The Role of Service Design in Supporting Decision-Making for Insurance Consumers in Finland

Abstract

This thesis investigates how service design can be used to ease the cognitive and emotional challenges Finnish consumers face when selecting insurance policies. The study responds to the growing concern over choice overload in complex service environments, particularly its psychological impacts such as choice paralysis, decision fatigue, and post-decision regret. It aims to identify service design interventions that mitigate these effects and provide actionable recommendations for the insurance sector in Finland.

A qualitative methodology was employed, comprising ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven consumers and three design professionals. Thematic analysis was conducted using a hybrid approach, combining theory-informed deductive coding with inductive insights from participant narratives. Findings revealed that the comparison stage of the insurance selection process was the most cognitively taxing, exacerbated by technical jargon, non-standardized formats, and overwhelming similarity among products.

The study identifies key service design strategies like simplification, progressive disclosure, and empathetic human support as effective interventions to aid decision-making, while noting that organizational and regulatory constraints often hinder the implementation of user-centric solutions. The research concludes that integrating behavioural psychology with service design offers a valuable multidisciplinary approach to managing complexity within services. Practical recommendations are proposed for Finnish insurers aiming to reduce cognitive friction, build trust, and enable more confident and satisfying decisions.