A Product Journey #7 with Quentin Caillé Head of Product at Ornikar

Hello Quentin! Could you start by introducing yourself? Tell us about your career journey and what inspired you to become Head of Product at Ornikar?

I joined Ornikar two and a half years ago as the first PM, focusing on insurance – a diversification strategy for our two-pronged business model, which includes online driving education and insurance. My role encompassed structuring the insurance activity from the ground up. We started with a small team of about ten and have grown to approximately 80, now making up a significant portion of our 250 employees. Before joining Ornikar, I had an eight-year stint in consulting, specializing in transformation projects, where I gained diverse experiences, including project and product management roles. This background gave me a unique perspective that I brought to Ornikar, helping me to set up and scale the product processes and team effectively.

As the first PM, you must have witnessed significant evolution and expansion of the product. How did you manage this growth while ensuring product quality and coherence?

Managing Ornikar's product growth was a fascinating challenge. It began with establishing a clear product vision in collaboration with the founders. Understanding Ornikar's mission, what are we building? Why? For who? This clarity allowed me to articulate a product position that resonated with our clients' needs. Once the vision was in place, it became much easier to guide the team and PMs in strategically executing this vision. We conducted extensive customer discovery to identify priority needs in insurance contract management. This process aligned our stakeholders with business priorities, enabling us to create a focused and effective roadmap. To maintain coherence and quality, despite our rapid development cycles and a plethora of tactical projects, we implemented rigorous testing protocols, including end-to-end non-regression tests, to ensure stability. Additionally, about 20 to 30% of our bandwidth is dedicated to technical debt resolution and backend refinements, ensuring that our growth is built on a strong and reliable foundation.

How do you approach UX design at Ornikar, particularly in making driving education and insurance services more accessible and user-friendly?

The historical Ornikar’s DNA is about making driving accessible by revolutionizing traditional driving school experiences. We focused on delivering the most fluid, digital, and accessible experience possible. Our challenge for insurance is inherently complex compared to other types of insurance. If we take the example of health insurance like Alan (alan.com), with health insurance, you have frequent user contact points that are common – visits to the pharmacy, doctor, or physiotherapist lead to regular reimbursements and interactions. But in the world of auto insurance, the dynamic is quite different. Generally, as a policyholder, you prefer minimal contact with your insurer because interactions usually imply something negative, like an accident or a claim. This inherently low-contact nature poses a significant challenge in maintaining engagement and attractiveness regarding cost, experience, and convenience, especially for our younger target demographic. So, we focus on providing a seamless mobile app experience and the most user-friendly journey possible. Two dedicated UX Researchers are working with PMs and designers to conduct exploratory research and prototype testing. This approach has been instrumental in refining our products, like the complete overhaul of our client space, which was redesigned based on customer feedback to improve information architecture significantly.

What metrics or KPIs do you focus on to gauge the success of your products?

Our KPIs span across various stages of the customer journey. Pre-activation, we closely monitor metrics like conversion rates and the efficiency of the acquisition funnel. Once the customer activates their account, the metrics shift to engagement with our digital platforms, which is crucial for a digital insurance provider like us. We aim to create a daily relationship with our clients, balancing the inherent low-contact nature of auto insurance with the need for a strong brand connection. Metrics like app downloads, regular logins, and engagement levels are key indicators of our success in maintaining this relationship. We also face the challenge of keeping engagement levels high over time, requiring us to continuously innovate and find new ways to enhance user engagement post-subscription.

Lastly, what advice would you give to a junior professional aspiring to join a product team?

For junior professionals aiming to join a product team, especially in a dynamic environment like Ornikar, the key traits are curiosity, adaptability, and a proactive approach. My advice would be to actively engage with the team and stakeholders. It's crucial to make yourself visible and demonstrate your grasp of the subjects you're handling. Embrace every communication opportunity to show your understanding and control of your projects. Another essential aspect is to learn from more experienced team members. At Ornikar, we foster a culture of shared learning and mentorship, which has proven invaluable. We have initiatives like our PM School, where PMs present how they've tackled specific challenges. This isn't about prescribing a 'correct' way to do things but rather sharing experiences to inspire and inform others. It's this spirit of co-development and shared growth that can really benefit someone starting in product management. So, my advice would be to embrace these opportunities for learning and growth, stay curious, and seek guidance and mentorship from those around you.

Thank you Quentin!