Case
Analysis and project management for Family Plan – Baloise
The client
Baloise Insurance is the commercial name of Baloise Belgium nv and is part of the Swiss Baloise Group. The insurance company was formed from the merger of Mercator, Avéro, and Nateus.
The assignment
First Customer Touchpoint for Baloise Targeted at Existing Customers
This new assignment involved the development of the first platform “Gezinsplan,” where Baloise would directly target their existing customers.
The goal was to engage existing customers to register on the platform in exchange for access to competitions, discount codes, and various benefits available to Baloise customers. This allowed Baloise to highlight the “fun-factor” but, above all, capture and synchronize missing data and update it in their internal systems.
Non-customers were given information about the benefits of a “Gezinsplan” and were invited to contact their broker.
For the entire project, from intake to delivery, Baloise had a timeline of 5 months that they were eager to meet!
Objectives
- Increase engagement with existing Baloise customers and highlight the fun-factor of Baloise as an insurance company.
- Capture the missing data of existing customers and synchronize it with the internal systems so that the data is correct and up-to-date at Baloise.
- Inform non-customers about the benefits of a “Gezinsplan insurance” and encourage them to contact a broker.
A user-friendly custom CMS for management by Baloise managers for the texts and competitions on the platform.
How?
Start with a kick-off and concept validation
Our digital project manager was involved as soon as Baloise had presented the first concept and idea internally and wanted to validate whether it had an acceptable format.
Together with the business managers from Baloise, an initial feasibility analysis was conducted in the form of a preliminary study. This included identifying and discussing all stakeholders (and possibly involving them) who would be involved in the project. This included the internal IT department, the Baloise marketing team, the Baloise GDPR officer, the involved brokers, and of course the actual Gezinsplan customers and prospects of Baloise.
The goal was to clarify the desired end result, the desired deadline, and the involvement and responsibilities of the parties involved. Based on this kick-off meeting, we were able to begin the preliminary study and analysis phase to develop a concrete plan of action and estimate the workload.
Additional team members added to the Baloise team
Now that the initial lines of the project were clear, our digital project manager could determine how the team should be composed.
At Baloise, two business managers were appointed with knowledge about the end customers and responsible for shaping the main features of the platform. Additionally, a project manager and a functional analyst were assigned to oversee the technical requirements and coordinate between the various internal IT departments at Baloise.
We decided to supplement Baloise’s team with a self-organizing SCRUM team of 10 people, led by a Digital Project Manager.

An ideal team composition was as follows:
- Digital Project Manager
- Product Owner
- UX/UI Designer
- QA Engineer
- Backend Developer
- Frontend Developer
- Scrum Master
- Performance Marketer
Choosing a growth-driven design and agile approach
An important factor at the start of the project was our joint decision on the right approach. There are various methodologies to tackle a web project successfully.
At Hybrid, we prefer an Agile or Growth Driven Design method and always start by delivering an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
Instead of creating your entire website, you identify the most valuable pages and build these first. The core principle behind the MVP concept is to create a real product that you can then offer to see how real visitors interact with these pages.

After delivering the MVP, you will continue to adapt and expand the website!
Instead of redesigning the site every two to three years with outdated content that no longer aligns with the organization’s priorities, you continuously optimize your website. This principle is called Growth Driven Design!
Given the short timeline of 5 months, the focus initially was on delivering the functionalities for Baloise’s customers and prospects.
- UX/UI of all existing pages + associated emails for both desktop and mobile
- Login and registration via unique codes
- Identification and login for existing customers
- Integration with email automation client and welcome email with unique gift code
- The My Account section with the ability to participate in contests, display specific benefits, and a news section
- Manual import of existing customers, associated gift codes, and export of newly captured data
- A basic interface for the underlying CMS
After the release, the decision was made to also work on the remaining features from the backlog:
- Automating all manual exports and imports
- Displaying the customer’s broker in the My Account section
- Extra email/gift code as a birthday gift
- Opt-out via the My Account section for all email communications
Additionally, there are still many items on the wishlist that Baloise wishes to further develop:
- Specifying content per language
- Managing your email address and personal details via the My Account section
- Providing extra information from brokers
- Dashboard with campaign results
- Uploading videos as content in the CMS
Timeline
Pre-study and analysis: Backlog with epics, user stories, and wireframes
After the kick-off and concept validation, all ideas were developed into user stories with wireframes. This allowed us to clearly outline the requirements of the project plan, resulting in more efficient collaboration once we were operational.
In a follow-up meeting, the user stories and wireframes were presented. Feedback and new insights were incorporated into a final backlog with epics, user stories, and wireframes, which everyone gave their buy-in on.
Mockups and design
Now that the key functionalities were clear and the wireframes were approved, the design team began working on the final user flows through mockups in Invision.
These were then transformed into a design prototype in accordance with the Baloise brand guidelines.
Development
The development team consisted of 4 Laravel developers with varying levels of experience: a technical team lead who guided the 2 junior developers (mid-level) and implemented and maintained the best practices in development.
The team lead, together with a senior developer, was responsible for analyzing new requirements with a focus on the technical impact and complexity of the application.
Additionally, we needed a senior developer who, along with 2 mediors, developed new features and implemented them according to DevOps best practices. Together with the team lead, he was the point of contact for Baloise and team members in case of any questions or uncertainties.

The team worked in 2-week sprints, following the best practices of DevOps and the methodology of self-organizing SCRUM teams. Each sprint could be considered a small, defined project where something needed to be achieved. Short sprints allowed for more opportunities for feedback, so any changes or additional requirements could quickly be identified and incorporated if needed.
Quality Assessment
Before delivering on an acceptance environment for Baloise, all features were tested by 2 quality assurance engineers. This allowed us to detect errors in the project before they occurred and correct them. It also served as an additional check to ensure that the implementation was done according to the requirements.
They did this by, among other things, writing test cases and documentation, testing delivered functionalities, documenting errors, understanding requirements, and, if necessary, clarifying with the business and developers.
UAT by Baloise
Once the QA engineers had validated the desired functionalities on the test environment, we made a release to the UAT environment. The business owners at Baloise then had the opportunity to test the features and validate whether they met their expectations and those of the end users.
Extension of partnership
Despite everything being pushed to meet the deadline by the end of February 2021, it became clear that due to internal dependencies at Baloise, this would be very tight. In early February, it was decided in consultation to extend the collaboration by 2 months. A slight disappointment for the team, but this allowed Baloise to allocate the necessary resources, ensuring the quality of the go-live.
Launch of MVP
On May 6, 2021, the MVP for Gezinsplan was successfully launched! A great reward for the hard work since the start in October 2020. The project was also a big hit for Baloise and its customers.
Today, 5,500 customers have registered, half of whom have also signed up to receive updates via a newsletter. Over the past 3 months, the platform has averaged 800 page visits per month, with a steady increase in the number of visitors and registrations each time Baloise invites new Gezinsplan customers to the platform.


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