Quan Yuan

Copyright © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. QUAN YUAN

Homeowners Insurance

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Problem Statement

Beth needed insurance. The process took her away from Zillow at the worst moment.

Zillow's homebuyer needs homeowners insurance as part of her mortgage closing requirement. But when she tries to get it, Zillow sends her to a carrier website, an agent referral, or her auto insurer — adding friction and unnecessary steps at the most high-stakes moment in her homebuying journey. When Beth reaches a carrier directly, she faces 30+ qualification questions, re-enters information Zillow already has, and must sort through dense policy documents to find what to send her lender and title company.

"Beth knows that Zillow is building a housing super app, but wonders why HOI isn't one of the included services."

Issues for Homebuyers

Four reasons the existing experience failed

1
"I don't even know where to start. Do I call my car insurance company?"
No clear path from Zillow to insurance
There was no native HOI experience inside the Zillow app. Beth was expected to find a carrier on her own — at a moment when she was already juggling financing, inspections, and closing paperwork.
2
"I had to answer 30 questions before I even got a price."
30+ questions before a single quote
Carrier flows required Beth to re-enter her name, address, property type, and mortgage details — all information Zillow already had. Every redundant field was a moment she could abandon the flow.
3
"I have no idea what 'dwelling coverage limit' means. Is $340,000 the right number?"
Coverage selection required expert knowledge
First-time homebuyers had no frame of reference for insurance terminology. Terms like "dwelling coverage limit" and "personal liability" meant nothing without context anchored to their actual home.
4
"Am I done? Do I need to send this somewhere? How does my lender know?"
No clear confirmation or next steps
Even when Beth successfully purchased insurance, she didn't know what to do with the policy. She had to manually find and email proof to her lender and title company — a step that could easily fall through the cracks during a chaotic closing week.
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First Experiment

A Replit prototype to unlock research before engineering started

With limited engineering resources and a tight timeline, I built a functional Replit prototype using Figma design screenshots, the OpenAI API for house images and policy documents, and Google Maps for address autocomplete. This gave my researcher partner a usable prototype for 5 moderated sessions with real buyers — before a single line of production code was written. The prototype was presented at the ZG AI Showcase in June 2025 and ran live at homeownersinsurance.zillowlabs.com.

"It was definitely easy, I think almost too easy. You need some kind of safety measures."

— usability study participant (surfaced the confidence gap driving all subsequent design iterations)
3 of 5 participants called out liking the look and feel — the illustrations in particular. The concept of buying insurance inside Zillow resonated immediately.
Confidence gap discovered: The flow was easy to navigate — but users didn't feel equipped to make coverage decisions. Several said they'd want to call a Toggle agent before purchasing.
Quote and purchase felt like two separate journeys to users — but the prototype treated them as one continuous flow, causing confusion at the most critical moment.
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Research · Rolling Research RR-25.06.01

5 moderated sessions with first-time buyers under contract

We recruited five first-time buyers currently under contract or buying within 3 months — all with mortgage financing, all with prior Zillow experience. Sessions were conducted on the iOS prototype. Two core questions: Is the HOI UX easy to navigate? Does Beth feel well-equipped to purchase?

4.5/5
Ease of navigation rating
Participants rated the flow highly for ease — but this masked the confidence problem underneath. Easy to click ≠ confident to purchase.
5/5
Wanted to compare options
Every single participant said they couldn't easily compare Toggle's coverage options. "I wish there was a way to see it all instead of one at a time."
3–5
Quotes needed before purchasing
Participants would get 3–5 quotes before making a real purchase. "For such a big purchase, I want to save money. Shopping around is so important."
5/5
Trust boosted by Farmers brand
"The fact that Toggle says 'A Farmer's Company' gave them more credibility — I don't know who Toggle is, but I do know Farmers Insurance."
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Design Ideation

Landing page directions — aligning to carrier constraints

I developed multiple landing page directions and brought them to alignment with PM partner and the Toggle/Allstate carrier teams. The carrier constraint turned out to be a key design input: the landing page was the only part of Allstate's widget we could customize at MVP launch.

Direction A — Selected
Two-step: introduce carrier first

Screen one introduces Allstate with home context. Screen two presents relevant property information. Adam confirmed: "Option A will work best for MVP — the landing page is the only part of Allstate's widget we can customize at launch."

↳ Chosen — matched carrier constraints
Direction B — Post-MVP
Single page: carrier + home info together

Combine the carrier intro and relevant home information into one layout. More context-rich upfront — but not feasible within Allstate's widget customization limits at MVP launch.

↳ Aspirational, deferred to post-MVP
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Design Iterations & Usability Studies

Key changes based on what we learned in testing

Issue found in testing
"Review" label caused confusion

All 5 participants flagged "Review" as confusing. Users were actually editing their policy details — not passively reviewing them. The word implied reading, not active selection.
Design fix
Replaced "Review" with "Edit"

Changed the action label on policy holders and coverage start date to "Edit." Also moved info bubbles next to the grey label text — where users actually looked for contextual help.
Issue found in testing
Payment section went undiscovered

Participants naturally stopped scrolling after the "Powered by Toggle" section. Premium details and payment were invisible. Users expected a separate review step before confirming payment.
Design fix
Moved payment to its own page

Separated "get a quote" and "complete purchase" into distinct steps — matching how users mentally structured the journey. Added a review step before confirming payment.
"Premium" label was misread. Some users thought "Premium" referred to a coverage tier, not payment. Language changed to "Payment details."
"Policy details" page was redundant. Most information was already shown on the main page — only the "Lender" field was new. Fixed: surfaced Lender info inline, removed the redundant link.
Expandable sections needed an "expand all" option. Users wanted to read all policy details at once, not tap in and out of individual sections.

End-to-End Flow

Complete flow map — every screen, state, and branch

The full user flow mapped end to end, including edge cases, error states, and payment variations. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, or use the controls below.

Complete homeowners insurance flow map
Scroll to zoom · Drag to pan

Design Solutions

Six principles that shaped the final experience

1
Use Zillow's data to eliminate re-entry. Pre-fill name, email, phone, property address, and ZHL loan number. Beth shouldn't have to re-enter anything Zillow already knows.
2
Present one recommended carrier, not a marketplace. Multiple carriers = more work for Beth. One recommended carrier based on regulatory-compliant criteria = convenience. Present quotes, not decisions.
3
Show Basic, Standard, and Premium side by side. The top research finding: users couldn't compare options. A persistent side-by-side view with real-time price updates directly addresses this.
4
Default payment to escrow via ZHL close date. Beth shouldn't have to set up payment. Default to her mortgage close date — editable, but the default is already right.
5
Separate quote from purchase as two distinct steps. Users mentally separate "getting a quote" from "buying." The design respects that — giving Beth space to consider before committing.
6
Make the carrier's credibility visible. "Toggle — A Farmers Company" prominently displayed. Research showed this was the single biggest trust signal for users unfamiliar with the Toggle brand.

Prototype

Try the interactive prototype

A live, clickable version of the final HOI experience — explore the quote flow, coverage comparison, and purchase confirmation directly below.

Launch & Expansion

From Arizona MVP to 44-state rollout in six months

The MVP launched December 19, 2025 on iOS in Arizona. Within six months the product expanded to 44 states, added a second carrier, launched new entry points across the app, and saw quote volume grow 77% month over month.

Dec '25
MVP live on iOS in Arizona. Beth under contract on a Preferred transaction sees HOI on her Home Loans Tab. Quan Yuan and Tyler Clark credited in company launch announcement.
Feb '26
Web UX + HOI marketing landing page. zillow.com/buy/homeowners-insurance — first Zillow-hosted, SEO-optimized page for the product.
Mar '26
Homesite added as second carrier. Expands to 8 new states. HOI coverage of Enhanced Market transactions jumps 10× to 46.3%.
Apr '26
Under-contract email relaunched. 2,064 sends, 10.1% CTR. Quote volume paced 173% ahead of March. HOI landing page ranked #2 on Google for "Zillow homeowners insurance."
Apr '26
Homesite activated in 36 additional states. Total HOI coverage reaches 44 states — available to the vast majority of U.S. homebuyers.
May '26
HOI in Plan Tab on iOS. First time insurance integrated into Zillow's guided homebuying milestone experience. House ads increase landing page traffic 35×.
Jun '26
Quote-to-bind rate improves to ~4.5% (up from 1.8% in April). HOI quote volume up 77% MoM — strongest growth since launch.

Outcomes

Results from the Arizona MVP launch through June 2026

77%
MoM quote volume growth
By June 2026 — clearest signal that top-of-funnel efforts were landing after the email campaign and house ad launches.
1.84%
Conversion rate
For under-contract email entry point — vs. 0.07% for all other surfaces. Highest-intent channel by far.
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States covered
By April 2026, up from Arizona-only at December 2025 launch. Design system scaled without redesign.

User Feedback

"That makes perfect sense. One of the biggest troubles is that everything's all over the place — you have to go to a bunch of different people. So it's very nice."

— P2, usability study

"5, very easy. The process itself is incredibly easy — but the hangup is that I think I'd want to talk to a professional to make sure I'm making the correct selections."

— P4, usability study (drove the confidence gap finding)

"Congrats Adam and ZIS team! What a cool and easy experience."

— Mike Biemer, VP, on the Dec 2025 iOS launch (Slack, #dream-to-life-whats-shipping)

"Beth can purchase a policy in just a handful of clicks, all without leaving the Zillow app."

— Adam Friedman (PM), launch announcement Dec 22, 2025

"Zillow Insurance Services just launched our new HOI MVP experience, giving Beth a convenient way to get a quote and purchase a policy right from the Zillow app. This is a major step towards providing an integrated HOI product."

— Adam Friedman, launch announcement in #dream-to-life-whats-shipping

Reflection

Designing a financial product for first-time buyers means designing for confidence, not just ease. Users weren't failing to navigate the flow — they were failing to feel equipped to make the decision. That distinction drove every iteration.

The biggest insight from research: users who rated the experience 4.5 out of 5 for ease still wouldn't purchase without talking to an agent first. Ease and confidence are not the same thing. The design had to address both — through side-by-side comparison, the carrier trust signal, and separating quote from purchase into two psychologically distinct moments.

Carrier constraints turned out to be a design input rather than just a limitation. The fact that only the landing page could be customized in the Allstate widget forced us to make that single screen do more work — leading to a cleaner, more focused introduction than we might have designed with unconstrained freedom.

"Delivered 0→1 designs for native experiences (Home Insurance and Agent Finder), laying the foundation for future AI and automation capabilities. Supported a projected $50M 2026 revenue opportunity, contributing directly to Zillow's monetization strategy."

— ProEx Talent Profile, Sahithya Baskaran (Manager)

Live in Production

Get home insurance in a few easy steps

The shipped experience, live today on Zillow. The steps below map directly to the design solutions above — reusing Zillow's data, one recommended carrier, side-by-side coverage, and instant policy delivery.

Animated demo of the live Zillow homeowners insurance quote flow