It's not every day that Nick A. takes to the streets to ask people about insurance. As senior manager, Customer Experience Transformation, he's typically analyzing Allstate's business processes to make sure we're meeting customer needs in the best way. But this year he took on a new challenge — Allstate's annual Startup Challenge, that is.
It's a four-day business hackathon hosted by Intrapreneurs@Allstate, an employee Business Impact Group. Allstaters from across the company team up to tackle a business problem and pitch a solution for it.
It's one of the many ways Allstaters can innovate for customers.
"In 20-plus years working in the insurance industry, I've never had that opportunity to do something different like that," said Nick, who joined Allstate in 2023.
What did this quick-fire innovation experience look like? Here's how it went:
Day 1: The Problem Statement
First up, teams chose one of three problem statements to take on. For Nick's team, it was: How can we communicate with our customers in a way that is more relevant, effortless and personalized for them — and ultimately improve customer loyalty?
They interviewed Allstate subject matter experts and studied research to explore what kind of communications would make a big impact. The team then worked backward, writing the press release for the solution they ultimately wanted to pitch to help guide them over the next few days.
"The opportunity is really to help the customer understand why they're purchasing from Allstate, what Allstate is doing to make that process more personal, more simple, more empowered and connected," Nick said.
Nick (seated at the table, far right) with his Startup Challenge teammates, Jay L. and John W. (second and third from left, respectively), at a workshop on how to define the problem to solve for customers.
Day 2: Refining the idea and hitting the streets
Next, Nick and team dug into tools they got on Day 1 to ensure they knew their customer and were solving the right problem. For instance, an empathy map helped him explore questions like: What does a customer think and feel? What might they be thinking at different stages of their relationship with Allstate?
Plus, his team's expertise — which spanned areas like claims and technology — helped build an understanding of the customer experience.
Nick (far left) with his Startup Challenge team and members of the Intrapreneurs@Allstate leadership team.
Nick's team outlined assumptions about customer desires based on certainty and risk. The highest-risk assumptions helped the team create questions to survey random folks in downtown Chicago to make sure their hypothesis was on the right track. Like, "What is the breaking point that will cause you to shop?"
This qualitative data helped Nick learn what consumers consider to be too much — and too little — communication. What instances would cause them to look around and what would boost their loyalty.
"Everybody has some level of insurance experience, but to go out and test ideas with the end user was a game-changer for me," Nick said. "It was pretty cool having a little more open forum conversation because you get so much more out of it than you do a digital survey. You start to understand people's body language and intent."
Day 3: Bringing the prototype to life
Nick's team regrouped and went back to their subject matter experts to discuss the interviews. They used those learnings to create a prototype, finalize their idea and prep their pitch.
By Day 3, the team had a lot more confidence, and everything really came together. That's because they had spent so much time grounding themselves in what they learned about the customer at the start of each day — and then pivoting based on new findings and feedback.
It was all about moving to next steps quickly — a favorite for Nick. "The most interesting thing was time-bounding ourselves in such short increments and making decisions collaboratively," he said. "You start to easily see what's worth providing attention to and what you should shed so you can get to the right answer quickly."
Day 4: Pitching the solution
Teams had just three minutes to pitch their solution to Allstate leaders. Nick's team's idea: Bring even more personalization into renewal communications, so the customer "knows that Allstate has their back."
"They know that Allstate is helping them get the coverage they need," Nick said. "They know that Allstate is continually working with them so that they're getting the best experience possible when they engage with us."
And those leaders were impressed: One followed up to learn more about the consumer feedback they collected. His team's research and fresh ideas validated the customer experience team's thinking on customer loyalty.
Post-challenge takeaways
Exploring creative ways to personalize the insurance experience for customers was a highlight for Nick.
"Insurance may sound boring on the outside, but it is actually a very complex, fun environment to work in," Nick said. "It's a very complex web that we are trying to ensure is simple."
He also walked away from the Startup Challenge with a wider network and new skills, namely expertise in landing on a business idea and testing it in a small window of time.
"Innovation at Allstate is essential," he said. "If our folks aren't continually challenged to think differently, to think outside the box, to ensure that we are sharpening those skills and changing as the world around us changes, we'll miss a step."
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