Why User Experience Matters When The User Is Not a Decision Maker
If you were trying to sell a product to the CEO of a company, but your only day-to-day contact was a team member two levels removed from the CEO, would you still think it was important to impress that team member? Of course you would. But in technology, that connection can sometimes be a bit murkier.
In our work in insurance, finance, and employee benefits, we often guide situations where the user of the technology isn’t the decision-maker when it comes to the purchase of the product. For example, in the case of employer-sponsored benefits like health insurance, the employer is choosing which benefits to offer through which providers. The employee then may opt in or out, but they’re still not a direct decision-maker in many cases.
The same can be argued for many financial products. The user may have applied for a home loan with their local bank, and later that loan was sold to another mortgage servicing company. The user never selected that particular company. Or, take the example of an annuity sold by a financial planner. The user may have chosen their financial advisor, but not what products that advisor offers. That advisor is likely also not the direct decision-maker, as there is often a larger organization involved choosing what products will be available through that office. The advisor can pick from a menu to offer the client, and the client can accept or decline the advice, but neither of them controls whether the brokerage continues to do business with the annuity provider.
In these situations, where the experience of the user is at least a level removed from the decision-maker, does a great user experience still move the needle?
Absolutely. And there are a few ways we see this manifested:
Providing the experience you want (without relying on downstream players): If the downstream players are smaller and have fewer resources, they may be unable or unwilling to provide a technology experience that communicates the trust your brand deserves. Providing a credible, nuanced experience can take pressure off those downstream partners and strengthen the customer relationship.
Generating positive social proof: No one escapes online reviews. Your prospective customers can see what people are saying about your brand in spaces you don’t control. Whether it’s industry rankings or more informal sources of information like Trustpilot or even Reddit, companies that invest in trust-building online experiences reap the benefits of reassuring prospective customers.
Capitalizing on the bidirectional flow of influence: Grassroots users may report up to the decision-maker. This is especially common in employee benefits, where executives experience their own benefits too, but it also applies in financial and healthcare relationships. The relationship was strong enough to get you in the door. Assume that it’s also strong enough to see you out if you don’t perform.
Building trust that yields upsells and referrals: Many companies hope to receive repeat business from that same group of users. As we saw in our article on deepening the relationship, this is only possible when you’ve earned the right to ask.
Providing the app experience you want (without relying on downstream players)
The downstream players may be the ones with the direct client relationship, but they may not have the resources to create the kind of technology experience that drives credibility and trust. In this case, stepping up to provide that pays dividends for your organization, the downstream providers, and the client.
This requires intentional collaboration with those downstream providers to craft a solution that will enhance the ecosystem. In a situation like this, we would:
Interview stakeholders about their goals and current technology flow.
Identify the highest-priority integrations and flows.
Learn their comfort level with technology being provided by the brand. What level of offering feels supportive, not competitive?
Research and recommend what kinds of controls to give the downstream providers so they can co-brand the experience, for example, or have space for their own messaging.
Design a product that’s compatible with the above strategy, whether that’s something white-labeled or something reflecting our client’s brand.
Ensure the experience not only meets expectations but impresses end users, builds trust and loyalty, and drives the relationship forward.
Expect the research and design process to take 12–20 weeks (longer if there are scheduling issues with stakeholders) and result in a full prototype that could then be vetted through development and data teams, built, and tested.
The benefits of taking ownership of the experience are immense. Perhaps the most impactful is that you immediately begin to control the experience the end user has with your brand. You are no longer beholden to technology provided by downstream partners to convey your value. You can communicate it yourself, directly and consistently. You also understand the product better than anyone and can use that knowledge to provide a more nuanced experience. In addition, you create stickiness not only with the end user, but with the downstream partner as well.
Generate positive social proof
According to Forbes, between 70 and 99% of consumers check online reviews before making a purchase decision. Many brands provide reviews and other social proof on their website. But you know what’s more powerful than the curated reviews on your own website? The higher perceived honesty of independent reviews found elsewhere on the internet. These might be things like industry rankings, Trustpilot scores, App Store ratings, or even threads on forums like Reddit.
Because these reviews exist “in the wild,” the primary way to influence them is to actually provide a better experience. And technology you own can be a key weapon in your arsenal to do that. Or, to state it more pessimistically: if your downstream partners, say a brokerage, aren’t doing a good job of providing helpful technological tools, you may be facing negative reviews on a platform you don’t control (the internet) due to a factor outside of your control (the brokerage’s technology). Providing your own tech experience brings control of one of those factors back to you.
This is especially helpful if parts of your product or process may be difficult for people to understand or if they’re a bit unique. Using your own platform, you can provide the micro-education needed to make the user feel competent and confident. You also earn a modicum of influence over the social proof itself: while no one controls what people say on the internet, brands can leverage proven patterns to positively influence what is said on and off-platform, while remaining on ethical footing (to discuss this or any topic in this article in more depth, drop us a line).
Capitalize on the bidirectional flow of influence
We often think of influence as happening top-down: a party in a position of power influences those with less power. But in truth, influence flows in both directions in most business relationships. An individual consumer may have less power than a brokerage or insurance company, but over time, as the brokerage hears repeated feedback from consumers, influence begins to build. This sort of aggregate influence is extremely powerful in the long run — it can cause a brokerage to cut ties with a carrier, or forge new ones with another carrier.
In fact, according to the 2022 Accenture Consumer Payer Experience Benchmark Survey, nearly half (49%) of people reported leaving their health insurance payer due to dissatisfaction with experience factors such as inaccurate information, poor customer service, unsatisfactory digital tools, or discomfort with how personal data was used. These experience-driven reasons significantly outweighed traditional switching drivers like plan benefits and coverage.
It’s also true that those at the top can influence the behaviors of consumers, even those they don’t directly do business with, via intentional, repeated messages and actions. In some cases, there is even more credibility when you don’t directly do business with the consumer. Top-of-food-chain brands who provide their own technology exert influence and control over the way consumers perceive not only their technology, but also the brand as a whole.
Build trust that yields upsells and referrals
Once you have a sticky technology platform, you can use it to generate upsells and referrals. But before that happens, you have to build trust. The user has to know your brand name and have a feeling that they know what the brand stands for. That’s hard to do with an onboarding form and an annual report once a year. With an owned platform, suddenly your brand is the main character, educating, assisting and evolving with the consumer.
Trust doesn’t materialize from a single touchpoint; it builds over time through repeated, consistent experiences. An owned technology platform allows your brand to deliver those moments with rhythm and personality. Instead of being a background player in someone else’s system, your brand becomes the guide that helps the user navigate complexity.
With that trust in place, opportunities to deepen the relationship emerge naturally. Users who feel genuinely supported are more willing to explore additional services or product tiers — not because they were pushed, but because they believe your brand has earned the right to offer them. And referrals often follow the same pattern: people are eager to share experiences that made them feel confident, competent, or cared for. When your technology delivers those moments, you’re not only increasing retention, you’re cultivating advocates who amplify your reach.
Shape your brand’s story
At its heart, this isn’t just about technology — it’s about who gets to shape the story of your brand. When decision-makers and end users are separated by layers of brokers, employers, or advisors, owning the experience allows you to speak for yourself. It lets you build trust directly, earn social proof honestly, and influence both upstream and downstream relationships. In industries where complexity can easily erode confidence, taking control of the user experience isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a strategic advantage — one that pays dividends in loyalty, reputation, and growth.