Research services

We design & execute empathy-driven growth strategies

We balance people, possibility & profitability

We are a team of researchers and designers that partner with insurance carriers to understand the true motivations and priorities of the people they serve. We believe that human empathy and real world conversations lead to better outcomes for businesses and the people they serve.

Empathy

Gain an understanding of your customers as people, not just policyholders

Focus

Quickly identify the opportunities worth pursuing and what to deprioritize

Momentum

Gain traction internally, win funding and get your projects to market

Common ways we collaborate

All of our work is deeply rooted in human-centered design, insurance space, and the reality that you're selling to external and internal customers.

Learn More

Signals, Trends, & Competitive Opportunity Scan

Identify emerging trends, competitive movements, and market opportunities to stay ahead and make strategic decisions. We leverage this Scan prior to Ethnographic Deep Dives to hone our hypotheses.

Customer Segment Ethnographic Deep Dive

Gain in-depth insights into your target customer segments through immersive ethnographic research, uncovering behaviors, needs, and motivations. We leverage in-depth interviews, focus groups, and digital ethnography based on the need.

Instant Insights Subscription

Subscribe to quarterly research refreshes on specific customer segments. Access and interact with insights through a digital report UI and synthetic data GPT interface.

Bespoke Insights Subscription

Subscribe to quarterly research refreshes tailored to the specific customer segments and research goals set by your team. Engage with the customized insights through a digital report UI and synthetic data GPT interface.

Co-Creation Team Extension

Extend your team with our researchers and designers to co-create solutions with your customers, iterating through recurring rounds of research and design to refine and perfect your new concept.

Research Training & Coaching

Enhance your in-house capabilities with by-your-side coaching on research methodologies, best practices, and strategic implementation to drive effective customer insights.

We Help You:

Understand your customer's context outside of being a policyholder

Access new, growing customer segments

Create new, non-insurance revenue streams

Expand existing products into adjacent markets

Design new digital experiences and tools for your customers

Testimonials

"Their deep empathy extracted nuances and insights that we would not have been able to gather on our own. The team's storytelling ability allowed our executives to feel as if they had done the work themselves, truly “getting” the power of customer-centricity. I look forward to working with them again."

Chris Lowell

Vp, innovation
the hartford

"We engaged with Stepwise to help as we were writing our strategic narrative of disrupting a conservative market. The frameworks, structure, feedback and thought partnership, were all extremely instrumental in accelerating our conviction toward our goal."

Nir Rikovitch

PRODUCT INNOVATION
‍john deere

"We feel extremely comfortable engaging Stepwise. They perfectly fit into our team dynamic and produce excellent work, even leaving us learning from a new framework or two. This isn’t the first time we’ve engaged Stepwise and it certainly won’t be the last."

David Lanphear

INNOVATION
‍Guardian life

"The Stepwise team was incredibly insightful when it came to framing ideas based on customer empathy. They facilitated workshops that encouraged us to incorporate the customer perspective into our path forward!"

Camryn Santos

STRATEGY
‍‍THE HARTFORD

Let’s Get Started, Together

Reach out to start the conversation about how we can help you make impact

Schedule a Call