COMPANY BACKGROUND
Allied Solutions (AS) is a technology-driven provider of B2B financial services solutions of a variety of products. One of the products provided to financial institutions is GAP insurance (Guaranteed Asset Protection) which is sold at the Point of Sale when providing car loans.
CONTEXT
What is GAP insurance?
In the event your car is declared totaled, GAP insurance covers the difference between the amount owned on your car loan and its current value.
The current GAP claim journey includes triangulation of documents between the financial institution, borrower, and Allied Solutions.
GOAL
Streamline the GAP claim filing process through a self-service solution for borrowers that:
Reduces administrative burden on financial institutions and Allied Solutions
Enhances transparency and control of the GAP claim-filing process for borrower
Seamlessly integrates into an existing platform
Discovery
DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY
The current GAP insurance filing journey is surrounded by confusion, mistrust, and inefficiency.
Through the digital ethnography we collected 45 forum comments, building an understanding of the GAP landscape, while uncovering borrower and financial institution pain points and system bottlenecks.
Lack of Understanding
People don't know what GAP is, how it works, or where to buy it.
Lack of Trust
Many users believed GAP insurance itself was a scam, and the white-labeled website we were integrating into further reinforced this perception due to its lack of branding.
Broken System
The background knowledge and claim-filing processes for GAP insurance are generally messy and inefficient.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Compared to competitors Allied had unclear navigation, scam-like touch points, and poor UX writing.
After completing a SWOT analysis of 11 competitors, including claim service providers, GAP sellers, and general competitors, comparing how companies facilitate connections between seller and buyers.
Limitation: Sign-up & document verification required to access competitor services.
SME Interviews
SMEs emphasized poor GAP awareness, limited transparency, and inefficient document sharing between borrowers and institutions.
I conducted 2 SME Interviews and roleplay to understand systematic issues in the claim filing process and uncover financial institution and borrower pain points. These interviews were imperative to fill the knowledge gaps in our understanding or the user journey. While facilitating, I used visuals and collaboration to ensure there was understanding between the SMEs and the Purdue UX team.
Limitation: Originally intending to interview borrowers, we found our sample population was to niche to gain a satisfactory sample size causing use to conduct SME Interviews.
Research Sythesis
JOURNEY MAP
Confusion about GAP coverage, filing steps, and claim visibility reveals key opportunities for education, onboarding, and transparency.
Unawareness of GAP Ownership
Borrowers are unaware that they have GAP as many forget about purchasing it.
Uncertainty How to File a GAP Claim
Borrowers experience the greatest frustration when filing a GAP claim due to uncertainty about how to initiate the process.
Overwhelming triangulation of documents
Borrowers feel overwhelmed by frequent calls from financial institutions about different documents to process their GAP claim, while financial institutions face a large administrative burden to track down documents to hand over to Allied Solutions.
Lack of Visibility in Claim Status
Borrowers experience dissatisfaction by the lack of claim progress tracking and how long the process takes.
Design
Sketching
Sketching allowed for ideation for the uncovered pain points.
Though sketching my team and I brainstormed concepts addressing pain points previously uncovered. We categorize the concepts into potential solution areas. Then individually sketched for pain points, and came together to identify aspects to incorporate.
The following includes two design sprints covering, wireframing, usability testing, and iteration. The first sprint explored integrating the new claim system into the existing platform, while the second focused on designing the claim filing experience. I was primarily involved in design sprint two.
Design Sprint 1: Platform Integration
Wireframing
We visualized how to guide users toward the appropriate product within the existing platform.
Through our landing page we aimed to streamline the user’s entry point into the existing website by clearly guiding them toward two primary actions, one of them to start a GAP insurance claim. By integrating GAP insurance into the landing experience through a CTA button and supporting content (FAQs, informational links), the design ensures users to easliy access and relearn about the GAP Insurance service.
While wireframing, my team came up with two different layouts including a vertically-aligned and horizontally-aligned hero.
Usability Testing
Testing surfaced a clear preference for vertical layout due to improved clarity and navigability.
My team conducted 5 usability tests to understand the prefered layout based on clarity and aesthetics.
Vertically-Aligned Hero Layout
Horizontal-Aligned Hero Layout
From testing we found there was a preference for the vertically-aligned hero layout for navigation.
Iteration
Final design revisions refined the hero
Based off of the usability testing and business goals to display both products on one platform we came up with the following header.
Design Sprint 2: GAP Claim Filing Experience
Wireframing
Wireframing explored single vs. multi-page dashboards to balance clarity, control, and industry familiarity.
When wireframing the claim filing dashboard we came up with two ideas. A multi-paged dashboard that aligned with industry standards and a single page dashboard that simplified the layout, had only essential clicks, and had better visibility.
A/B Testing for Usability
A/B testing revealed a strong preference for the single-page dashboard.
I tested both wireframes with six participants through task-based evaluation to assess usability and layout preferences. Through testing we found…
Excess empty space on the multi-page.
Users preferred simplicity and less steps.
Confusion about what actions to take next and lack of guidance when landing on the dashboard.
Difficulty locating Customer Support and FAQ CTAs
These findings established a preference for the single page layout, and further edits that needed to be made.
Iteration
Final design updates introduced onboarding, improved task clarity, and stronger support visibility.
Through feedback from the A/B testing we also identified other pain points and improvements that could be made.
Through testing we also found it would be beneficial to have an on boarding of the dashboard to help familiarize users with its functionalities. Below you can see the walkthrough of the onboarding, a user uploading documents, the error state, and finding assistance.
Heuristic Evaluation
Final evaluation surfaced minor usability issues prior to handoff, ensuring alignment with best practices.
To evaluate the usability of our designs before handoff, we completed a heuristic evaluation. From the testing we found minor edits that needed to be made.
Recognition Rather than Recall
Recall When Uploading Document
Recognition Uploading Document
Above you can see an example of an edit where instead of having to remember what document needed to be uploaded, "Document Name" would direct which document to add.
This project challenged me to navigate an unfamiliar subject and design for a niche user group that was difficult to access. While understanding the problem space, I struggled to fully understand what GAP insurance was. This learning curve made it important to ask questions and seek clarity early in the process.
Originally, I planned to interview borrowers to understand their pain points. However, I quickly realized that our user group wasn't readily accessible. This led to a pivot toward Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews. Shifting focus required rethinking how I gathered user insights and for me to create a new protocol, not direct to users, but to professionals who interact with them regularly. This experience taught me how to continue building informed, user-centered products even when the users aren't reachable.
Conducting SME interviews presented its own challenge. Conversations had technical and financial terminology that was unfamiliar to our team. I found that using visual aids like collaborative whiteboarding helped bridge communication gaps, allowing everyone to walk away with a common understanding.
Overall, this project strengthened my ability to adapt research plans, learn in domains outside my comfort zone, and communicate through visual aids. It reinforced the importance of flexibility and collaboration in UX, especially when navigating specialized problem spaces.