Identity Security Rewards
Helping customers protect their identity through incentives
Disclaimer: This work is a theoretical project that is in no way representative IdentityForce or their services.
Overview
A major identity protection company wants to find a better way to communicate with customers and encourage them to take actions to improve their personal identity security.
Duration
2 weeks
Tools
Sketch, Invision
Team
Meredith Nelson (me)
Role
My team collaborated on all aspects of the research and design process. I was primarily responsible for the app’s design strategy, prototyping, testing, and UI design.
Methods
Competitive and comparative analysis
User research through surveys and interviews
Design strategy and concept design
Iterative prototyping
Usability testing
UI design adhering to company brand guidelines
The Problem
Customers are not taking simple steps to protect their own data that could help them prevent identity theft.
The Solution
Create a rewards program to encourage customers to take actions that will increase their identity security in exchange for discounts on their identity protection services.
How this will benefit customers:
A greater sense of security once they take proactive steps to protect themselves
Cost savings for their identity protection coverage
How this will benefit the company:
Increased customer engagement with their product and services
Reduced customer risk saves on the costs related to a breach, such as restoring stolen data
The inspiration for this concept came from car insurance companies, who reward customers with good driving records with lower premiums.
Research
Understanding the security landscape
48% of respondents never change their passwords
We conducted surveys and looked at existing data to learn about current consumer knowledge and attitudes. We discovered that many people are misinformed about privacy best practices and apathetic about their own security, largely because they do not fully understand the risks involved:
Has your personal data ever been stolen or breached?
How often do you change your passwords?
Conclusion: users in the general public have a lack of understanding of security best practices and aren’t taking the steps they need to stay safe.
Understanding user behavior
Fear and apathy
We interviewed several current users of identity protection service products such as Lifelock, True Identity, and Equifax.
Two recurring themes came up in interviews:
Most users signed up for identity protection because they or someone close to them had suffered from identity theft. People were terrified that some
Most users have little to no interaction with the product they are paying for, outside of a monthly newsletter or an occasional alert notification. Many users expressed the sense that if they don’t hear anything, then they don’t need to do anything.
We developed two different archetypes based on our feedback:
Goal: Help this user feel safe and in control of their information.
Goal: Get this user more engaged.
Understanding motivation
Motivation + Prompts + Ability = Behavior
How can you influence behavior and get customers to act? The answer is a combination of incentives and convenience. We used the Fogg Behavior Model to inform our design decisions. We linked directly to users’ accounts in order to make the actions as convenient as possible, while the financial incentives give them an immediate reward for their efforts.
Design
prototype Iteration 1
Action and communication
We used the insights from our research to develop a solution that would make identity protection both convenient and enticing to users. For the first version of this application, we created a system of incentives that would include prompts to take actions to improve personal security, and a learning center where users could read articles.
Testing results: The functionality was not difficult for users to understand. but users indicated that they were unlikely to use the app to read articles. Referring back to our original business goals, we decided to narrow our focus to a solution based on action rather than communication.
prototype iteration 2
Prioritize and cut
The next version of the application stripped down the incentives program to focus on actions that lead to immediate rewards.
Final Product
The Security Rewards Program
The newly designed homepage includes a prominent link to the Security Rewards page, as well as clearer security alerts, and user credit score.
harnessing motivation
Prompts send users directly to the place where they need to take action, such as their email homepage or their bank account login page. The next time they visit the mobile app, they see a modal pop-up congratulating them on their action to reinforce their good behavior.
visual brand guidelines
I started with the established visual style for the company’s desktop website and built upon it with elements for the new security rewards pages and features.
Results
Users of the new version of the application were able to understand and successfully complete tasks to earn points, which indicates that this program has the potential to successfully motivate users to increase their security protection.
Next Steps
We plan to develop this feature for the desktop version of the website.