Tax Credit Survey

Overview

Promoting job opportunities

I worked with a specialty accounting company to redesign their new hire survey. This tool is used by their clients during the employee onboarding to discover whether new hires qualify for a variety of Federal, State, and regional tax credit programs. These programs help create opportunities for populations that face employment barriers by providing tax savings to employers. The goals for this project included to:

  • Improve customer experience
    Update survey to support a positive onboarding experience

  • Decrease maintenance costs
    Reduce customer support hours associated with survey

  • Increase survey completion rates
    Remove any barriers to survey completion

  • Streamline survey creation
    Simplify set up while supporting multiple surveys

0
Work Opportunity Tax Credits were issued in the US in 2021
0 Billion
Potential total monetary value of 2021’s tax credits in US

Source: https://www.cmswotc.com/work-opportunity-tax-credit-statistics-2021/

Process

Mapping the survey

I led workshops with subject matter experts to understand how tax credit surveys are being used within different industries and settings, and documented challenges shared by the Tax Program and Support teams.

I collaborated with the team to discover the most efficient way to structure survey content, so that one survey could serve multiple programs while containing as few steps as possible.

With the information I gathered, I created multiple user flows, wireframes, and finally high fidelity prototypes that were used to test and refine the final design.

Insights

Key takeaways

Below are some of the key insights from the discovery process.

  • Onboarding scenarios vary
    New hires may receive a link, an email or be asked to complete the survey onsite

  • Lack of understanding
    Most participants did not know the purpose of the survey

  • Sensitive information
    Respondents may be hesitant to share personal information

  • Support cost
    Support contact was common for lost confirmation numbers

  • Participation is voluntary
    Yet, it can result in significant tax savings for employers

  • Program complexity
    Eligibility is assessed across multiple Federal, State, and local programs

  • Long and tedious
    Ten separate sections which were not relevant for most users

  • Dated, not usable design
    The design was outdated, impersonal, and did not support viewing on mobile

Solutions

Simplified, Flexible User Flows

The new user flows reduced the length of the survey for most participants from 10 to 6 steps while accommodating multiple programs in one survey. Only those questions that were necessary to determine eligibility were presented. Once a new hire qualified for a program, no additional information was requested.

Improved UX & Visual Design

The updated survey was optimized to work across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices to accommodate the various settings in which employee participation was requested – whether onsite during initial onboarding or via link or email.

  • Clear, Relevant Language
    The introductory text was shortened to answer key user concerns and highlight the benefit of tax incentive programs in simple, welcoming language.

  • Enhanced Support & Feedback
    Improved access to language selection, support, inline tooltips and enhanced form validation.

  • Sensitive Information Deferred
    Confidentiality concerns were clearly addressed. Sensitive questions were deferred to the end of the survey or omitted if possible.

  • Additional Confirmation Options
    Users were offered multiple ways to save their confirmation number – including via text.