Identity Guard: A UX approach to creating safer habits and preventing identity theft
Overview:
Identity Guard has vast knowledge about identity protection best practices that their individual customers could benefit from, but they are not currently using that knowledge to motivate and help these customers make positive changes in their behavior. For example, their customers could be taking actions such as using unique, strong passwords, remembering to utilize their active credit cards so that their credit scores don’t decrease from negligence, or regularly reviewing their bank accounts, rather than simply waiting for notifications about potential fraud. Interestingly, our client had discovered that the customers who are least likely to take these proactive steps are the ones who have already experienced identity fraud.
Our challenge was to figure out how Identity Guard might use their vast knowledge of preventative measures to help motivate people to take more proactive actions and create safer habits.
Team/Timeframe:
• 3 UX Designers
• 2 week sprint
Methods:
• Affinity mapping
• Heuristic analysis
• Business analysis
• User research
• Competitive/Comparative Research
• Online surveys
• Synthesis
• Ideation
• Rapid prototyping
• Usability testing
• Digital wire-framing
Tools:
• Sketch
• Figma
• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• Google forms
Our Process:
Discovery
Understanding the business:
Identity Guard‘s goals are to encourage existing customers to be more proactive and attract new customers to their service. They believe that their customers could be taking more actions such as using stronger passwords, remembering to utilize their credit cards so that their credit scores don’t decrease from negligence, and regularly reviewing their bank accounts, rather than simply waiting for notifications about potential fraud. If their current customers protect themselves better, Identity Guard will benefit in the long run by saving cost on insurance payouts. There is also a need for a simple onboarding process to gain new customers.
What we need to know about identity theft:
When it comes to protecting one’s identity online, research showed the importance of having a secure network while handling sensitive data as well as having a good data and password management system. Moving forward we wanted to find out more about the behavior of our users when it comes to these methods of protection.
Getting to know our users:
Our first step was to understand more about our users. Anyone can be a target of thieves and hackers, so we reached out to our peers and got back 35 responses. Our goal was to learn more about the level of awareness of identity theft in users, as well as what measures they currently take in order to protect themselves. We realized that most of our audience had heard of identity theft but had very limited knowledge about the topic. Even if they were aware of best practices, they still were reluctant to act on them.
Some key quotes from users:
“I’m too lazy. I don’t have time.”
“It’s too complicated”
“Nothing bad has happened yet, so I’m ok.”
We also realized based on user research results that our users are not simply “lazy,” they are influenced by cognitive biases. The natural tendency for people to focus on what’s important now, rather than far off consequences and to believe that when things are going well, they will continue to go as hoped are some factors that needed to be overcome. How might we help change our users way of thinking this way?
Define
Our archetype: The Unprepared Ostrich
Based on our findings, the next step was to create an archetype to further understand our user needs. We went with the ostrich effect in particular because ostriches hide their head in the sand when they are fearful. This analogy worked perfectly for our users who feel untouchable to these real threats.
“What you don’t know, can’t hurt you.” -Ostrich effect
• Has limited knowledge about identity theft
• Does not use any identity protection tools or services
• Willing to try new apps/services, but will leave quickly if confused
• Defers action when fearful or uncomfortable
• Needs tasks to be simple
So how do we get the Unprepared Ostrich to change without ruffling any feathers?
In order to better understand how behaviors are changed, we used the Fogg Behavior Model, which states that three elements must converge at the same moment for a behavior to occur: Motivation, Ability, and a Prompt.
Because we want someone to commit to a new behavior for a long term, we are seeking a Green Path Behavior.
The Green Path Behavior steps are:
• Awareness - boost motivation
• Provide Tools & Onboarding - make it simple to get started
• Habit-forming - reward positive behavior
Based on a detailed analysis of our user needs, business needs, and Fogg’s behavior model, we concluded that our users need:
• Digestible information that is easily accessible to make it simple to get started and bring awareness
• Easy-to-use, low effort, high impact tools to boost motivation
• Positive reinforcement to reward positive behavior and motivate habit-forming
Which then led us to our hypothesis:
We believe that by providing users with simplified information and free, easy-to-use prevention tools, we can curb their fear of getting started to take preventative measures and motivate them to form safer habits.
Ideate
Proposed Solution:
1. Create a free app with two tools: VPN and Data/password management function as well as “Quick Tips” section with accessible and digestible information
(Hero Image)
2. Update website to create a more functional nav bar and include callouts for the app
(Hero Image)
Tools:
Within the app, we needed to provide the users with tangible tools, something they can use everyday in order to start building habits. These tools had to be low-effort while having high-impact. Based on our secondary research, securing one’s connection and management of important data and passwords were some of the most important steps in identity theft protection.
Thus we chose these, one free tool and two subscription-based tools:
VPN (free)
• Acts as a safe passage for your traffic or any type of online activity ( browsing, streaming, downloading, etc)
• Creates incentive to use the app frequently
Vault (subscription)
• Straightforward and easy to use
• Secure storage for all documents, passwords and other data
Quick Tips (subscription)
• Engaging and easy to digest tips
• Reward system when lessons are completed
• Alert section that provides current news and reports relevant to identity theft
• An easy to understand on-boarding explanation
Positive Reinforcement:
In order to find ways to motivate proactive behavior, we started exploring gamification. We wanted to create an in-app reward system such as rewarding actions when learning a tip or turning on the VPN as well as providing simple, positive affirmations to encourage our users to learn and protect!
We used the fire symbol to indicate progress, but as to what reward they get will need some further research.
Some initial sketches of the app :
We did a walkthrough of our prototype with 5 users to get some different perspectives and see if we were on the right track.
Most of our target users were confused with how to use security tools such as a VPN, Password Manager, or Data Vault – indicating the importance of easily digestible definitions to guide the initial app use.
Solution: Added simple explanations about identity theft and each function to onboarding and to the actual VPN/ Vault pages.
Prototype
After iterating based on feedback, we refined our paper prototype into a clickable mid-fidelity wireframe.
Onboarding page to help inform our users of all the functions:
Home page to showcase the two main tools:
Quick Tips with memorable acronyms:
Vault categories and passwords:
Navigation Bar:
We made some minor changes to the website by rearranging the current navigation bar to highlight helpful content and by creating clear, visible callouts for our free app. By adding general information about identity theft under “What is identity theft?” and adding tips, tools and resources under “Getting started,” users have an easier way to access the content.
Reflection and some next steps:
This project was a lot about understanding what motivates people. Why is forming good habits so difficult, even when people know better? We know exercising is vital and good for us and will most likely protect us from health issues, but we still find a million reasons not to do it. The key is to just get started. If we have the right tools on hand, that are simple and accessible, habits can be formed a lot easier.
In this case, we combined education, tools, and positive affirmations to motivate people.
Moving forward, some more research is needed into understanding how we can inherently reward people for good behavior, such as incentives for reaching goals.