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About Prosperi-Key
Prosperity Digital Marketplace (PDM) is a small tech startup and a subsidiary of United Way Western Connecticut. PDM's digital platform, Prosperi-Key, connects households living paycheck-to-paycheck with businesses and nonprofits in their community who want to help. It's a marketplace that aims to make life easier for hard working households.
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UX Challenge
PDM came to us because they wanted to better understand user drop-off during the onboarding process. Specifically, they wanted to know why users were abandoning their application during the income verification process.
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Role
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Team
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Timeline
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Unpacking the Challenge
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Who is this platform trying to help? ALICE, which stands for Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed, refers to a demographic of people, who in 2018 made up 29% of the U.S. population. Those who fall within the ALICE threshold are just above the poverty line and therefore don’t qualify for government assistance, but are just barely making ends meet. Prosperi-Key knows that this is a hardworking group of people, and offers them a helping hand. |
What's the application process like? We conducted a UX audit on the platform to jumpstart our research process. In our audit we found several pain points with the income verification process, including:
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User Research
User Interviews
We interviewed 5 people who are currently in the ALICE population or have been in the ALICE population at some point in their lives. Most of these users have had experiences applying for assistance programs.
What does this mean?Users are coming into the application process with associations of confusing and frustrating past experiences |
What does this mean?Users are unaware that this financial demographic had been studied, could qualify for assistance, or is cared about by others |
What does this mean?Transparency helps users see value in what they’re applying for and helps build enough trust for them to enter their information and finish the application |
Usability Testing Staging Site
We conducted 4 Usability Tests on Prosperi-Key's staging site. We measured the success of each task by timing the task and counting the number of clicks each user needed to complete a task.
50%of users were unclear on the purpose of the site 100%of users did not feel confident in linking their employer to their account |
75%of users failed at entering their household income and creating an account 75%of users found value in the platform after enrolling |
Synthesis
User Persona
Celia is a hardworking single mom who needs to provide for her family. She is employed, but still has a hard time making ends meet. She is short on time, so the Prosperi-Key's platform needs to convince her that this service is for her and it’s easy to sign up for.
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Journey Map
In our journey map, Celia hears about Prosperi-Key through her co-worker and she wants to see if she is eligible. She is a little unsure and frustrated as she goes through the application process, but in the end, she is hopeful that this platform can help her.
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Problem Statement
Our problem statement prioritizes Celia's need to comprehend the value of the platform and a streamlined onboarding process.
Celia needs a way to quickly and confidently know if she qualifies for Prosperi-Key in order to utilize the benefits of the program and be in a healthier financial position. |
How might we...
After developing our problem statement, we came up with 3 "How Might We" statements to help Celia. They touched on Prosperi-Key's onboarding process as well as the transparency of the site.
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How might we help Celia know she is eligible before enrolling? Possible Solution
↓Add a separate "Check Eligibility" feature |
How might we help Celia see the value of Prosperi-Key before enrolling? Possible Solution
↓Make offers visible before logging in or creating an account |
How might we earn Celia's trust during onboarding? Possible Solution
↓Allow user to decide how they report their income |
Ideation
C&C Analysis
After synthesizing our research, we decided to take a look at programs our users mentioned during our interview process. These programs have similar sign-up, rewards, and benefits features.
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We found that two of the sites, Chinook Book and Healthcare.gov, had tools in place that could help solve our client's key issues with onboarding.
User Flow for Prosperi-Key Sign-Up
To help us align our visual layout with our design solutions, we then created our User Flow. Our main goal was to make the process easy for the user, instill trust, and increase transparency so the user can get through the sign-up process.
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Hi-Fi Prototype
First Iteration Hi-Fi Prototype
We made some adjustments to the current platform based on our user research and our C&C Analysis. PDM was happy with the UI and general layout of the site, so we continued using the current design and made minor adjustments to test our research. Here are our findings:
Usability Testing First Iteration of Hi-Fi Prototype
We conducted 4 Usability Tests on our first iteration of the Hi-Fi Prototype. We measured the success of each task by timing the task and counting the number of clicks each user needed to complete a task.
100%of users liked the simple, straightforward layout of the prototype 100%of users successfully completed their eligibility check |
100%of users wanted to self-report their income instead of linking up through Argyle 100%of users found value in the website after completing the application |
Second Iteration of Hi-Fi Prototype
Second Iteration
We decided to make a few more changes based on user frustrations from our second round of testing.
Second Iteration of Hi-Fi Prototype
Next Steps
Next Steps
Conduct a card sortUsers were confused by how some of the benefits were organized. We recommended a card sort to help categorize the platform's offerings. Create alternative ways for people to verify their incomeUsers wanted other ways to verify their income, like uploading pay stubs. |
Continue streamlining application processUsers were still frustrated by the amount of personal information the site asked for. We recommended removing any information ask that isn't completely necessary. Filter benefits by locationSome users were finding benefits for users in a different state that did not apply to them. We recommended keeping offers relevant to their users. |