OC United Way Free Tax Prep

UX Research, UI Design

About The Project

As the Marketing and UX Research Intern for Orange County United Way, I was assigned to conduct user research and assist in redesigning the Orange County Free Tax Prep website. Orange County United Ways is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that aims to create community-based, community-led solutions to address critical issues facing Orange County.
This research aims to identify OCUW's Free Tax Prep Program's target users, identify accessibility compliance, and address visual and information pain points.

🎯 Communities in Orange County, California

✂️ Figma, Google Forms, AccessiBE

📅 1 Month

👤 UX Researcher

The Problem

The existing website was not enhanced or simplified in terms of user experience, making it more difficult for current and prospective clients to navigate the website and utilize the resource. OC Free Tax Prep helps low income families keep their hard-earned money through saving on preparation fees, claiming tax credits, and receiving their refunds quickly and safely — an efficient and accessible platform is crucial in assisting these communities.

The Solution

The goal ‍redesign and rebuilt the website to enhance the online experience based on current design and UX best practices. The site focuses on highlighting the advantages of OC Free Tax Prep services, MyFreeTaxes, and VITA IRS-Certified volunteers. To do so, we will conduct research to identify our target user's and their pain points, conduct competitor analysis, and conduct user tests to navigate the project with data.

The Hypothesis

We expect the solution to improve and enhance the overall flow and user experience of the website. This will create a renewed enthusiasm for OC Free Tax Prep’s client and partner base. Additionally, the content and features of the site will be optimized to highlight the advantage of the VITA program and MyFreeTaxes.org versus other competitors.

Design Research Process

1. Discover 🔎

The Problem, Competitor Analysis, Accesibility Check

2. Define 🔑

User Personas, User Journeys, Project Goals

3. Ideate 🎨

User Survey, Wireframing

Competitor Analysis

Using semrush.com, we first compared website traffic and audience analysis on FreeTax USA, H&R Block, and Turbo Tax compared to OC Free Tax Prep.

We focused on comparing brand strengths and weaknesses, as well as website strengths and weaknesses.

Competitor 1: FreeTax USA

Brand Strength: FreeTaxUSA is well positioned as being seen as a “Free Federal for Everyone” solution. While federal filings are free on all products, their Deluxe Edition is $7.99 and a state return on any filing has a flat fee of $14.99.
Brand Weakness: FreeTaxUSA has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating from 427,269 customer reviews.‍
‍Website Strength: The website industry offering is very clear and easy to navigate throughout the site. The site is uniform and the main action intended for a user to take is immediately clear. Content is presented in small, easily digestible pieces. Contact information is readily available and easy to locate.
‍Website Weakness: While the site demonstrates good design principles and strong call to action buttons, it comes across as being impersonal and more of a technical solution. There aren’t a lot of images of users, or people on the site. The focus is more on the platform than on the people that use it. The testimonial component is less aligned with the overall layout and design of the site.

Competitor 2: H&R Block

Brand Strength: H&R Block is one of the most popular tax preparation companies in the US and completes almost 1 in 7 US tax returns each year. Since 1955 they have completed over 800 million returns and are seen as a trusted household brand. There are 4 filing options currently offered: Free Online, Deluxe $35, Premium $55, and Self- Employed $85.
Brand Weakness: H&R Block has a 4.4 out of 5 star rating from 494,748 customers. Customers with lower ratings reported discrepancies on fees, file times being longer than promised, and errors between state and federal filings.
Website Strength: The website demonstrates best practices in website design. Large high contrast call to action buttons are clearly visible and strategically placed throughout the site. Images of clients and tax professionals are placed throughout the site and the online web experience is aligned with an in-person experience. Their tax calculator is very engaging and provides an interactivity and feedback to the user as they complete it.
Website Weakness: While the site does have a lighter Spanish version, the ability and option to change language options were not presented for the user to opt-in to the language of their choice.

Competitor 3: Intuit, TurboTax

Brand Strength: TurboTax is part of Intuit, the global financial technology platform that powers TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and MailChimp. Intuit posted a 83% revenue growth (2020) as the pandemic forced many people to file from home.
Brand Weakness: TurboTax has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating out of 294,023 reviews. Consumers with lower ratings reported frequent technical bugs, poor customer service, and endless “help” loops. Propublica reported the use of frequent dark UX patterns (2019) in the overall UI with the intent of having eligible users that qualify for free filings being forced to pay. The FTC filed a suit (March 2022) against the deceptive “free” filing campaign.
Website Strength: The website uses some of the best practices in design layout, UI design, and user journey design. Frequent images of actual people and professionals are used throughout the site creating a personable feel. Multiple Call To Action buttons are present in each section of the viewport. Frequent trust seals, and review ratings are incorporated throughout the site.
Website Weakness: TurboTax has invested significant resources into their overall website and product design strategies. There is a heavy organizational User-Centered- Design approach. The platform is only as good as the information or inputs that the user provides. Users reported switching from turbo tax when they received IRS letters, became independent contractors or small business owners, change of family (married or had children) or just feeling busy or overwhelmed.

User Personas

After researching OCUW's target audience, past users of their free tax prep program, and users OCUW want to cater towards, I created 5 user personas of our focus groups. These groups of users are people who are likely to seek for free tax preparation programs.

User Journey Maps

Each user journey showcases the possible interactions and emotions our focus audiences experience as they navigate the website to file their taxes for free. This helps us to better empathize with our users and identify pain points and areas of improvement.

Project Goals & Objectives

After creating user personas and journey maps, we were able to more empathize with users' interactions with our website, as well as the pain points they may face. Using that, we created our project goals and objectives.

** Prioritizing these objectives during the strategy phase of this project will guide us through the research and design process

User Survey

As part of the design process, to assist Orange County United Way determine typography for the new redesign, we conducted a user survey to gauge what our users perceive to be more reliable. They were incentivized with a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card for two participants. This survey was sent out to mailing lists within Orange County United Ways, and shared to employees to outreach within their programs.
We showed participants these two options:
‍
Version A: Articulat CF
Version B: Oswald

First Impressions on Version A:
‍

Trustworthy
Trust
Clear
Clean
Modern

Dynamic
Readable
Softer
Beautiful

First Impressions on Version B:
‍

Untidy
Official
Shouting
Professional
Heavy

Powerful
Coherent
Bold
Strong
Loud

Necessary Features for Redesign

Showcasing the trusted expertise of IRS-Certified volunteers will be a strong focus of the new website. This free service helps strengthen credibility and provides a sense of high quality and high value service.

Eight-in-ten Americans (82%) say they consult online ratings and reviews when buying or using something for the first time. Making it easy for a client to write a review is critical piece of building trust and credibility.

Everyone should be able to enjoy your website regardless of their ability. Especially for a service provided by Orange County United Way whose mission is to serve underserved populations, it is essential that accessibility is regarded highly. According to ADA Title III, every business website has to be accessible to people with disabilities, or it will be at risk of being sued and facing unnecessary legal expenses. We use AccessiBe (an AI and machine learning web accessibility solution) to solve this problem. Based on research, this is the most affordable and simple solution in the market today.

On-site surveys are critical to help enhance the user experience. They appear whenever you need them during the user journey. Capture in-the-moment feedback by launching your surveys the way you like: using a popup or sending them a link. This helps discover how your users feel about their online experience.

Heatmaps visually represent where users click, move, and scroll on your site. Recordings are playbacks of users scrolling, moving, u-turning, and rage clicking on your site. From entry to exit, we can reliably map the user’s full experience. This can help us identify where problems, pain points, and bugs are.

Wireframes

Link to OCFTP Website

💫 Reflection

This was my first project working alongside professional designers and researchers. Being responsible for a chunk of the project scoping phase, we were able to apply this initial work into creating design changes through the website, such as including more images of users and clarifying the partnership with myfreetaxes.com
‍
Here are a couple things I learned :

⭐️ No idea is a bad idea.
When I initially joined the team I felt very intimidated because of my lack of experience. During meetings I was worried that my ideas weren't developed or complex enough to share with my experienced team members. Timidly, I began sharing my ideas out and I quickly understood that staying quiet was actually disadvantageous for the team because a wide range of perspective and feedback is key to improving the user experience.

⭐️ Many websites are not fully ADA compliant.
I was tasked to conduct ADA audits on each page of our website and a couple pages of our competitors, and I was surprised to see that many web features were not ADA compliant. As someone with a background in advocacy and non-profit work, I was intrigued by this. By following the accessibility guidelines, we not only ensure that our services are accessible to the greatest range of users, but we also unintentionally smoothen and improve the user experience for all users— even those who don't need certain accommodations on a daily basis.