Reducing the trust gap in regulated markets, through design

Trust is essential in regulated markets. From banking, to insurance and energy.

In healthcare, it is the foundation of every interaction. Do you trust your diagnosis? Can you rely on your treatment? Do you have confidence in the system more broadly?

In banking — Do you trust that AI-enabled services are reliable? What protections exist to stop AI from making unfair or bad choices? How can you be sure that data used in an automated decision is correct?

In the insurance sector we’ve heard people ask — what are insurance companies doing to prevent AI from denying legitimate claims? How do I know data about me is not being shared with my employer?

How to reduce the trust gap through design

At IF we have years of experience on helping organisations that operate in regulated markets earn and maintain trust, particularly as they use technology to provide their services. And especially where the organisation may have lost the trust of their customers.

Our top three recommendations to rebuilding trust:

Embed meaningful transparency

Don’t just talk about being transparent — show it in every interaction in the user experience. Trust is earnt through demonstrating trustworthiness consistently over time. Any well built service will already log how it uses data, but a more powerful and secure way that demonstrates use of data in real time can establish real confidence.

A fictional prototype for a service that automatically switches mobile phone provider, showing a transparent record of what switches have been made and why.

Engage with real user concerns

Use research and prototyping to understand and address the concerns of all stakeholders, not just your end-users or technical specialists. Trust is earned through reputation, communities and experts, not only the direct relationship you have with your end users.

Using prompts and provocations to help people articulate what they really think about data and technology.

Be ready to educate and explain

Use digital and non digital touchpoints to make complex processes understandable and relatable. Work closely with stakeholders, including civil society and policymakers, to ensure the system meets the broader societal needs.

Exploring how a variable display placed at strategic locations in the city to alert pedestrians and drivers of an air quality trial.

See how we worked with DeepMind Health to rebuild trust in their healthcare service

I am delighted to finally share some of the work we did with DeepMind Health. The work shows these three recommendations, in action.

Ultimately our work led to DeepMind earning enough trust that their service was adopted across 5 hospital sites in the UK. The service helped clinicians diagnose and treat patients more effectively, saving a life in its very first week.

Let’s talk

At IF, we’re passionate about using design and technology to build responsible futures and turn risks into opportunities.

If you work in a regulated industry, you are doing something new and faced with or worried about emerging trust challenges, get in touch with us.