Massachusetts Health Connector
The Health Connector is a state-based health insurance Marketplace that makes shopping for affordable health and dental coverage easier for Massachusetts individuals and families.
My Role
As a Senior UX/UI designer/Researcher, I am responsible for end to end design process and led the process of understanding stakeholder requirements, brainstorming ideas, collaborating with team members and product owners to ideate solutions, creating wireframes, designing user interfaces, and conducting comprehensive end-to-end usability testing.
What I do
1. Discussions with the stakeholders and understand the requirements.
2. Understanding the design challenges and identifying the gaps.
3. Collaborating with product owners on the product roadmap, user flow, and documentation.
4. Leading end-to-end usability testing processes, including stakeholder discussions, document preparation, third-party user recruitment and negotiation, strategy development, questionnaire creation, user testing, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and presenting findings to our stakeholders (Govt. of Massachusetts).
5. Collaborating with a team of three designers on UX and UI development.
6. Engaging with technical teams post-design to discuss and implement changes.
Problem statement
During our analytical research, we observed an annual 3.2% drop in the enrollment rate. In addition, we also observed a rise in the abandonment rate in purchase flow majorly on list of plan result screen over the previous three years.
Since this had a very high impact on the business goals, it raised many concerns. So we decided to dig into it.
0 1
Research and Discovery
Step 1: Stakeholder Interview
Conducted in-depth discussions with key stakeholders to gain a comprehensive understanding of the project scope, business objectives, and user challenges. Through these discussions, we identified potential solutions that aligned with the goals.
Step 2: Value proposition mapping
For the better understanding we started with value proposition mapping so as to understand- what it is, who will use it, and why they will use it. It helped the team and stakeholders create a consensus around what the new functionality will be and how it will match user and business needs.
0 2
Usability Testing
A thorough user-centric approach was used to solve the problem.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulties by speaking with users one-on-one, we made the decision to perform usability testing.
Goals:
Identify user issues
Investigate conginitive friction point
Access User Satisfaction, Effectiveness and Efficiency
Usability Testing: which method we are choosing and why
We gave a high-level details to all the stakeholders and product owners explaining what is usability testing, why are we planning to conduct it, what all methods are there and why we are choosing "Remote Moderated Usability Testing".
Process we will follow
Participants: Recruitment Strategy and User Persona
We recruited 24 participants to test the flow. We not only tested the application on the desktop, but we also tested the application on smartphones and ipad to check the responsive aspects of the platform.
We produced the recruitment strategy and prepared the screener questionnaire to recruit a mix of participants which also included setting up the minimum criteria which included income range, gender, age and ethnicity. To achieve the maximum outcome from the testing we prepared pre-test, in-test and post-test questions which were based on the set parameters (effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction).
Post analyzing and critically examining the participant’s comments we identified crucial screens and areas that participants emphasized during the testing.
Screener Questionaire
Q1. Do you use the MA Health Connector platform to apply for health insurance?
Q2. Are you a resident of MA?
Q3. What is your age?
Q4. What is your household income?
Q5. What is your citizenship or immigration status?
Q6. Which of the following best describes your role in the household management and decision-making around health insurance and healthcare?
Q7. Have you been a part of usability testing before?
Q8. Will you be able to fill out the online application form by yourself?
Less than 30K ,
30K -50K and 50K-70K
Income
20- 65 Years
Age
White, Hispanic, Asian, Afro American, and mixed races.
Ethnicity
Immigrant and Citizen
Resident
Profession
Public and Private sector
0 3
User Persona
0 4
Buiding Findings and Synthesis Report
To strengthen the analytical aspect of our report, I began preparing a detailed report based on the interviews I conducted.
This report included below points for Effectiveness and Satisfaction. Here we also measured Efficiency Rate.
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Questions I asked participants.
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Participants quotes.
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My comments.
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Participants suggestions.
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UX/UI Team suggestions.
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Pain Points.
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Trial and Error rate.
Post Test Findings:
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Users found it overwhelming to understand and process the numerous health insurance options available.
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The complexity plan terminologies led to user exhaustion, making it difficult to choose the best option.
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Users frequently questioned whether they had selected the optimal plan for their needs, leading to a lack of confidence in their choices.
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Due to the difficulties in selecting a plan, overall user satisfaction with the application was low.
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Many users started the process but did not complete it, leading to lower enrollment rates.
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Users mentioned that they would like instant help for minor issues or confusion they face during the purchase of the plan.
0 5
Design Process
Stargizing
We aimed to preserve the existing functionalities since users were accustomed to the current process and terminologies. Therefore, we developed a strategy to implement design changes in a way that minimized backend development efforts. This approach ensured a seamless transition for users while maintaining the integrity of the system they were familiar with.
Customer Journey
Based on the old app’s journey and business requirements, I worked with the product manager and business analyst to come up with customer journeys.
This journey helped me to break down the customer's activities from both a front-end and back-end perspective. The front-end activities are clearly visible and customer-facing, whilst the back-end ones are activities invisible to the customer, yet important variables to be overseen in any product or service.
UI Designs with Solution
We started with the low-fidelity wireframes and collaborated with the content writers to make the content crisp, clear and short.
We also made a UI component library for the entire application in collaboration with the accessibility team.
Users expressed that they wanted to have an instant guide while purchasing a health insurance plan. They also mentioned that customer care was helpful for the major issues but for minor ones they wanted to have a guide who can help them out instantly.
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Introduced chatbots for instant solutions.
Users were going straight to the purchase screen in the current process, but many of them expressed a desire to see plans that were exclusively covered by their current doctors. Therefore, we offered the users the option to choose their current doctors, prescription drugs, or hospital before displaying the list of plans.
We made it simple for users to select the best health insurance plan for themselves and their family by providing a comparison feature in the list of plans screen. They are able to compare all three plans' coverages together in one place.
Segregated health and dental plan in 2 seperate steps to make the results less overwhelming
There were multiple functionalities we included in the list of plans screen.
Included more options in filters such as providers, drugs and coverage levels to make the result more accurate.
Included coverage start date to make it easier for the users to edit it as an when needed
Included information underline on each values which gives more information to users
Recommended health insurance plas as per their purchase history and family details with the help of AI.
AWARD AND RECOGNITION
Post completion of 2 phases successfully, I was honored to receive the "Glabal Employee of the Quater" award.
Global Employee of the Quater
Goes to!!!
Key Takeaways:
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Essential for All Products: Usability testing plays a crucial role in enhancing products and making them user-friendly, regardless of their size or complexity. Even the best products can benefit from usability testing.
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Continuous Improvement: Continuous testing ensures that as user needs evolve, the product remains intuitive and user-friendly, maintaining its relevance and effectiveness.
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Team Involvement: Usability testing involves the entire team. Developers, product managers, and stakeholders should all participate in the process to gain a holistic view of the user experience and make informed decisions.
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Efficient Testing Methods: While thorough testing can be time-consuming, there are rapid testing methods available. Quick iterative tests can provide timely feedback, fitting into tight schedules and driving continuous improvements.