Turning a silent wait into a visible timeline, and a clear next step in coverage they probably need.
Project type: 0 to 1 • My role: Product Design • Timeline: 9 months
Task: Customer Dashboard
Design a customer dashboard, giving customers visibility into their application status and a path to additional coverage.
Problem: Black Box
Life insurance applications took weeks with no visibility into progress, leaving customers waiting in the dark.
Team
1 Product Designer, 1 Product Manager,
4 Engineers
Solution: Application Tracker
Real-time visibility into where a customer stood, paired with relevant next-coverage recommendations
670%
increase in customer interactions with a second insurance product, driven by cross-sell surfaced during the wait.
100%
increase in applications submitted for that second product, the first measurable lift in multi-product adoption.
Impact
Policygenius is an insurance marketplace built on trust and free, tailored quotes from licensed agents.
CONTEXT
The customer dashboard carried that trust past the quote, giving customers visibility through the weeks-long wait for coverage.
For weeks, customers had no idea if their application was moving, stalled, or forgotten.
PROBLEM
Life insurance applications took 2-6 weeks and involved constant back-and-forth with agents. In research, one user described the wait as anxious and blind.
No visibility into application status or next steps
No easy way to reach an agent with questions
Create a central hub every Policygenius product team — life, home & auto, disability, wills — could build into as they worked toward their own goals.
NORTH STAR & GOALS
Visibility. Give customers visibility into a process that felt like a black box
Faster answers. Create a direct communication channel for customers to get quick answers
Deeper coverage. Increase exposure to Policygenius's other products (home, auto, disability) to raise customer lifetime value (LTV) and lower cost of acquisition (CAC)
KEY INSIGHT #1
Transparency, even during a wait, reduced customer anxiety. One user described the underwriting period as "anxious and blindly waiting for updates."
KEY INSIGHT #2
"What action do I need to take now" was the single most important thing users wanted answered, more than any other piece of information.
KEY INSIGHT #3
Users expected a 24-hour response time when reaching out with questions, with no easy way to ask in the existing product.
RETROSPECTIVE
Constrained by "do no harm."
We had to convert the existing process and copy 1:1, which limited how far the experience could evolve in v1.
Personalization left on the table.
We never tested whether asking users about their situation and showing tailored recommendations would move conversion.
Never got to measure the shortcut.
I explored whether a quote-estimate shortcut would lift P&C re-shop conversions, but didn't get to validate it before moving on.
I conducted 13 moderated user interviews, benchmarked 11 competitor dashboards, then led two rounds of usability testing (moderated and unmoderated) to validate the designs.
PROCESS & KEY INSIGHTS
The Application Tracker shows a customer's progress, from submission to approval, with relevant coverage surfaced alongside it.
DESIGN 1/2
Waiting in the dark was the problem. Progress, shown plainly, created space to introduce coverage a customer hadn't considered yet.
The Message Center gives customers a direct line to ask questions and get answers within a day.
DESIGN 2/2
Underwriting felt like a black box, and there was no way to ask why. Message Center gave customers a direct channel, closing the loop on the 24-hour response expectation.
