Driving a 403% Conversion Lift for Pet Insurance
TLDR
Led the organic UX and conversion optimization strategy for a Fortune 50 global insurer’s entry into direct-to-consumer pet insurance. Over a four-year engagement, I drove a 403% total lift in conversions through a cross-functional roadmap uniting traditional and AI-search visibility with high-intent transactional design.
My role: Experience Optimization Lead (Mar 2022 - Apr 2026)
THE CHALLENGE
Despite the company's market dominance in group and life insurance, its pet insurance offerings faced a limited online presence and untapped, or siloed, data. Their recent acquisition of another pet insurance company compounded this, creating an urgent need to integrate content and boost search visibility. Most importantly, there was a gap between data and design: user search intent was not reflected in the product experience.
THE GOAL
The intent of my engagement with this client was to bridge the gap between user needs and design by modernizing a legacy enterprise framework into an agile, ROI-driven growth engine optimized for both traditional search visibility (SEO) and AI-driven discoverability (GEO) while also ramping up online pet insurance policy sales.
MY APPROACH
Orchestrating an Enterprise Growth Engine
I provided UX and CRO leadership within a high-velocity partnership between Terakeet (strategic search partners) and the client's Agile Product Team. Furthermore, I facilitated increased collaboration between organic search intelligence, content strategy, and conversion-centric design teams to transform the digital ecosystem into a high-performance acquisition funnel.
1. Strategic Insights & User Architecture
By identifying critical gaps where high-intent segments were underserved, I directed a strategic overhaul of 20+ enterprise pages, pivoting from passive informational content to Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) research-backed transactional flows.
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Navigation & IA Optimization: Executed tree testing to restructure the global navigation. By aligning the architecture with user mental models, we ensured high-intent paths were accessible within 1–2 clicks.
Main navigation recommendations based on tree test findings
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Scannability Framework: Optimized the homepage and product page layouts, content formatting, and visual design for improved readability and quick comprehension. The purpose of these optimizations these was to support users in completing tasks and achieving goals quicker, making fewer mistakes while searching and discovering content, understanding the structure and navigation of the website faster, and enhancing trust in the brand. To validate our hypotheses, we conducted A/B testing to ensure that the new designs had a positive impact on KPIs.
Optimized Design
Previous Design
2. Scalable Product Expansion
I directed the research and design strategy for a suite of new, high-converting product entries designed to capture specific market segments:
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Localized Authority: Designed a reusable State Pet Insurance template, creating a scalable framework that optimized for local search intent while providing a tailored, region-specific experience across 50+ markets.
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Segment-Specific UX: Architected the Multiple Pets page to streamline complex multi-animal enrollment logic, specifically targeting the high-value "power user" demographic.
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Addressing Information Gaps: Launched Plans and Preventive Care pages to solve the primary user pain point identified in research: clarity of coverage.
New Plans Page design
New Multiple Pets Page annotated wireframe
3. Performance-Driven Component Design
To accelerate the "Lead-to-Customer" journey, I developed a suite of interactive tools focused on transparency and decision-confidence:
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Cost Savings Calculator: A high-intent tool demonstrating the value of pet insurance for common illnesses, accidents, and preventive care while providing more transparency around price.
First iteration of the Cost Savings Calculator
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Interactive Comparison Suite: Dynamic tables and plan-comparison components designed to eliminate the "choice paralysis" that leads to funnel abandonment.
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Trust Architecture: Leveraged the umbrella company's recently renewed partnership with Peanuts to incorporate familiar comic strip illustrations to boost social proof and trust within CTAs and critical decision-inflection points.
Optimized homepage hero design
Previous homepage hero design
Optimized "How It Works" component design
Previous "How It Works" component design
4. Establishing the CRO Culture
Beyond design, I institutionalized a data-driven culture by establishing the brand's first formal Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) program:
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Evangelism & Education: Educated executive stakeholders on testing best practices, statistical significance, and confidence levels.
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Roadmap Management: Identified and prioritized high-impact elements for A/B testing and pre/post analysis.
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Executive Reporting: Managed the end-to-end testing lifecycle—from impact estimation to performance analysis—presenting final ROI results to company leadership.
Mobile App Page Optimization Pre/Post Analysis Sprint Review Readout
Coverage & Exclusions Page A/B Test Executive Readout
Redefining Success: From Visibility to Sales
The success of our UX and CRO initiatives improved our client's conversions by over 403% from 2022-2026 and directly transformed MetLife Pet’s digital strategy. By shifting the focus from purely search visibility to high-intent conversion, our team empowered MetLife to become the first-ever Terakeet growth client to adopt an OKR tied directly to policy sales rather than just search visibility. This shift validated the effectiveness of the growth engine we built, proving that our user-centric design approach was perfectly aligned with MetLife Pet’s core business objectives.