The request was mobile quoting for agents. But interviews with nearly 80 agents revealed the real need: insureds needed a way to pay, not agents a way to quote. The pivot cut dev costs 50% and the redesign raised the app's rating from 1.5 to 4 stars.
The stated ask was a mobile quoting tool built for insurance agents. But contextual interviews with 80 agents told a different story: agents weren't struggling to quote — their insureds were struggling to pay.
By reframing the problem around the insured's payment experience instead of the agent's quoting workflow, the scope narrowed dramatically — and got dramatically more useful. Development costs dropped by half, and the app climbed from a 1.5-star average to 4 stars.
The redesigned dashboard puts what insureds actually came for front and center: agreement status, the next due date, and a single clear action. No navigation to hunt through, no quoting tools they never needed.
Establishing lightweight design standards alongside the app itself made it easier for the team to extend the pattern to financing and payment history without reinventing the interaction model each time.