EMBROKER · FINTECH / INSURANCE · shippedReaching 93% self-service adoption for certificates
Embroker already had an automated certificate workflow. I redesigned the experience to help customers understand their choices and manage certificate requests independently.
The project in 20 seconds
Embroker is a digital insurance platform for businesses. A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is proof of active coverage, often requested by clients, partners, landlords, or vendors.
Certificate requests still depended heavily on Embroker’s service team, creating customer waiting and repetitive internal work.
Turn an assisted workflow into a clear, trustworthy self-service experience without removing access to human support.
Product design from problem definition and flow design through prototyping, testing, delivery, and post-launch iteration.
The result94% of eligible certificate requests became self-service in the first week.
Four weeks after launch, adoption was still at 93%, showing that self-service had become the default behavior, not just a launch spike.
Project details
Embroker
Business insurance platform
Certificate of Insurance self-service
Senior Product Designer
PM · Engineering · Customer Success
Shipped
Existing workflow redesign
2023
A routine document with real business consequences.
A Certificate of Insurance sounds simple: proof that a business has active coverage. But generating one can involve recipient details, coverage requirements, policy rules, and cases that still need human review.
The challenge was to make the common case feel effortless without pretending every case could be automated.
Certificates can be routine documents with urgent consequences. A client, landlord, or partner may need proof of coverage before a business can move forward.
The product could already generate and manage certificates, but customers needed to understand which details to provide and what their choices meant. I focused on the moments where the interface left people uncertain about acting on their own.
Automation was available. Customers still needed guidance.
Customer need
Understand the request and complete it without waiting for extra reassurance.
Product opportunity
Make the existing self-service capability easier to discover and use.
Support boundary
Keep help available for questions and requests that needed additional review.
My role
I owned the UX from understanding the existing workflow through launch. I mapped the journey and request flow, designed and prototyped the experience, compared guidance approaches with users, and supported implementation through design QA.
I worked with product and insurance stakeholders to make sure the interface reflected the workflow’s rules and support boundaries.
Key product decisions
The design decisions focused on helping customers understand what was expected of them, recognize the consequences of their choices, and move forward without second-guessing themselves.
Make choices understandable - Translate complex insurance terminology into clearer instructions and relevant contextual guidance.
Keep users informed - Make progress, system feedback, and next steps visible throughout the journey.
Build confidence through clarity - Provide enough information for customers to make decisions themselves, without overwhelming them with unnecessary detail.
Journey mapping exposed where uncertainty peaked and where additional guidance would have the most value.Less interface didn’t mean less uncertainty
At the time, we were also considering a broader visual redesign of the product. I used this opportunity to explore different visual directions while evaluating how information density and guidance affected user confidence.
We compared a more minimal interface, which relied on contextual tooltips, with an approach that kept relevant guidance visible.
The more minimal option looked cleaner, but it didn't necessarily make users feel more confident. Participants rated their confidence higher with persistent guidance, at 9.3 compared with 8.7 for the more minimal version.
The takeaway was that visual simplicity and perceived simplicity aren't always the same thing. Removing information can make an interface look lighter while leaving users with more unanswered questions.
The flow could only reduce support dependency if customers found it. A standard banner risked being overlooked.
I designed a more noticeable feature announcement that stood apart from static page content. The goal was to make the new self-service option visible without making the experience feel disruptive.
Discovery was part of the product experience. A self-service feature has little value if users continue to rely on old support paths because they do not notice the new option.
Making the self-service path discoverable
Final solution
The final experience combined the existing automation with clearer guidance, more understandable choices, and visible feedback throughout the certificate journey.
The goal was to make customers feel capable of completing requests and managing changes independently, rather than simply giving them the technical ability to do so.
Design for desktop
Design for smaller screens
860Design for mobile
776
What happened after launch
The redesigned experience achieved 94% self-service adoption among eligible certificate requests in its first week, with adoption remaining at 93% in the fourth week.
For me, the more meaningful outcome was that customers were willing to use the independence the product already offered. The design helped bridge the gap between having access to self-service and feeling confident enough to rely on it.
Adoption held after launch100
80
60
40
20
0
2/12-2/19
2/20-2/26
2/27-3/5
3/6-3/12
3/13-3/19
3/20-3/26
3/27-4/2
4/3-4/9
4/10-4/16
4/17-4/23
Launch week
4/24-4/30
5/1-5/7
5/8-5/14
Impact
94% self-served in week one
115 of 123 certificates were issued through the new flow.
8.7 → 9.3 confidence score
Testing showed higher confidence with the guided version.
93% self-served across four weeks
Self-service adoption remained high after launch.
Reduced support dependency
Customers could complete a previously confusing certificate task independently.
Reflection
This project reinforced that enabling users to do something isn't the same as making them comfortable doing it.
The workflow was already automated. The design challenge was understanding where people hesitated, what information they needed, and how the interface could build confidence without adding unnecessary complexity.
It also reminded me that reducing visual complexity isn't always the right answer. Sometimes a little more guidance is precisely what makes an experience feel simpler.
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