TaxAct
Business Goals
TaxAct provides services to help customers prepare their tax returns. From federal and state DIY tax preparation to tax planning tools and access to tax advice. Business goals were to understand our users better, increase completion rate and improve NPS.
My Role & Responsibility
My focus was to enhance the experience of the authenticated section of the website, right after a user has signed in to the app. The goal was to redesign the pages to meet the business goal of increasing the completion rate from 54% to 68%.
Insights
The interviews and usability studies gave us insights about the top three pain-points customers experienced:
Retyping basic information: returning users expected their basic information to already be entered instead of having to retype manually.
Complexity in content and questions: New and returning users found the language to be hard to understand for them to move forward. They felt they had to be a tax expert to use the software.
Trust issues: when uploading their W-2’s to the system, often times the information was not accurate which led them to feel they could not trust the software, which led them to bounce, for fear of not receiving an accurate return.
Research
Interviews: We interviewed customers to prospects about taxes in general, their experience using our software and competitors to understand their goals and motivations.
These insights turned into personas for the product team to identify the different types of users, what their financial understanding level about taxes were, their confidence level, challenges, and their expectations.
Along with Personas, customer Journey Maps were created to show the friction points, customer sentiments, and the four product teams that were created.
Wireframes
Once we had enough data to make enhancements on the current design, I moved on to making low-fidelity wireframes to test out our hypothesis. Our content writers came up with various versions that we could A/B test. This helped us figure out which ones users could easily understand and gave them the assurance to keep going with the process.
We experimented with different design variations to determine the most efficient way for users to input their basic information. The testing was carried out through in-person sessions and with remote participants.
Throughout a six-week period, we conducted tests three times a week, with 5 to 8 users per day. We kept iterating until 80% of the participants were able to successfully complete their tasks. This process allowed us to restructure the information architecture and user flow, ensuring a smoother navigation experience for users.
The Results
The updated design came from extensive testing and monitoring user behavior. The revised and shortened content became more user-friendly for individuals with varying tax circumstances.
The system's backend was enhanced for better precision, eliminating any doubts users had about their tax decisions. Incorporating competitor logos and allowing tax history imports boosted user confidence and conversion rates, with a majority of users choosing to move forward by clicking "Yes".
For repeat customers, showing their personal details reassured them that their information was securely stored and could be easily transferred. The user flow was updated so that only questions that applied to their tax situation would be shown to them or feel like they needed a tax expert.
