Project
Consolidating tax refund resources.
Challenge
NY state issues over 7 million tax returns annually, and many find the process difficult and frustrating. Leveraging UX writing and design best practices, improve the self-service tax refund resources for constituents within a four-month timeline and engineering constraints.
Role
Lead UX researcher responsible for leading all research efforts, as well as project management, including scope definition and communication with partners.
Team
UX Researcher
1 / Research - marketing materials
Goals + Methods
To help users find and use tax information tailored to their specific situations, propose recommendations for improving marketing materials based on a heuristic evaluation.
Impact
Previously, taxpayers needed to scan a long tax season email to find the information that pertained to them. The evaluation recommended that the information be reorganized in a natural and logical order, with section headers to help taxpayers accomplish their key tasks. A reformatted email was sent to millions of taxpayers based on these recommendations.
2 / Research - tax refund tool and resources
Goals + Methods
With the opening day of tax season looming and no time to get direct feedback from taxpayers, a heuristic evaluation seeks to identify the main pain points of the tax refund tool and refund status resources.
Impact
Every extra unit of information in an interface competes with the relevant units of information. Finding opportunities to reduce redundancy minimized cognitive load resulting in protecting taxpayers’ valuable time and attention.
Information delivered "just in time" improves ease of use. Recommendations include moving key actions to expected locations and making info available only when needed.
Tax resources on the same topic were located on different web pages. A redesign consolidated information to direct taxpayers to a more centralized location.
At the request of the Governor’s State Operations Team, I was asked to share methods and recommendations from this engagement showcasing how similar engagements could be rolled out within other agencies looking to improve CX.
"Each facet (of the project) was thoroughly examined with New Yorkers in mind, and the improvements that have been implemented will not only provide an upgraded experience for users, but also act as an example of excellence to other government agencies as they strive to improve their services."
-Governor Kathy Hochul
3 / Research - automated phone support
Goals + Methods
To improve equity, accessibility, and comprehension of the automated phone support, a heuristic evaluation was completed with an emphasis on following plain-language guidelines.
Impact
Because language that might be hard for some to understand can hinder usability, recommendations were made and adopted to simplify or remove some words and phrases.
Taxpayers who request language assistance when calling can access interpretation services. However, the evaluation revealed a crucial omission: there were no instructions on how to obtain these services. Recognizing this oversight, it was fixed. This adjustment had a significant impact, especially considering that, "Nearly one-half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and almost 25%, or 1.8 million persons, are not English proficient." (NY language-access)
4 / Research - feedback survey
Goals + Methods
Review feedback survey to help build trust and increase user engagement & satisfaction using a heuristic evaluation.
Impact
The previous feedback survey was improved by adding context for why feedback was being requested, including a time estimate for completion, and making some questions optional. Previously, the survey did not state its purpose and all questions were mandatory, which may have led to low response rates and inaccurate results.
