Bench Accounting
Winning team of a cross-disciplinary hackathon on improving Bench Accounting's sign-up flow.
My Role: UX research, Design Strategy, UI
Team: Data Science, UX Design, Web Development
Duration: Dec 2022, 24 hours
Tools: Figma
Problem
Bench Accounting came to us with a substantial problem that they're facing in general - to improve their client sign-up flow for their monthly bookkeeping service.
Solution
Within 24 hours, our cross-disciplinary group worked as a team to create a simplified and more personalized sign-up flow. We conducted market research and competitive analysis, a simple heuristic evaluation, UX design, and web development.
How might we improve Bench's client sign-up flow to increase conversions for monthly bookkeeping?
Background Research
My experience working with Data Scientists
Conducting research is a crucial part of the UX process. In this hackathon, we were able to achieve this with the help of our Data Science member. Gathering information is their strength. At the same time, it was important to provide them context, direction, and the general scope, so they could use their time more efficiently to gather insights that would inspire our solutions.
Here are some key findings:
Low traffic and page views in Bench Accounting's website recorded since January 2022
Minimizing the number of steps in a sign-up flow can increase conversion rates in general
The average user of Bench includes owners, presidents or CEOs of the business
Solution
Home
Bench's decrease in web traffic was an indication that users weren't engaging with the website enough. In our solution, we displayed Bench’s available services on their home page to increase visibility and awareness, while highlighting their most popular service. This allows users to navigate straight to their products with ease.
Solution
"Find a Solution for Me" Quiz
We want to provide users a personalized experience so they can make informed decisions. We did this by creating a “quiz” using questions that already exist in Bench's original sign-up form. Answers from the quiz are used to generate the most compatible service plan that matches the business's needs.
Solution
Recommended Plan & Pricing
In our designs, making sure that users have continuous access to information and Bench’s value is important. In addition to providing users tailored solutions for their business through our quiz, we included call-to-actions (CTAs) wherever possible to give them extra opportunities to learn more about what Bench has to offer.
Solution
Sign-Up Form
Based on our research to increase conversion rates, reducing the number of steps a user has to take to sign up is our team’s primary goal. Bench's original sign-up flow involves two steps - filling out a multi-page form and scheduling a call in a separate email. In order to simplify this process, we created a one-page sign-up form where users can book a call at the same time.
Solution
Confirmation
A touch of personalization in marketing copies can go a long way. To finish off the sign-up process, we also included extra resources to increase user’s engagement with Bench’s website. The purpose of adding blog materials on this page is to help users feel consistently supported and connected to Bench's services.
Handoff
My experience working with Web Developers
A good handoff is important to creating a good product. Given the time constraints of a hackathon, our UX team communicated our ideas and sketches to the development team very consistently and provided them all the resources they'd need from colours, images to the hi-fidelity prototype.
