Thrivent: Marriage Vitality Platform
Exploring current and future needs of married couples
Thrivent, a mission-driven financial services organization, sought to explore the viability of an insurance and investment product aimed at improving the relationships of its married member-owners.
Where we started
Using research gathered from in-person interviews, we learned how couples – and their support network – defined strong marriages, dealt with challenges, and who they turned to for support.
Minneapolis
5 married couples
1 engaged couple
2 divorced individuals
1 advisor
2 pastors
Orange County
5 married couples
1 engaged couple
2 divorced individuals
2 advisors
2 pastors
Atlanta
7 married couples
1 engaged couple
3 advisors
2 pastors
Synthesizing the research
Defining our audience, represented by a set of personas and journey maps, helped center our work during critical product decision-making moments.
The artifacts helped provide context to our customers and their relationships.
Imagining a path forward
Unpacking the research revealed two challenges to solve.
Problem #1
Marriage is very complex and there is no single action or support system available to make it strong
Problem #2
Existing support networks are often under-equipped to respond to the complexity of marriage needs
Brainstorming with clients helped everyone generate viable and desirable ideas for building stronger marriages.
Stakeholder sessions helped prioritize themes to address in our concept.
Opportunities and goals
Build a support system
Improve interpersonal communication
Remove stigma from seeking help
Develop partnering skills together
Spend time together
Learn vital marriage skills
Align common goals
Practice faith together
Concepting a framework
Our service would seek to optimize for jobs to be done by our key people (couples, their relatives, and coaches)
Our model was designed to evolve to meet the needs of couples and coaches.
Putting it to the test
We facilitated a process of designing, prototyping, and testing to produce a digital service to connect couples with coaches, and coaches with clients.
Talking with couples
Couples were engaged to better understand how our solution might be used for handling marriage's challenging moments and if a coaching service could be useful for short- and long-term growth.
Testing with coaches
We facilitated tests with coaches to gain a better understanding how our service might fit within their practice, meet business needs, and gauge the desirability of a virtual model of coaching.
Matchmaking
Credentialing for coaches makes it possible to align every couple’s preference with available coaches trained to best meet their needs.
Couples, or individuals, choose coaches whose profile represents the best fit for their need.
Support relevant and timely coaching opportunities for couples when a little extra guidance is most valued.
Synthesizing what we learned from coaches
As a coach, when I want to…
acquire clients, I want to understand their needs, so that I can build a coaching program specifically for them.
refer couples, I want access to a trusted network of coaches and counselors, so that I can be confident I am helping couples get the help they need to sustain their marriage.
collect resources, I want easy access to a curated library of resources, so that I can focus my energy on coaching.
schedule and track appointments, I want a system that integrates with my preferred calendars so that I can manage all my schedule in one place.
manage finances, I want a summary of a couple's completed and pending coaching sessions, so I know what I have earned and can forecast future earnings from each couple.
track a couple’s progress, I want insight into their program engagement, so that I can prompt and guide them before our next session.
find a mentor, I want someone that I know personally, so that I can be confident of their suggestions and feedback.