Ladder's mission is to protect families by making it easier for people to secure coverage. Like any product, policies come with costs, which we recover through sales revenue. Over the past few years, our company faced challenges in selling policies efficiently, with revenue impacted by spending on individuals who ultimately didn't make a purchase. In 2024, I designed a solution that transformed how policies are evaluated and purchased, significantly improving our contribution margin.

My approach was to frame this step similarly to a checkout page, providing users with a clear summary of what they’re purchasing, the cost, and an opportunity to enter payment details.

What we shipped

After this iterative design and alignment process, here’s what we ultimately shipped:

Results

We launched this project in May 2024 and rigorously tracked experiment data over the following weeks to validate results.

• Gross margin increased by 82%
• Underwriting costs reduced by 64%

Impact on company

This project became one of Ladder’s most impactful initiatives in 2024. By strengthening our contribution margins and recovering policy growth, we created a compelling narrative about the company’s current performance and future trajectory — an invaluable asset in securing Series D funding and extending Ladder’s runway.