Digital insurance can be perplexing for potential customers. Not only is the concept of insurance unknown, misunderstood, or laden with negative connotations in many markets, but add in registration via mobile handsets, payments via mobile wallets, and paperless policies, and emerging consumers are often unsurprisingly confused and sceptical of these potentially valuable products.

The Human-Centred Design (HCD) methodology helps overcome these barriers with a focus on customer value and customer centricity as key aspects of product development. HCD unearths important demand side drivers by putting people’s needs and behaviour at the core of new product and solution development. By focusing on desirability and feasibility to ultimately establish viability, it has proven to significantly de-risk new products.

How does it work in practice?

• First, loosely-structured consumer observations and interviews are essential to gain the basic level of understanding about their priorities, risks, and behavioural influencers. Based on this, high-level theories around products are developed.
• From there, co-creation workshop sessions allow groups of potential customers to narrow down product concepts, with a focus on jointly building product features, value-added services, pricing thresholds, product names, etc. Within these sessions, understanding is gained of the positives and drawbacks to certain product features, the key concerns of consumers, and potential areas of confusion.
• Finally, the top product concepts go through final revisions based on operational and business case considerations.

Putting customers at the centre of product development is valuable in any industry, but with innovative new products like digital insurance, it is essential. Inclusivity Solutions recognises that it is only through this approach that we can truly offer high-value, customer-focused solutions that jointly benefit our mobile operator and insurance partners, as well as the consumers whose livelihoods we seek to protect.