Mitigating Customer Churn in Insurance Renewal
Strategic Treatments for Transitioning from CBA i90 to Hollard Duck Creek Products
Reduce renewal confusion and improve retention rate
Time
5/8/2024 (4 weeks)
Role
Senior Product Designer
Team
CommBank Insurance team + Hollard insurer team
Platform
Web Mobile responsive + App exp
Context
When CBA sold its insurance business to Hollard in October 2022, policy management moved from CommBank’s legacy i90 system to Hollard’s Duck Creek platform. Although customers still apply through CBA, after renewal everything lives in Duck Creek. Creating risk of confusion and churn at renewal time.
Why this mattered
Renewal is the highest-stakes moment in the insurance journey. If customers do not understand what changed, where to act, or why they should stay, churn becomes much more likely.
The Problem
Customer problem
- The insurance renewal process is complex, leading to customer churn during the migration from i90 to Duck Creek products. We aimed to simplify this transition and enhance communication throughout the customer journey.
- Communication was unclear and poorly timed
- Policy changes were hard to understand
- Customers lacked confidence at the point of renewal
Business problem
- High churn during migration from i90 to Duck Creek products
- Retention risk driven by confusion, insufficient communication, and perceived lack of value
- Need to simplify the transition while improving understanding and trust
The Success was to:
Increased retention rates
84% → 88%
Increase Renewal Hub engagement
If the new experience helped customers understand the renewal changes and reduced confusion.
Improve manual renewal retention
Improve retention for customers going through the more vulnerable manual renewal journey.
My Role
- I led the end-to-end design of the renewal experience, from strategy to delivery
- I designed solutions for both app and web experiences, and shared them with stakeholders to align on the final direction
- I planned the research, created prototypes, and tested the experience with customers
- I worked closely with a cross-functional team, including a product owner, PMs, engineers, a copywriter, and QA, to deliver the experience
Who are our Customer segments
75% customers are Set and forgetters
The largest segment. They rely on auto-renewal and trust established brands, but rising premiums can trigger doubt and switching.
15% customers are Optimisers
They prioritise value for money and want reassurance that staying is the right choice. Clear explanation matters most here.
5% customers are Price Chasers
They shop around aggressively every year and are highly sensitive to pricing and perceived fairness.
Strategic Framework
Rather than designing a single screen, I worked within a broader strategic program that identified 13 treatments to mitigate churn during renewal migration.
I focused on the set of interventions most likely to reduce confusion at the critical point of renewal and help customers understand what changed, what action was needed, and why staying still made sense.
- Awareness: pre-renewal notifications and reminders
- Understanding: a Renewal Hub that explains changes and compares coverage
- Action: clearer routes into policy management and renewal tasks
Strategic treatments and journey opportunities
Discovery
Key Insights from research
- I started with the research insights I had already gathered during the renewal strategy phase and used them to guide my design decisions, including:
- Customers value renewal notifications via email and in-app
- Preferred timing: 30 days before renewal, with reminders 2 weeks before
- Email is important for record-keeping
- Significant policy changes can cause confusion or shock
Mapped current and future-state journeys
- Compared current-state renewal touchpoints against future-state possibilities
- Looked at how CBA and Hollard channels interacted across the renewal journey
- Identified the best intervention points before the policy holder portal became fully available
Defined the most valuable starting points
- Started with pre-renewal notifications and a Renewal Hub
- For non-app-active customers, I explored alternative ways to notify them, such as via web or email
- Ensured the transition from the CBA app/web experience to the Hollard platform for renewal was clear and transparent for customers
Validation
Usability Testing
In the next step, I tested the insurance renewal experience with 6 CommBank General Insurance customers, a mix of home and car customers. I created a prototype of the experience, defined research objectives, and developed hypotheses to assess the success of the solution. I then ran usability testing sessions via Microsoft Teams.
What worked well
- The renewal experience was generally smooth, with clear navigation between portals
- Timely email communication helped drive user engagement
- Users found the Policy Portal easy to navigate
Opportunities for improvement
- Highlight auto-renewal as the default option
- Simplify the renewal process and make it easier to edit
- Reduce confusion caused by the “illusion of completeness”
- Improve the structure and clarity of FAQs
Usability testing process snapshot
Final solution
The core solution was a connected renewal experience made up of timely communications and a dedicated Renewal Hub. Together, these touchpoints helped customers understand product changes, compare old and new cover, access helpful FAQs, and confidently move toward renewal.
Core solution
Reflection
This project reinforced that customers do not churn only because a task is difficult. They churn when they do not feel confident enough to proceed. In this case, trust, timing, and clarity mattered more than simply adding another action path.
It also showed the value of designing strategically across a service ecosystem. The best solution was not a single feature, but a connected set of interventions that reduced uncertainty before customers reached the renewal decision point.