Background

What is this?

Ladder’s mission is to protect families by making it easier for people to secure coverage. Like any product, policies come with costs, which we recover through sales revenue. Over the past few years, our company faced challenges in selling policies efficiently, with revenue impacted by spending on individuals who ultimately didn’t make a purchase. In 2024, I designed a solution that transformed how policies are evaluated and purchased, significantly improving our contribution margin.

My role

I led the design of this project from January 2024 to May 2024.

In addition, I worked alongside a UX Content Designer, 2 Engineers, and a Product Manager.

My tasks entailed owning the end-to-end design process, defining product strategy, and pairing with developers.

Problems to solve

Ladder has long faced the challenge of covering users who don’t end up purchasing a policy, leading to high operational costs. The purchase journey typically begins with a user receiving a quote, completing an application, and—if everything checks out—reviewing and accepting their offer.

Behind the scenes, Ladder invests resources to underwrite users by evaluating their risk profiles. This process, which we call “evidence,” includes gathering medical history, driver’s license information, and other data. Based on their application and evidence, we provide an offer for the user to consider.

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The challenge arises when users we’ve invested in for evidence don’t accept their offers. Reasons for this include price concerns, lack of readiness, or continued shopping. While these decisions are understandable, they create issues for both users and our business:

  1. User challenges
    1. Users invest time in our process but may leave without a policy, leaving their families unprotected.
    2. For users who already liked their initial quote, having to accept an offer at the same price adds an unnecessary step in an already lengthy process.
  2. Business challenges
    1. Spending on evidence for users who don’t purchase negatively impacts our contribution margins.
    2. Strong contribution margins are crucial for fundraising in the startup world, where investors prioritize high gross margins. The days of investors casually funding startups without a solid financial foundation are behind us.