Redesign a responsive website

Client: Crystal Tax

Role: End-to-end UX/UI Designer

Team: Individual project

Date: August 2022‍

I collaborated with Crystal Tax to ravamp their website with the goal of boosting organic engagement. I held a kick-off meeting with the purpose to understand my client and the problems they are facing.

Problems:

The public are intimidated due to lack of knowledge of claiming a tax refund
Largely rely on their referral network to expand and sustain their business

DELIVING VALUES AND ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT

The redesign of Crystal Tax’s responsive website resulted in an increase in conversion rate by 15-20%

The original responsive website suffers from several issues that impede usability. I redesigned the responsive website by simpifying the tax refund process, having consistent design patterns and providing adequate tax refund information.

Preview of the final prototype

Overall values delivered:

Increase in conversion rate by 15-20%

Faster tax refund claiming process

Positive feedbacks from both new and recurring users

Cut time for staffs to explain the tax refund process

HOW DID I GET THERE?

Researches were conducted to dip deeper into the market problems and I found that tax refund phishing increased with about 80,000 cases reported in 2022.

Other findings about the market:

Tax refund services are booming. Britons are happy to claim overpaid tax under a potential recession
HMRC has launched consultation to consider ways to better protect taxpayer from repayment agents

Compared their original website with their competitors and found some important information and features (e.g. tax refund calculator) are missing.

24/7 live chat bot to assist users

Prominent CTAs

Informative website

Lacks detailed pricing information

Lacks filtering and sorting functions

Informative website

Provide tax refund calculator

Tax refund process supported by mobile app

Lacks detailed pricing information

Live chat only available on weekdays’ working hours

24/7 live chat bot to assist users

Provide tax refund calculator

Worked with well-known companies

Clear pricing information

Inconspicuous CTA button

Through user interviews, I discovered several issues that impeded usability of the original website, including inconsistent design patterns; lacking important information; and improper visual hierarchy.

Other key insights from user interviews:

All paritcipants agreed that good credibility, usability and seamless services keep them engaged with the same tax agency
All participants are interested in tax refund services if they are given more information
75% of paritcipants would like to have a tax refund calculator to better management their expectations

IMPROVING THE DISCOVERABILITY AND OPTIMISING THE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Users flows were reconstructed to simplify the claiming process. Also, I held another meeting with the client to discuss the feasbility of incorporating features like tax refund calculator.

With reference to the revised user flows, I began with a mid-fidelity wireframe which covered the core flow of the business.

They provided me with a preliminary understanding of how key elements would be presented. Additionally, I ensured that my designs could be easily scaled for mobile layouts.

Developed a new UI component kit to ensure consistency of design elements across the website.

The client wishes to maintain some of the current design patterns like the primary colour. Thus, I have incorporated some design elements from the original site whilst introducing new components to enhance the website's visual appeal and usability.

TESTING THE REDESIGNED RESPONSIVE WEBSITE

A user friction was discovered in the usability test, as one of the test recorded a direct success rate of 33.3%.

Bearing in mind the insights from user interviews and the requests from the client, and with the help of the user flows, mid-fidelity wireframes and design patterns, I created a responsive high-fidelity wireframes for prototyping.

View the initial prototype

The usability tests on the high-fidelity wireframes above were conducted through Zoom and participants were guided to complete a tax claim under two different scenarios.

Key statistics under the 1^st scenario

(Assume all participants have previously claimed a tax refund)

100%
Completion rate

83.3%
Direct success rate

Key statistics under the 2^nd scenario

(Assuming all participants without tax refund knowledge)

83.3%
Completion rate

33.3%
Direct success rate

ITERATING THE DESIGN AND ADDRESSING THE RED FLAG

Changes have been made to address the user friction and I also added some minor features based on the users' feedback.

Based on my observation and feedback from the users, the process of claiming a tax refund is clear and simple. The refund process is also well-explained.

A section was added on the landing page which directs users to the tax refund guideline section.

Users found it difficult to access to the tax refund guideline as a direct success rate of 33.3% was recorded. Most of them seemingly missed the button in the navigation bar and scrolled down the landing page for the guideline. Thus, adding a section on the landing page provides another path for the user to reach the guideline.

Dropdown menu was added on the navigation bar.

It shows the users what sections the page contains for better navigating experience.

THE FINAL DEISGN

Worked closely with the client and developers to make it live and it delivered impressive results by increasing conversion rate by 15-20% within two months.

View the final prototype

ALL WORK

LET'S CONNECT

BOOSTING ORGANIC ENGAGEMENT FOR A TAX REFUND COMPANY

Crystal Tax is a company that offers tax refund services to its customers and operates as a subsidiary of Everest & Co. They want to redesign their responsive website in order to gain more organic engagement.

I collaborated with Crystal Tax to ravamp their website with the goal of boosting organic engagement. I held a kick-off meeting with the purpose to understand my client and the problems they are facing.

Problems:

The public are intimidated due to lack of knowledge of claiming a tax refund

Largely rely on their referral network to expand and sustain their business

The redesign of Crystal Tax’s responsive website resulted in an increase in conversion rate by 15-20%

The original responsive website suffers from several issues that impede usability. I redesigned the responsive website by simpifying the tax refund process, having consistent design patterns and providing adequate tax refund information.

Overall values delivered:

Researches were conducted to dip deeper into the market problems and I found that tax refund phishing increased with about 80,000 cases reported in 2022.

Compared their original website with their competitors and found some important information and features (e.g. tax refund calculator) are missing.

Through user interviews, I discovered several issues that impeded usability of the original website, including inconsistent design patterns; lacking important information; and improper visual hierarchy.

Users flows were reconstructed to simplify the claiming process. Also, I held another meeting with the client to discuss the feasbility of incorporating features like tax refund calculator.

With reference to the revised user flows, I began with a mid-fidelity wireframe which covered the core flow of the business.

Developed a new UI component kit to ensure consistency of design elements across the website.

A user friction was discovered in the usability test, as one of the test recorded a direct success rate of 33.3%.

Key statistics under the 1^st scenario

(Assume all participants have previously claimed a tax refund)

Key statistics under the 2^nd scenario

(Assuming all participants without tax refund knowledge)

Changes have been made to address the user friction and I also added some minor features based on the users' feedback.

A section was added on the landing page which directs users to the tax refund guideline section.

Dropdown menu was added on the navigation bar.

Worked closely with the client and developers to make it live and it delivered impressive results by increasing conversion rate by 15-20% within two months.

BOOSTING ORGANIC ENGAGEMENT FOR A TAX REFUND COMPANY

Crystal Tax is a company that offers tax refund services to its customers and operates as a subsidiary of Everest & Co. They want to redesign their responsive website in order to gain more organic engagement.

I collaborated with Crystal Tax to ravamp their website with the goal of boosting organic engagement. I held a kick-off meeting with the purpose to understand my client and the problems they are facing.

Problems:

The public are intimidated due to lack of knowledge of claiming a tax refund

Largely rely on their referral network to expand and sustain their business

The redesign of Crystal Tax’s responsive website resulted in an increase in conversion rate by 15-20%

The original responsive website suffers from several issues that impede usability. I redesigned the responsive website by simpifying the tax refund process, having consistent design patterns and providing adequate tax refund information.

Overall values delivered:

Researches were conducted to dip deeper into the market problems and I found that tax refund phishing increased with about 80,000 cases reported in 2022.

Compared their original website with their competitors and found some important information and features (e.g. tax refund calculator) are missing.

Through user interviews, I discovered several issues that impeded usability of the original website, including inconsistent design patterns; lacking important information; and improper visual hierarchy.

Users flows were reconstructed to simplify the claiming process. Also, I held another meeting with the client to discuss the feasbility of incorporating features like tax refund calculator.

With reference to the revised user flows, I began with a mid-fidelity wireframe which covered the core flow of the business.

Developed a new UI component kit to ensure consistency of design elements across the website.

A user friction was discovered in the usability test, as one of the test recorded a direct success rate of 33.3%.

Key statistics under the 1st scenario

(Assume all participants have previously claimed a tax refund)

Key statistics under the 2nd scenario

(Assuming all participants without tax refund knowledge)

Changes have been made to address the user friction and I also added some minor features based on the users' feedback.

A section was added on the landing page which directs users to the tax refund guideline section.

Dropdown menu was added on the navigation bar.

Worked closely with the client and developers to make it live and it delivered impressive results by increasing conversion rate by 15-20% within two months.

Key statistics under the 1^st scenario

Key statistics under the 2^nd scenario