Drive Safe & Save dashboard redesign case study

Drive Safe & Save is a telematics and modeling application. It tracts the way you drive and evaluates your driving behaviors to assign a discount amount. In my role, I’m responsible for all things UX for the Drive Safe & Save app which has 6 million users.

My Role

We successfully released the first version of the redesign and received an 85% user approval rating. We implemented a My profile section, deeper insights into driving behaviors, quick insights into privacy concerns, insights into how discounts are calculated, and a Tips & how-tos section. There were five rounds of research done to stress test the experience, gage the usefulness of new features, and content.

 











Problem

Customer Goal: Increasing their future discount at renewal.

Customer Problem: Not understanding how their driving behaviors impact their discount.

Reason for Problem: Their discount and 2-week driving score don’t always correlate. They are based on two different models with different components and weighting.





Discovery

State Farm had being trying to redesign the Drive Safe & Save app for 4 years prior to me joining the company. I was brought in to make yet another attempt at redesigning it. When it became clear to me that this would be a 3rd attempt, I took some time to understand what had been done before, what worked, what didn't work. From this knowledge, I was able to define a path for the redesign.

I began by gathering information and conducting my own research, piecing together what I learned into the DSS discovery document. This 71-page report aimed to delve into the users' needs, dissect what worked and what didn't in previous attempts, and understand the underlying reasons. Essentially, it framed the issue from both a business and user standpoint, providing a strategic roadmap and outlining our goals. With this document in hand, I spoke to my Senior Creative Director and got his approval to start initial concepts.





Personas



Jack: I’m a safer driver than my wife. My 2-week driving score is always higher, however the discount for her car is almost double mine. I don’t get it.

Tara: My twin sister and I drive the same make, model and year car. We compete at everything, so, our 2-week driving scores are about the same. But her discount... is so much higher than mine.








Solution

1. Remove the 2-week score. Redesign the Drive Safe & Save (DSS) dashboard using 2-week score elements (braking, cornering, etc...) in hopes of creating the same feeling of instant gratification, or affirmation, while conveying room for improvement.

2. Add features to enhance engagement, by leveraging existing telematics data, or third-party offerings.

3. Utilize learning from Dashboard Redesign Research March 2020. Design should be modern, clean, functional, possibly flexible and/or scalable, but most importantly, it should be simple, and straightforward. Therefore, creating less friction and resulting in user friendliness.

4. Mandatory elements to be reflected in design:

  •  Add text to explain how discount is calculated

  • Show discount

    Other elements to consider

  • 2-week score elements

  • Days to next discount

  • Trip info






    Initial concepts

    My initial concepts started with:

    1. Breaking the 2-week score apart into singular driving behaviors

    2. Focusing on the hierarchy of information

    3. Exploring ideas on how to bolster the offering of the app by providing more visibility into driving behaviors, utilizing telematics information we already collect that would be useful to the end users.



    Armed with this 71-page deck and initial concepts, I began to socialize my solution with my Senior Creative Director. He garnered more support among his peers and key stakeholders, and we took the show on the road. Since the concept of adding "Jake from State Farm" to our native app environment had never been attempted before, we needed tentative approval from our branding and marketing department. I was finally able to present my findings and solutions to a panel of 50 key personnel and stakeholders. We received a green light! From this 71-page document, the product owners were able to craft a lean canvas path to MVP.







    Research & iterate

    I created a high-fidelity version to initiate testing and gather user feedback.






    • The two-week score is broken down into individual driving behaviors. Users can paginate through them or tap to view more insights.

    • The Jake Card provides a cool, functional, and fun way to motivate users with affirmations or deliver useful information, utilizing Jake or State Farm-style illustrations.

    • A greeting and a way to navigate to the user’s account settings were added.

    • The discount card now includes a link to provide more insights into how discounts are calculated and offers an explanation as to why your scores may be high but your discount appears low.

    • The user's trips, events, and miles are now clickable, allowing them to drill down and gain more visibility into their driving habits. 

    We conducted 5 rounds of testing, each time refining content, experience, and design. Our test groups included current DDS users, State Farm agents, our customer care agents, and users of other discount applications.







    Approch to final design

    The final designs incorporates reusable components, ensuring consistency and efficiency across the project.



    The Jake card

    I introduced the Jake card as a fresh addition to enhance engagement. It's the debut of "Jake from State Farm" in our mobile app, marking a significant step. The idea behind the Jake card is to bring a delightful touch, popping up at opportune times. For instance, celebrating your excellent driving with a reward notification or offering practical tips like switching to snow tires in winter, where relevant. These messages could be tailored locally, regionally, or nationally, ultimately adding a human touch to the user experience.







    Features added to increase user interaction

    1. Driving insitghts

    Enhancements have been incorporated to boost user engagement by leveraging available telematics data, granting users deeper insights into their driving habits. This enriches the app's capabilities without imposing significant additional expenses.







    Tips & how-tos

    This app section was implemented to reduce the volume of calls to the customer service center. It enables us to offer support by leveraging current features as well as enhancements and newly introduced functionalities.








    Business and user benefits 

    This diagram thoroughly outlines and analyzes how each dashboard feature will enhance user experience and meet business requirements.









    Proposed MVP: Offers the look and feel of a dashboard, with a high-level display of all the user’s stats, while conserving vertical real estate for varying messages and updates.

    MVP: The major advantage of the MVP is that it offers all five driving behavior scores at once. We maintained all other improvements such as My Profile, Greeting, more details on driving behaviors, Privacy Card, detailed content about how discounts are calculated, and the Tips & How-tos section.





    Results





    Success! After completing five rounds of testing with both customers and agents, we successfully reached our minimum viable product (MVP). The launch proved to be a success, resulting in an 85% in app approval by users, a 25% decrease in call volume during the first quarter after its release. User interaction doubled, with users being twice as likely to open the app. Presently, the Drive Safe & Save app boasts an impressive 4 million monthly active users.