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Premera Blue Cross
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DESIGN STRATEGIST
01 Overview
TASK
During my time at Premera I collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to improve various product spaces. One of the product spaces I was tasked with improving was the Blue Distinction Center+ (BDC+) program available for select groups.
PROJECT INFORMATION
The BDC+ program provides members with handpicked facilities for specific conditions and surgeries that are of higher quality, produce better outcomes, and are more affordable than others. Currently, there are several different communication strategies for Weyerhaeuser, Nordstrom, and Group 16, that are being used to promote and drive members to this program.
I assessed all current member touchpoints and determined if the current strategies are the best approach for driving members to the BDC+ program. In addition, I identified and recommended the most appropriate way to communicate and drive utilization of the BDC+ program, while ensuring the outcome is scalable to multiple groups.
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS
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Inclusion of testimonials, emotional stories, reviews
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Clear designation options for members
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Clear and transparent cost breakdowns
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Redesign landing page
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Improve information architecture
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Redesign accompanying print materials
MY ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DESIGN STRATEGIST
I was a Customer Experience Design Strategist at Premera. The purpose of my role was to identify the human struggles and experiences one faces when navigating the complexities of health insurance. Who is the person behind the desktop screen, the mobile app, the phone calls, or the mail? What are they experiencing? But most importantly, our goal was to ask ourselves on a daily basis, 'how can we improve their satisfaction?'
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Interviews
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Surveys
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Service design blueprints
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User flows
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Customer journey diagrams
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Literature reviews
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Online discovery
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Usability tests
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Heuristic Evaluations
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Dev collaboration
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Product design
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Information arch.
Overview
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DESIGN STRATEGIST
02 Takeaways
Takeaways
UNDERSTANDING YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Health insurance is a unique environment that leaves an unpleasant taste in peoples' mouths in general. This is an understanding that needs to be recognized immediately, as it does not take a bad experience for people to be left unhappy, just a mediocre one. Health insurance is intricate and confusing, and often only ever gets utilized in a time of physical hardship, which can lead to emotional and financial difficulties. Designing customer experiences with this context magnifies the needs to understand our customers.
With the help of my work journal, I was able to reflect on some unique lessons I learned at Premera that did not directly pertain to my assignments.
PRIORITIZING PROJECT INTAKE
I created a brief document on work assignment prioritization, which helped us manage our time and level of importance for specific project assignments.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFSITE DAY
SHARING LESSONS FROM CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS
I created another brief document from a Customer Experience Team offsite day, where members of my team had a chance to spend the day sharing lessons they've learned from conferences and workshops that would be of use to the team's individual projects. There is a sense of mirroring from these experiences that could be translated to the accountability and purpose we had to serve our members.
03 Discovery
Discovery
ONLINE DISCOVERY
Online discovery was conducted to gather information from the perspective of a customer, and to identify the current methods/locations information pertaining to BDC+ plans were being presented. I evaluated different aspects of Premera's website to establish how the coverage plans were displayed to different groups.
PRINT DISCOVERY
Print discovery involved evaluating all physical print touch-points sent to customers, including mailers, pamphlets and informational packets. I identified points of confusion and inconsistent communication.
COVERAGE FINDINGS
Below are the coverage findings of several groups of focus, established from the digital and print discovery.
04 Customer Journey
Customer Journey
CUSTOMER JOURNEY DIAGRAMS
After analysis of all customer touch-points and conduction of a service design blueprint, I created a customer journey diagram. This diagram portrays the possible journeys of how one might access and utilize the Select BDC+ program, and includes potential breakdowns.
05 Continued Research
Continued Research
USER TESTING
User testing was conducted via UserTesting.com on several print materials and webpages for the Select BDC+ program. Screeners, prompts, and questions were created in order to help guide users through testing and to identify feedback to enhance customer experience for this program. Assessment was conducted by determining themes, first through StickyNotes of participant comments, grouping and organizing these comments on commonalities and participant numbers.
SURVEYS
Surveys were conducted via SurveyMonkey.com and sent to certain employees of company groups Premera provides insurance and benefits for. These surveys allowed us to gain an understanding of what employees knowledge was of their benefits and how they would go about accessing them.
INTERVIEWS
I created an interview protocol and conducted interviews with Premera customers who have utilized the Select BDC+ program to further investigate how their experiences went, and what could be improved with the program.
06 Feedback
Feedback
PREMERA LISTENS FEEDBACK
'Premera Listens' is a portal in which customers can leave feedback on their experiences. I sorted this feedback based on experiences with the Select BDC+ program and categorized like experiences to establish areas of weaknesses that needed to be addressed.
07 Literature Review
Literature Review
HEALTHCARE DECISION MAKING FACTORS
A literature review was conducted regarding the factors and drivers that influence decision making factors around finding care. Highlights of the study included topic areas of emotional and social fit, reviews, cost drivers, and "shopping around."
08 Recommendations
Recommendations
RECOMMENDATIONS TO INFORM PRODUCT & PROGRAM DESIGN
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