Discovery Research – Competitive Analysis

Competitors

Though not an exact match, we took a look at how other tax sites laid out their tax forms and the tricks they used to make them less arduous. We set a timebox of 30 minutes and each team member had to look at a website and report back to the rest of the group. After taking turns showing our discoveries with the group, we focused in on a few individual features we found to be most relevant to our questionnaire.

Information Architecture

Down The Rabbit Hole

After copying all the questions in the questionnaire, we had to synthesize it into something digestible. This is where I shine.

First we determined which questions triggered more questions (and could therefore be hidden/nested).

Then  we linked which questions had what documentation required with them.

Since we decided we wanted to create a pre-screening, I had to re-categorize what we had determined were the main questions and translate them into applicable statements for users (for example: “I owned a home in the US this year”)

Finally, we narrowed it down to which questions would be relevant to our Persona.

Documents list and helper text

This is the page immediately following the Pre-Screening, as you can see it lists all the documents that you will need based on how you answered the questions. From here, you can upload the documents on this page or inside the questionnaire when it is asked for.

We are also showcasing the helper text here.
Hovering over the “i” will populate a description of the form. Since we were a group of designers working in a vacuum, we didn’t actually have this information so this is more of a placeholder to showcase how it would look. The form you are getting info on is also greyed to highlight which piece of information you are getting.

Client Pain Points

We asked our client early on if there was any common issue they saw on the back end that were recurring. He immediately told us – dates. In America, we do month, day, year whereas overseas it’s typically day, month, year. This causes issues frequently.

Due to this, we created a very clear error notification with instructions on how to properly write out the date so that out client knows they are getting the correct data on their end.

Left hand sidebar and progress bar

You will notice that after answering the pre-screening the user can now see all the categories they will need to answer. They have the option to skip around and come back, or move through the questionnaire in a guided fashion.

You can also see that the left hand sidebar has progress indicators in the stoplight fashion requested by our client. Green is completed, orange is incomplete, and grey is not started. Utilizing best practices for colorblindness, we also created unique icons to go with each color: check mark with green, dash with orange, and empty with grey.

Progress Bar
Wondering how the progress bar works if each section has the potential to expand? The progress bar is based on the number of categories, not the number of questions, as the number of categories will not increase.

Populating Extra Questions

As mentioned previously, we wanted to lessen the mental burden of our users by only showing questions they need to answer. Here is an example of this, when answering “yes” to a prompt, the user is shown an upload page for documentation. When a question leads to other questions, it is similarly nested below. For non-US documentation, there is typically no paperwork but rather a description, so a fillable text box would appear.

Permanent helper button

You may have noticed a little question mark icon in the bottom corner that is always present. This anchored help button allows the user to contact the company for assistance at any time.

We weren’t able to discuss the limitations of this with developers or the company, so the assumption at this time is that it would send an email – however we would love for it to be a live chat function or a database of information that could be searched.

Overview of progress page

Leaving the questionnaire and coming back was a big priority to users, as was knowing where they were in the questionnaire.

This was our solution for a few reasons:
1. We utilized the stoplight colors to show what pages the user has missing information on
2. You can look at the entire questionnaire at once and only expand upon the parts that you need to work on. You can then click on that subcategory and be taken right to that question.

Maze Testing Results

Maze.co is one of my favorite testing tools, it allowed us to get heat maps of the users mouse and where they click as well as other data like amount of time spent on each page, mis-clicks, and alternative flows utilized by the user. By gathering this data we found a few things that we needed to change on our site.

Issue: How do I start?

Users didn’t notice the “Start the Questionnaire” button in the lower right hand corner to get to the next page. This was an example of when convention is not enough.

Our Solution

We changed the button to be the signature orange color used throughout the questionnaire as a call to action color.

Issue: How do I upload?

Users thought they needed to click on the forms in the list to upload, instead of doing a mass upload at the bottom.

Our Solution

We made the forms clickable, which then populated an upload files screen. Give the people what they want!

Happy Users!

Despite the few mishaps along the way, users who were willing to give us a score at the end still gave us a 100% “very easy to use” scoring!

Impact

The before and after of the questionnaire.

Before

Next Steps and Recommendations

Wishlist

• Update ExPat Tax emails to have better branding and uniformity
• Track the analytics of user drop off for the next 2 years (before and after implementing design)

Next Steps

• Determine functionality of the mobile app
• Complete the full questionnaire
• Work with the client’s Dev team and legal to bring this into reality