An Award-Winning UX Strategy & Design for Swiss Life
Redefining the Digital Customer Journey to reflect individual life paths by seamlessly bridging the gap between digital content and personal advice.
Role: Senior UX Designer
Project Scope: Relaunch of the corporate website swisslife.ch as a pilot for the other Swiss Life Domains
Key Impact: +265% articles read, +800% product views, +253% increase Converation Rate (compared to the previous year)
Award: German Brand Award 2020
Key Facts.
The Challenge
Bridging the gap between complex insurance informations and personal life stories.
With over a million clients, Swiss Life is a leader in financial confidence. However, their previous digital presence was constrained by its technical architecture, making it difficult for users to navigate complex pension topics. This resulted in a fragmented user journey and underperforming conversion rates.
The Approach
Transforming data into empathy through a structured HCD process.
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Understanding the 'Why' behind the user behavior. Instead of relying on assumptions, we started with a deep dive into the status quo.
Audit & Analytics: Analysis of existing touchpoints and channels to identify where users dropped off.
User Research: Conducted qualitative research and stakeholder interviews to understand the emotional hurdles of pension planning.
Journey Mapping: Visualized the current customer journey to pinpoint friction in the transition from information to advice.
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Framing the solution around individual life paths. In this phase, I translated research insights into a concrete strategic framework.
Information Architecture: Redefined the sitemap using Card Sorting and Tree Testing
Persona Development: Created data-driven profiles to ensure the content reflected the diversity of Swiss Life’s clients.
CX Strategy: Defined the three core communication principles: Close to everyday life, vibrant, and smart.
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Bringing the 'Self-Determined Life' to the screen. The focus was on rapid iteration and ensuring the value of personal advice was felt in every click.
Design Studio Workshops: Co-creation sessions with cross-functional teams to brainstorm conversion-heavy page structures.
Lo-Fi Prototyping: Developed wireframes to test the "dramaturgical" flow of content (Introduction → Facts →Call to Action).
Rapid Testing: Iterative usability testing of the prototypes to validate the intuitive nature of the new navigation.
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Ensuring consistency and technical feasibility. A great design only works if it can be implemented and maintained.
Digital Style Guide: Developed a comprehensive component library in Frontify for long-term scalability.
Design Handoff: Continuous collaboration with the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) implementation team to ensure the design vision was technically feasible.
Conversion Optimization: Finalizing the integration of interactive calculators and seamless lead forms to maximize advisory requests.
The Solution
A Digital Home for a Self-Determined Life.
The final design successfully translated the complex world of pensions into an intuitive, emotional, and smart digital interface. We moved away from a rigid "one-size-fits-all" structure to a modular experience that celebrates individual solutions.
Dramaturgical Storytelling: Each page was designed to guide users from an emotional "hook" (e.g., life stories about retirement) through relevant facts to a clear, trust-based call to action.
Intuitive Navigation: A drastically simplified information architecture that lets users find their specific life situation (e.g., "Starting a family" or "Retirement planning") within seconds.
Modular Design System: A flexible library of interactive components, such as financial calculators and gamification elements, that make complex data easy to consume.
Seamless Advisory Link: Strategic placement of conversion elements that bridge the gap between digital content and personal consultation.
The Impact
Delivering measurable growth and award-winning excellence.
The transition from a technical platform to a human-centric experience yielded immediate and significant results. By comparing the periods before and after the relaunch, the data confirmed a transformative shift in user engagement.
From Passive to Active: The new dramaturgical content structure successfully moved visitors from mere information-seeking to active engagement with Swiss Life’s advisory services.
Long-Term Scalability: The Digital Style Guide established a consistent design language that now serves as the foundation for all future Swiss Life digital initiatives.
Industry Recognition: Our strategic approach was honored with the German Brand Award 2020 for Excellence in Brand Strategy and Creation, specifically in the Web & Mobile category.
This project proved that in the complex financial & insurance sector, UX can be the ultimate business driver. When you simplify complexity and design with empathy for individual life paths, you don’t just improve usability—you build the trust necessary for a 253% growth in conversion.