1. The Challenge:
How do you get customers, who are comfortable paying premiums offline or through advisers, to embrace a new digital payment system? That was the challenge we faced in Singlife’s digital transformation.
The goal was to seamlessly integrate digital payments into the ecosystem while overcoming user hesitation in a context where logins were infrequent—quarterly or annually.
2. The Approach:
We focused on making the transition effortless for users by auto-populating policy details and guiding them through the process with clear, timely explanations.
Drawing inspiration from established banking experiences, especially DBS, we ensured that the journey felt intuitive and familiar to reduce any friction.
Role & Responsibilities
My main responsibility was to guide the team in designing a user-friendly payment experience that adhered to industry standards while also addressing the specific needs of our customers.
I worked closely with stakeholders across various departments to ensure compliance and technical feasibility while also making the journey as simple and intuitive as possible. Above all, I focused on empathizing with users, understanding their reluctance to adopt new technology, and designing solutions that minimized any learning curve or confusion.
Position / Role
Stragtegist
Position / Role
Collaborator
Position / Role
Empath
The Design Process
Since digital payments are widely used, we conducted extensive desktop research, adopting best practices from leading banks like DBS to design a solution that users would already be familiar with, reducing the need for them to learn something entirely new.
Research & Discovery
We streamlined the process by auto-populating policy information, ensuring users wouldn't need to input their details manually. To ensure adoption, we modelled the experience of DBS's intuitive flows, as this would feel familiar to our Singapore-based users.
Ideation
During usability testing, we discovered some challenges with users finding the new payment feature. To address this, we introduced onboarding screens to guide users and improve feature visibility, ensuring they could easily navigate the new system.
Prototyping & Testing
Challenges & Solutions
A key challenge was adoption—Singlife customers logged in infrequently, either quarterly or annually, which made introducing a new digital payment system difficult.
How We Solved It: We introduced onboarding screens and in-app notifications to alert users about the new feature and guide them through the payment process.
By designing the journey to be simple and familiar, we minimized friction, making the transition to digital payments as smooth as possible.
This project reminded me that sometimes the best solutions come from adopting familiar and proven patterns rather than reinventing the wheel. Designing a system that felt intuitive to users led to quicker adoption and greater satisfaction.
I learned the importance of balancing innovation with familiarity, ensuring that while we push forward with new features, we also keep the user experience at the forefront by leveraging what already works well in the industry.
Reflection
$25
million of premium processed
In the first 6 months, over 14,000 transactions were processed through the new system, totalling more than $25 million in payments. Users appreciated the clean and efficient journey but requested improvements like the ability to pay for multiple policies simultaneously and more prompt error messages when encountering payment gateway issues.
The Payoff
Hey, I'm James, a UX Manager, Product Owner, and relentless design enthusiast! I lead kick-ass teams to create user-focused experiences that not only solve problems but also spark joy for businesses and their users.
I believe great design starts with people – understanding the creators and the users. With a mix of creativity, strategy, and a love for human-centred solutions, I bring ideas to life that truly make an impact!
jameschiamxw@gmail.com
+65 8201 2424
© 2025 by James Chiam
Made with Love