HMRC Digital- User Testing Savings Reminders
"Help to Save" is a type of savings account. It allows people entitled to Working Tax Credit or receiving Universal Credit to get a bonus of 50p for every £1 they save over four years.
We set out to explore the users' preferences around reminders. I collaborated with Live Agile team including a designer, a developer, a content editor, a project manager and liaised closely with the recruitment team.
Understand.
In particular, we were looking to understand how people set reminders and on what frequency. Do they prefer to be reminded to save and where would they expect to find the option to cancel them, if needed. With that in mind, we also wanted to test the content of the emails users receive.
Create.
To lead the User Research I updated Research Plan, created a discussion guide, liaised with an internal recruitment agency, booked rooms for remote testing and conducted a pilot test. I then led the remote usability test of the prototype following a Think Aloud protocol (TA). I used the same tasks and activities to align with previous findings.
Deliver.
Testing works best with engaged, screened participants who show up and can more or less have adequate internet bandwidth for video calls. However, in this case, the participant quality was low; consequently, my findings were weak. I had to rerun the test, extending the project timeline and budget to hire a popular external agency. I also had to find a more user-friendly remote testing software because the existing one was not fit for the target user group.
Back at the drawing board, with a new Senior Researcher to onboard and a few more screens to test. Rerunning the test with an external agency meant that I set out the participant criteria through a screener with the internal agency. I then designed the Discussion guide, the user tasks, organised a pilot study before the main. I liaised for different remote testing software, materials and managed the stakeholder participation.
Outcome: As such, I helped my team make a vital decision collaboratively at a crucial time and added value with side findings by knowing that the position of the email reminder Menu link below to the standing order link was confusing. So did the email reminders on the Calls to Action the users are expecting to see after they have read the email.