Opportunity ⇢
Life insurance had long been locked in agent-driven workflows that felt opaque and time-consuming. Consumers were asking for simplicity and confidence. At the same time, new players like LadderLife and Ethos were entering the market with sophisticated direct-to-consumer offerings. For Securian, the opportunity was to create a streamlined product that balanced price transparency with the company’s long-standing reputation for trust.
Context
As a top provider to many of the world’s leading companies, Securian carried credibility that few others could match. ClearRate was incubated inside the Innovation Lab as an experiment — a first step into direct-to-consumer life insurance. The challenge was to design a product that could stand beside emerging digital-native competitors while reflecting Securian’s strengths: trustworthiness, clarity, and competitive pricing.
Role
Served as lead designer, responsible for user research, interaction and interface design, prototyping, usability testing, and system development. Partnered closely with product strategy, engineering, and copywriting teams to ensure the experience was streamlined, technically sound, and consumer-ready.
Framing
Research showed that people approached life insurance with hesitation. Most wanted a quick way to find coverage that fit their budget, without long forms or industry jargon. This reframed the design challenge: make coverage understandable in minutes, not hours.
Strategy
The core differentiator was a dual entry point: users could start by selecting either their budget or a coverage amount. Real-time quotes adjusted instantly as inputs changed. An additional gamified layer encouraged consumers to share more information… with the promise that their rate could only improve, never increase.
Execution ⇢
The interface was designed to feel lightweight, modular, and approachable. Testing confirmed that users strongly preferred the budget-first option, validating the strategy. ClearRate delivered a clean, consumer-friendly flow, reinforced by scalable system foundations and copy refinements tuned through multiple rounds of research.
Transparency that only works in your favor.
ClearRate’s gamified approach gave consumers confidence to share more… turning a complex process into a streamlined choice.
Impact
ClearRate gave consumers direct access to life insurance from an established leader. The experience introduced instant quotes with minimal inputs, a budget-first entry point strongly validated in testing, and an optional disclosure model that rewarded transparency with lower rates. For Securian, ClearRate proved that a direct-to-consumer offering could be viable, competitive, and aligned with the company’s standards of trust.
Reflection
ClearRate opened a door for Securian into direct-to-consumer insurance, bridging the gap between reputation and accessibility.
It turned a process known for complexity into one that felt transparent, flexible, and reassuring for the people who needed it.
