Founded in 1861, Royal London is the UK’s largest mutual provider of life insurance, pensions, and investment solutions.
As an intermediary-led business, it relies on a strong network of financial advisors to guide customers through complex pension and investment decisions. Royal London has grown through strategic acquisitions and, in 2014, unified them under the Royal London Group brand.
‘ThinkBeyond’ was launched to drive long-term transformation and digital engagement.
Focused on modernising pensions and improving digital experiences for advisors and customers.
Key objective: Build a robust design system for consistent, cohesive user interfaces.
Design system vision: Shared foundation of reusable components and patterns to speed design/dev, reduce duplication, and unify experiences.
Problem Discovery
Royal London's advisor-led pension program reflects their belief that financial products require expert guidance. We researched with stakeholders, service teams, and advisors to map the customer journey and identify opportunities for digital enhancement.
Value Proposition workshop
Used Value Proposition Canvas to align business and user needs.
Held workshop with stakeholders, POs, and scrum team to align on advisor and customer needs.
Created prioritised feature list added to backlog and validated with low-fidelity prototypes.
Advisor Observation Session
Observation sessions held across advisor firms in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
Semi-structured research: observed tasks, customer calls, tools, and workflows.
Prototype testing: advisors used low-fidelity prototypes to validate features in context.
Outcome: insights revealed pain points and shaped transformation priorities.
From Insights to Opportunities
These activities shaped a comprehensive, advisor-centric journey map that informed product decisions, guided feature prioritisation, and uncovered high-impact opportunities for the pension offering.
Unified Advisor Workspace
Advisor Portal: A Key Focus for Royal London
Improving the portal was vital to boost advisor efficiency and enhance customer experience. Research and journey mapping shaped three core functions:
1️⃣ New Business Applications Digital applications with real-time updates cut advisor submission time.
2️⃣ Customer Management Modern UI and workflows simplified portfolio and customer management.
3️⃣ Illustration workflows Streamlined illustration tools enabled faster, personalized pension projections.
Empowering Customers Through Self-Service
1️⃣ Strengthened brand & user empowerment: Simple platform for self-service pension tasks.
2️⃣ Hub-and-spoke design: Key pension details upfront, faster access to essentials like address changes and investment updates.
3️⃣ Smarter projection tools: Personalised, accurate retirement projections to support better financial decisions.
Scaling with Design System
🎯 Goal: Fix UI inconsistencies across Royal London’s platforms and support faster, collaborative development.
✨ Impact: Accessible, reusable components ensured consistency across old and new platforms.
↔️ Process: Iterative build with PM/dev feedback, JAM sessions, and structured reviews.
🫵🏽 Challenges: Aligning legacy systems with new standards while managing timelines; required strong stakeholder communication.
😄 My role: Designed accessible components, led workshops, and ran research to improve usability of the design system.
🌍 Features: Interaction guidelines, examples, code snippets, and updates reduced onboarding time and improved delivery speed.
View the Royal London Design System
Low fidelity Prototype testing
We tested low-fidelity prototypes with internal teams who work closely with advisors and customers, quickly validating features and identifying pain points. Using think-aloud feedback, we captured both functional issues and emotional responses, ensuring alignment with target personas. Stakeholder participation built empathy and strengthened team alignment with user needs.
Early validation of feature ideas using low-fidelity prototypes
Identification of pain points and hidden usability issues
Real-time emotional and functional feedback through think-aloud sessions
Increased stakeholder empathy and stronger team alignment with user needs
Learning & Results
Key Challenges
Perfection-First Mindset: Stakeholders resisted releasing features until they were "perfect," causing delays and missed opportunities to learn from real users.
Lack of Feedback Loops: Without structured feedback channels from stakeholders or end users, validating solutions became challenging.
Influence of Internal Opinions: Product decisions often stemmed from the most vocal team members rather than evidence-based user testing.
Impact & Outcomes
Advisor Engagement Improved: Advisors appreciated having everything in one place—especially the ability to complete new business applications without switching tools.
Customer Portal Usage Increased: Active pension holder usage rose from 5% to 20% after launch, reflecting a clear boost in engagement.
Mobile App Adoption: About 25% of users who downloaded the mobile app became monthly active users, showing promising long-term value.
