HomeServe | Home safety repairs

HomeServe, helping it's customers...

HomeServe provides home emergency insurance and services for household essentials, including water, heating, and electrical systems. Their services include boiler installations and professional support for various maintenance, repairs, and replacements.

Homeserve sought to enhance their website for search optimization and other digital traffic sources. This involved enhancing the overall user experience, as well as refining content to boost engagement and minimise drop-offs during the application process.

They required support on a website redesign project aimed at addressing customer frustrations stemming from complex navigation and information retrieval on their website. This initiative became especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many customers encountered boiler issues and required swift assistance. HomeServe's primary goal was to empower customers to easily schedule repairs online, eliminating the need for time-consuming phone calls to customer support.

What the project objectives were

Develop user journeys that provide a seamless, user-guided experience for booking repairs, scheduling installations, and purchasing coverage on the HomeServe website. These journeys should be accessible from various entry points, with a focus on enhancing user-friendliness and efficiency. To design an IDD (Insurance Distribution Directive) flow as a user-friendly, progressive self-identification form to streamline the onboarding process for new Homeserve customers, minimising confusion and enhancing user experience.

Research is key to any project...

In my role as the Lead Product Designer, I closely collaborated with the Design Director, Lead Strategist, and Content Writer. My specific responsibilities included stakeholder management, organising workshops, conducting design studios, crafting personas, defining user flows, and creating wireframes.

• Analysed existing content and IA of existing website
• Created existing customer journeys showcasing customer pain points (navigation, content and comparing products) and potential solutions
• Created competitor analysis
• Facilitated UX workshops and stakeholder interviews
• Created personas for homeowners, landlords and renters
• Created new user journeys and IA
• Designed wireframes for repairs, installations and cover purchase
• Created prototypes

The user experience...

My primary focus was on crafting an exceptional user experience by translating conceptual ideas into tangible designs. I created wireframes that served as the framework for the user interface. These wireframes outlined the layout, structure, and basic functionalities of the Homeserve website.

After receiving feedback from stakeholders and internal team members, I implemented iterative revisions. I then moved on to create high-fidelity prototypes. These prototypes brought the wireframes to life, offering a more comprehensive representation of the user interface, including interactive elements and a refined visual design. The prototypes allowed stakeholders and team members to experience the product's flow and functionality in a realistic manner, facilitating a deeper understanding of the user journey and enabling effective design validation. This approach ensured that the final product aligned with user requirements, was visually appealing, and delivered a smooth and user-friendly experience.

The design part...

In my role, I had the responsibility of designing UI components for both mobile web and desktop platforms. In alignment with the project's objectives, we initiated a mission to revitalise the HomeServe brand. HomeServe had expressed a desire to retain certain elements of their existing brand guidelines while infusing the designs with a softer and more inviting aesthetic.

Given this creative opportunity, I integrated imagery featuring families and couples into the designs. Through productive discussions with stakeholders, I successfully delivered a brand that accentuated the warmth and positivity represented by a smile within the logo. The incorporation of rounded corners in digital elements added a gentle and friendly touch to the design, perfectly complementing the conversational tone we aimed to convey. This design garnered favourable results during testing and continues to evolve and thrive.