Determination employees need to build a case, thinking critically about all the information presented to them, asking questions along the way to submit a strong and fair fault decision.
Communicator: Our users need to be able to communicate effectually, even in heighten conversations. Sometimes participants will be angry or frustrated, a Liability employee needs to be able to stay calm, answering questions quickly and efficiently. They may need to understand what’s happening in a claim in a matter of seconds if a participant calls with questions.
Business Problem
The Liability Determination employees weren’t documenting a visual representation of the accident in the claim file, resulting in lost efficiency and redundant work throughout the claim process.
Iterative design
The tool went through multiple rounds of concepting and testing. I knew this tool would live inside a larger liability assistant program and, for that reason, I wanted to test the designs within the context of the program as a whole.
Each round of monthly testing we learned more from our users. I made changes to the design along the way, adding more detail to which participant was associated to each vehicle, changed the display of content after observing scrolling patterns in the tests, adding new templates and objects when needed. Because of our multiple rounds of testing, learning, and iterating on the design my team and I tested one more concept before the release of the MVP.
before we released to our pilot user group, we learned that this tool would not only give Allstate visual data on the scene to use in the claim file, but would help the employees’ day-to-day
From practicing iterative design we learned:
3. This tool would help as a decision support tool, a sketch would give them a visual to point to if anyone questioned their decision.
1. Having the scene drawn out to reference while on calls made conversations easier.
2. Sketching helped them understand the claim and determine liability, especially in complicated cases.
Quotes I heard during testing that helped guide my team’s MVP
The Release
My team started by releasing to a pilot group of 9 employees. My business partners and I had the chance to observe the employees in their working environment and see them using the tool remotely for a few months. We continued to release to more and more users after the first few months and have now released to around 1,200 employees.
To continue to design iteratively even after the release, I presented and made a case for recurring UX research. I was able to set up the following channels for data and feedback from the field for not only the Sketch tool but the Liability Determination tool as a whole.
Weekly remote sessions to interview users which would help us further understand current pain points within the tool as well as general attitudes from our users. With a regular cadence, I would also have the freedom to test new concepts or features within the tool whenever needed.
Monthly survey to all current users to gain high-level feedback we could measure over time. The survey was a quick, low-effort way to measure the impact to a product as we made changes.
Quarterly field research (Contextual Inquiry) gave us the ability to get out of the office and into our users’ environments, so I could observe the tool in context to the users’ workflow while being able to ask clarifying questions when needed.
Change in the tool’s look
and feel
When we released the sketch tool, I designed it as a white-label product. However, as time went on, my product team and I felt it would help our users to have an Allstate identity for added consistency.
The tool’s functionality stayed the same, but I reworked the visual design and iconography.
Benefiting Customers & Employees
One of the biggest challenges Liability Determination Employees faced was the amount of time it took to work through a claim.
Benefit #1 Faster decision making process in complex claims.
Benefit #2 Made conversations with customers and other insurance companies easier because employees had an image to look at for cues on how to answer questions or concerns.
Benefit #3 Less time spent toggling between tools = more time spent working the claim and serving the customer.