Insurance Website Migration

Project Overview

I led the migration of the company’s marketing website from a managed CMS to a custom React-based platform hosted on AWS.

This gave the team full control over deployments, eliminated ongoing subscription costs, and created a foundation for future in-house features like the Quick Pay portal. I began by assessing limitations in SquareSpace and defining a modern, scalable static site architecture using AWS S3. This approach improved uptime, aligned the web presence with internal tech standards, and streamlined long-term maintainability.

I collaborated closely with a solutions architect to implement a robust CI/CD pipeline, enabling seamless Git-based deployments. I rebuilt the contact form to integrate securely with internal APIs, and developed the Quick Pay feature for a smooth, session-based payment experience. This modernization delivered immediate business impact while ensuring the site’s long-term flexibility and scalability.

Challenges

The core challenge involved a dual migration: first, transferring existing marketing site content to a new static architecture without compromising brand credibility or accessibility standards. Second, integrating the "Quick Pay" feature required creating a highly simplified login and payment flow, demanding secure, real-time data synchronization with internal APIs within a session-based environment.

A key architectural and UX challenge was balancing the inherent performance benefits of a static site with the dynamic, API-powered functionalities of the "Quick Pay" system. This required careful planning to ensure both aspects operated efficiently and securely.

Process

My process for this project was comprehensive, starting with in-depth UX research and stakeholder engagement. I conducted interviews to thoroughly understand business requirements and user needs for both the marketing site and the Quick Pay feature. This informed the creation of detailed user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes using Figma. I conducted informal user testing sessions with these prototypes to validate design assumptions and refine user journeys, particularly for the Quick Pay flow.

For development, I led the front-end implementation using React. I focused on building a modular and responsive interface, utilizing SCSS for custom styling and Bootstrap for a robust, mobile-first framework. The marketing site content was managed as static files, deployed efficiently via an AWS CI/CD pipeline that I helped implement. The Quick Pay feature involved integrating with internal APIs for secure data exchange, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Tech Decisions

I chose React for the front-end to create a highly interactive and component-driven user interface, essential for both the dynamic Quick Pay feature and the modularity of the static marketing site. SCSS provided advanced styling capabilities and better organization for the CSS, while Bootstrap accelerated responsive layout development.

For the static site hosting, AWS S3 was selected due to its cost-effectiveness, high availability, and seamless integration with existing company infrastructure. The implementation of an AWS CI/CD pipeline (e.g., AWS CodePipeline/CodeBuild) enabled automated, Git-based deployments, ensuring rapid and reliable content updates. The contact form and Quick Pay feature leveraged secure internal API endpoints, with session handling via local storage for maintaining secure login states across the Quick Pay flow.