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Dear Xxxxx,
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions via email.
This letter serves as an initial proposal for conducting research on users
(independent insurance agents) of proposed transaction-based additions to
a web site called ZZZ Online.
Project Background and Objectives ZZZ eBusiness Group is developing a transaction-based web site called ZZZ Online for independent insurance agents. This site helps agents do business online and will provide value-added services that will make ZZZ the first choice for agents over other carriers. Over the next several weeks, ZZZ eBusiness Group will have a unique opportunity to meet one-on-one with ZZZ Online users, both at the ZZZ home office and in the field. In light of a changing marketplace, the purpose of this research is to ascertain what factors and features are expected to be important to agents when these value-added online services become available. Insights gained from the study will be used to build these features into the ZZZ Online web site. Specifically, the research objectives are as follows:
We believe that you are also interested in generally "getting to know"
these agents as business partners.
Although the focus of the two-part study that we are proposing is more specific with
regard to the online transaction process and product, more general sorts of issues
could be incorporated into the following interactions with agents.
Research Design Based on brief email conversations with you, our recommendation would be to utilize a two-part approach to 1) explore agent needs and wants with regard to carrier features and the transaction process, and 2) to create a product mock-up on the basis of this exploration and to test the mock-up for usability under actual online field conditions. We are suggesting a hybrid approach using exploratory face-to-face group interviews, followed by online usability tests (in the field under actual field conditions) of a product mock-up. The first part of the study, which takes advantage of the window of opportunity to meet face to face with agents, will be used to find out what sorts of features the agents feel would be necessary, time-saving, and otherwise useful in the the conduct of online transactions. The second part of the study, which asks the agents to try mock-ups of the features that they wanted, would be used to confirm that we are indeed designing an online equivalent to what the agents had envisioned would be ideal. In addition to merely finding out if agents like these features, this phase of the study would also gain insights into how well the proposed features are likely to work under actual field conditions that are faced by agents. Part I: Face-to-Face Group Interviews With these thoughts in mind, we recommend conducting a few focus groups when you have agents visiting your office in the next few weeks. On the presumption that the transaction needs of most agents are about the same with regard to basic features required of an online system, you probably only need three or four groups with a handful of agents in each group to get a reasonable idea of what features are needed and wanted by agents and of the likelihood that they would use such a system. That is, a convenience sample of agents who are in your office during this opportunistic window of time should be adequate for initial exploration of the transaction features of products. (If you are additionally interested in other product, competitive, and strategy issues, then you must also consider sampling on appropriate agent demographics, and sample size and selection would become more important considerations.) These meetings need not be conducted in a rented research facility if your home office facility has a conference room large enough for the group to meet comfortably with room for a white-board, transparency projector, or other means to mark and display group ideas. Since you are attempting to explore agent perceptions and recommendations with regard to a product that doesn't yet exist, we do believe that it is best to conduct these interviews in groups rather than as individual depth interviews to allow for interactions between agents in a discussion to elicit new ideas. Group sizes of four to ten should elicit the sorts of insights that you need, with the group size being driven primarily by the size of space that you have and by the number of agents that are visiting you during this window of opportunity. The structure of such a group would approximate something like the following:
Part II: Online Usability Study of Product Mock-ups From insights gained regarding how agents select carriers, the process used by agents in placing business, agent perceptions of the Web, and agent perceptions of needs and wants specific to an ideal online transaction system, an HTML mock-up of the basic features is to be made. This need not completely match the look and feel of the current ZZZ web site since it is the usability of and reactions to features that are under test. Nonetheless, a mock-up that is close to the look and feel of the final product is certainly better, and so this phase can be coordinated with (and could be developed primarily by) ZZZs current web development team. The mock-up is to use standard HTML, forms, and client-side JavaScript, with response information saved to the server using server-side Perl if we do that part of the work. It is be mounted on a server (ours or yours) and agents would be asked to visit the site from their own offices. (Note that the mock-up is only concerned with testing the functions of the user interface and experience under field conditions. It is not to be a prototype of the final product, would not necessarily look like the final product, and would perform none of the transaction or database functions of the final product. The final product is likely to take a web development team months of development, as opposed to a few days for an HTML mock-up. The programming and data saved from the mock-up would be associated with collecting user response times, user ability to correctly complete simulated tasks, and user attitudes and beliefs.) The structure of such a test would approximate something like the following:
While the agent is completing the task, information is to be gathered regarding the correctness of the information that the agent is entering. Additional measures to be collected should also include the type of browser that is being used and, importantly, the amount of time that is taken to complete each part of the task. Data regarding correctness and time to complete parts of the task give us insights into usability problems. The type of browser that agents are actually using in the field would assist the web development team in assessing issues of browser cross compatibility.
The survey will be used to gather reactions to issues of utility (does it do what
they need to do), usability (can they use it), and likeability (is the
experience a pleasurable one).
These will provide insights that are necessary for the web development team to fine-tune
the final product to better match what agents say that they would like.
The survey will also be used to gather demographic information regarding the agent's
practice that can be correlated with other issues of the test size of agency,
type of internet connection, and such.
Costs and Deliverables The total estimated cost to complete both parts of the project, exclusive of expenses, is $6600. If you need us to assist in recruiting or to do other work not listed here, estimate cost at a rate of $75 per hour in our facility, $860 per day plus travel expenses if at your office (travel time not billed). Part I The cost of two days of focus group interviews in Dallas would be $3000, and includes a topic guide, a comprehensive report with recommendations, and a return for a formal presentation scheduled at your convenience. (If you want a formal presentation, this can be done at the conclusion of Part II.) Costs associated with our travel and lodging expenses, recruitment of agents to participate in the study, video taping if you want it, and rental of a local research facility if needed are your responsibility. Although you indicated that you have the opportunity for agents to be visiting your office, we would, nonetheless, advise providing some sort of honoraria or other reward for participating in a focus group study. Part II The cost for creating or assisting in the development of an online mock-up and for designing, developing, and conducting an online usability test of 100 participants would be approximately $3600, including a univariate summary, analysis, and report with recommendations. The mock-up is to be functional only in simulating the sorts of features that are likely to be in the final product using standard HTML forms. The survey is to be a single page online document with no programmed skips, branching, or piping, and may include one (1) open-ended question per respondent. The following are included in this estimate:
Costs associated with recruiting agents to participate in the study are your responsibility.
Project Timeline
The estimated timeline is as follows and includes time to collaborate with you
as the pieces are developed:
Project Timeline, Part I
Project Timeline, Part II
Xxxxx, I think that about sums up our initial thoughts about your research project. We appreciate your consideration and hope that you will feel free to contact us if this proposal needs any modifications in order to best suit your needs. Cordially, |