The Importance of UX in Integrated Tech for Agents and Advisors in Financial Services

AI is transforming the work of client-facing teams in financial services! With intense competition and high churn rates, the effectiveness of agents and advisors increasingly depends on the tools at their disposal. 

After years of product research, implementation and user surveys, we can’t stress enough the significance of user experience (UX) in these integrated systems. It simply cannot be overlooked. It is the basis for agents and advisors to adopt new tools and receive the optimum values that the tool can offer. Good UX means that the software is well adapted to their working style, and it empowers them to work more efficiently, independently, and confidently. To put it in the current context where every company has a plan to implement GenAI to enhance their team’s performance, good UX has helped Zelros’ team to: 

• Increase awareness of generative AI’s capabilities while highlighting the importance of the human role in the process.
• Onboard new insurance producers and bank advisors and help them with their daily tasks by assisting new users with their search by asking questions and using simple keyphrases or keywords.
• Provide agents and advisors with clear, concise information that empowers them to evaluate, decide, and trust the data and insights.
• Integrate field feedback into the product to maintain and improve the quality of recommendations and answers over time.

The Agent Era: Why UX Matters

User Experience (UX) in financial services goes beyond aesthetics; it’s about creating intuitive, efficient interfaces that enhance usability, productivity, and satisfaction. For agents and advisors, a well-designed UX can mean the difference between spending hours navigating complex systems and quickly accessing the information they need to serve clients effectively.

According to a study by McKinsey, companies prioritizing design have  “32 percentage points higher revenue growth and  56 percentage points higher total return to shareholders, over a five-year period, than their competitors”. This staggering figure underscores the tangible benefits of prioritizing design and UX in financial services technology.

The all-in-one platform: Balancing complexity and usability

The concept of an all-in-one platform for sales in financial services has been introduced previously. However, the definition and expectation of what all-in-one should entail are transforming drastically in the new era of applied GenAI.  How exactly does it go from something as complex as LLMs to helping agents use the technology to automate some of the repetitive tasks often associated with insurance and banking processes? 

We truly believe that the newly added technology should be well integrated to provide agents and advisors with a centralized hub for all their needs, helping them quickly start, operate with it daily, and navigate through some of their most time-consuming and complex tasks without technological barriers. in short, the user experience (UX) helps agents feel less intimidated when trying a new tool and the UX is there to ease the learning curve!

The complexity:	The usability:
Siloed data: agents often need to access diverse information from various systems (e.g., customer data, product information, regulatory guidelines) in different systems. Poorly designed navigation system creates confusion and errors.	Intuitive navigation: ensuring that agents can quickly find and access the information they need.
Rigid system: agents often face a steep learning curve when organizations adopt new technologies, which can create friction or resistance to change and negatively impact overall performance.	Customization: allowing users to tailor the interface to their specific needs and preferences.
Information availability: The challenge lies in deciding what information is essential and ensuring that important details aren’t hidden too deeply, which can disrupt the agents’ daily work.	Progressive Disclosure: Presenting information in a layered approach to avoid overwhelming users.

Empowering agents and advisors through interactive solutions

A study by Accenture found that 79% of bank advisors believe that AI will revolutionize the way they gain information from and interact with customers. This highlights the growing importance of interactive, AI-driven solutions in the industry.

Interactive features within AI-powered systems can significantly enhance an agent’s capabilities. These may include:

• Real-time Data Access: Providing up-to-the-minute information for informed decision-making.
• Predictive Analytics: Offering insights into client behavior and market trends.
• Large Language Model Processing: Enabling more natural interactions with the system.

The Impact on Client Relationships

Financial institutions can significantly improve client relationships by empowering agents and advisors with user-friendly, AI-enhanced tools. A survey by PwC revealed that 73% of people point to customer experience as an essential factor in their purchasing decisions. When agents can access information quickly and provide personalized advice, client satisfaction naturally increases.

The impact of UX on efficiency and efficacy for insurance agents and bank advisors.

When we implement solutions that effectively address the needs of agents, we have observed conversion rates ranging from 17% to 26%. This results in an additional 50,000 contracts per year. The products that help experienced producers convert more contracts can also be utilized to train new agents, reducing the training time from 6 months to just 2 months. Furthermore, top management has reported a 15% increase in productivity among their teams.

We conducted a user experience study to understand the pain points and how to address them using technology. Here are some of the lessons learned:

Agents need	Product UX response
A more efficient way to capture essential information, as producers often don’t have the time to type lengthy responses when potential or current policyholders answer their questions.	Design intuitive interfaces that anticipate producers’ needs by providing shortcuts, auto-suggestions, and contextually relevant information.
A faster way to search and provide precise answers while speaking to clients either in person or on call.  Normally, producers have to pull and check data from multiple documents and sources.	Implement seamless navigation with a single entry point that combines traditional search and GenAI, delivering concise, actionable recommendations and answers.
An interface or a system that doesn’t overload agents with too much information or poorly organized data.	Present preconfigured information in a clear structure depending on the producers’ intent and task, we apply principles such as :  • clear hierarchy for priority • specialized visual cards with sources for the credibility of the information. • collapsible sections for simplicity and efficiency.
An automatic way to get, modify, and analyze vast amounts of customer information. If possible, a quicker way to help agents prepare for meetings or uncover context during calls, all while managing multiple tasks simultaneously	Design shortcuts call-to-action (CTA) for automated tasks, where agents can quickly get key points about each client, eliminating the need to search or navigate multiple tools.  Some of the CTA helps producers automate low-value, operational tasks and focus on prioritizing meaningful interactions: • ready-to-use summaries,  • prefilled emails or automatically create tasks or opportunities back in their CRM.

Conclusion: The UX Imperative

In the competitive world of financial services, the quality of UX in integrated systems can be a significant differentiator. By investing in thoughtful, user-centric design, banks and insurance companies can empower their agents and advisors to work more efficiently and confidently. This not only improves operational efficiency but also enhances client satisfaction and loyalty. As AI continues to transform the industry, the importance of UX will only grow. Financial institutions that prioritize creating seamless, intuitive experiences for their agents and advisors will be well-positioned to thrive in this new era of digital-first financial services.