Kaleidoscope Estate Planning
Kaleidoscope is a brand new estate planning tool seeking to solve two main problems in the current online estate planning market: The lack of education and resources for people to properly build their estate plan, and the negative emotions involved with estate planning that lead users to feel uncomfortable and avoid the process.
Overview
Scope: The onboarding process for a new product
Timeline: Three weeks
The Team: Three designers, one client
My Role: Research, UX Design, UI Design, Client Correspondence
Tools Used: Figma, Maze, Zoom, Trello, Stark
Table of Contents:
1. Define
2. Analyze
3. Design
4. Deliver
5. Reflection
Problem Statement
The central problem my team and I were tasked by our client to solve is how to construct an onboarding experience that not only navigates the technicalities of estate planning, but also acts as an empowering and educational tool for users. This entails seamlessly integrating legal complexities into an educational framework, simplifying concepts, and incorporating interactive elements to guide users with confidence. This project extends beyond functionality. It aspires to add an essential educational element into the onboarding process, ensuring users not only complete the necessary steps, but also gain a understanding of the significance of their decisions in estate planning.
Defining the Problem
What is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of arranging for the management and distribution of one's assets and responsibilities after their death or in the event of incapacity. It involves creating legal documents, such as wills and trusts, to ensure that one's wishes regarding property, finances, and healthcare are carried out. The goal of estate planning is to provide clarity, minimize taxes, and facilitate a smooth transition of assets to heirs or beneficiaries.
User Interviews
My team and I conducted user interviews with eight participants. These interviews were conducted both in person and over Zoom to gather insights into participants' knowledge, experiences, and emotional responses regarding estate planning. Through a series of open-ended questions, we delved into participants' personal stories and emotions, aiming to gain an understanding of how they perceive and understand the estate planning process. Below were our main takeaways:
Below are the three main takeaways gathered from user interviews:
Users don’t know enough about estate planning to start.
Users have negative feelings when thinking about estate planning.
Users like to learn new things in a variety of ways.
Competitive Analysis - Educational Content
Our client provided my team with a great amount of market research previously conducted, but we decided to expand the research to specifically understand how to properly educate users throughout the estate planning process. To accomplish that, we looked at how our key competitors are assisting their users:
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Legal Zoom has a Youtube channel filled with videos to help users navigate through all of the services they offer.
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Legal Zoom breaks text down into smaller segments so users are better able to follow and understand content.
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Legal Zoom clearly explains the features and benefits of using each service, to educate and excite users.
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Rocket Lawyer displays a sample document for users to view and understand before beginning the process.
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Rocket Lawyer has a personalized FAQ for each page, so users can easily have their questions answered.
Analyzing the Data
How Might We…?
Based on the insights gathered from user interviews and the competitor analysis, my team and I aligned on priorities going into the design phase through the form of How Might We statements:
How Might We make education surrounding estate planning more digestible and comprehensive?
How Might We empower and engage users throughout the estate planning process?
Designing Solutions
User Flow and Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
After creating initial user flows and sketches and having them approved by our client, we moved on to creating grey scale wireframes to solidify the prototype before moving on to user testing. The below wireframes showcase the basic flow of the onboarding process:
User Flow: Onboarding for New Users
Landing Page After Creating An Account
Add Team Members To Your Plan
Will Building Checklist
Document Uploading By Category
Add Assets
Preview Document
Usability Testing
Before adding any UI elements, we tested the mid-fidelity prototype with the same users we initially interviewed to gauge the usability of the site, and gather feedback.
We had the users run through two user flows:
Flow 1: Create an Account and Add Team Members
Flow 2: Create a Last Will and Testament
Educational Content
More Educational Content/Onboarding Features
More Security Features
Layout and Language Tweaks
“I feel uncomfortable at the thought of uploading this much information.”
Sam A.
“How do I know what information is needed here?”
Rebecca R.
“I wish there was an explanation before getting to this page.”
Jacob M.
2. Security Features
The main takeaways that need to be addressed going into the next phase are:
3. General Layout
“The different plans are confusing to me.”
Shannon C.
“I would like more information on each of these.”
Josh A.
“How do I know this is secure?”
Bella H.
Deliverables
High-Fidelity Wireframes
After usability testing, my team and I ideated on how to redesign to solve the issues brought up during testing. We were also given a color pallet by the client, which we took to create a style guide that aligns with the clients needs and wishes. Below are the components of the final product that were reimagined for better user clarity:
Educational Content
Personalized FAQ’s
The FAQ’s are personalized to the page the user is on, so users can quickly get their questions answered with minimal searching.
Questionnaire Formatting
Users are taken through a questionnaire for each stage of the document-building process, so the site only asks for the documents that are applicable to each person.
Proposed Next Steps
Below are the priorities in the next stage of the project, communicated to the client:
2. Security Features
Secure Document Uploading
Users are shown indicators that their documents are being uploaded and stored securely.
3. General Layout
Will-Builder
The Will-Building page was redesigned for better user clarity. Call-to-action buttons were added to show users where to click next, and the progress bars and indicators encourage the user to keep going by showing how far they are in the process.
Educational Pages Throughout the Onboarding Process
These pages explain what part of the onboarding process is coming up next, and provides multiple forms of education (text, videos, FAQ’s, and templates) so the user feels confident going into the next step.
Question Mark Icons Throughout the Process to Quickly Resolve Confusion
Question mark icons are present throughout the entire process, so users can easily learn more about whatever topic or process they’re on.
Identity Verification During Account Creation
New users are asked to verify their identity before creating an account, to protect their and the sites safety.
Paywall
The paywall screen was designed to display the variety of plans the user can choose from. The free trial option is shown as the ideal plan as it allows them to access a preview of the services they would be provided before committing.
Document Preview
After completing the document building process, users can preview their document before completing and sending it out to team members.
How Might We allow users to assign specific assets to their team?
How Might We consolidate the document uploading process?
How Might We expand the educational library?
Project Reflection
Team Refection
More Alignment on UI Elements.
We needed to spend more time on the design system and style guide to insure consistent design throughout the product. More meetings to keep everyone on the same page was necessary. Prioritizing this will save time (and our sanity) in future projects.
Self Refection
User Trust is Everything.
Estate Planning is an incredibly complicated legal process, and in having to design for a product for it, I had to really pay attention to how my designs were evoking trust in users. No one wants to upload highly sensitive documents into a site that doesn’t make them feel safe. Going forward, I will consider security and safety elements in all of my designs.
More In-Depth Market Research.
There were resources, such as Plaid, that could have been incorporated in our designs to streamline more of the complicated parts of the onboarding process. More research should have been conducted to insure we were exploring all options available.
Onboarding can Make or Break a Product.
Observing users during usability testing taught me a jarring lesson: Onboarding sets the stage for the experience of the entire product, and having a lack of/ineffective onboarding completely changes how someone will interact with the site. I learned that it’s important to design onboarding with user need at the forefront of my mind, and to incorporate multiple forms of educational content.