The challenge
Create an easy and simple onboarding process for a new community platform by the Tel-Aviv Municipality for the city's businesses: over 40,000 companies in Tel Aviv that pay municipal taxes. The onboarding was to be suitable for different target audiences that include a variety of individuals: tiny businesses (i.e., grocery stores, hairdressers, flower shops, etc.), medium businesses and large-scale businesses (i.e., factories, hi-tech companies, etc.).
My task
To consult and design a new UX onboarding method that will include all needed functions for business owners to complete the process in the fastest and easiest way possible.
Structure and limitations
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The approval for each user is done manually - The municipality system still does not have the technology to fully automate the process - The user is asked to attach an ID image (as a security requirement of the legal department- the verification of the ID is the part which is done manually).
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The platform/website is open to everyone - no registration is necessary, but there are special benefits for those who are registered (i.e., free courses, free tickets, free advisory services, etc.).
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One of the most significant barriers to registering for the platform is entering the municipal tax No. ID. Unlike other information that the users fill in with ease (i.e., ID number, phone number, email, credit card, etc.), this piece of information requires the user to provide a long number that he hardly uses and is not usually or easily within his reach.
Signing up is one of the last things users want to do. Usually, users are unwilling to sign up until they really understand the value of doing so. My mission was to define the value of filling in the form. The message needed to be clear and sharp: show the users how they can benefit from entering their details and that it is definitely worth the effort.
The process
First step:
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Interview Digitelbusiness Community manager, Product manager, and consultant specializing in urban strategy.
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Understand the needs, requirements, and limitations.
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Research the onboarding process in different organizations that have similar digital web platforms.
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Building personas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4grNNHvZIWA
Second step:
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Design a wireframe with different flows – New registration, sign-in for an existing member, registration for business with partners, and registration for an individual with more than one company.
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Discuss and analyze with the customer issues and questions that arose throughout the design development.
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Present only fields essential for the registration and avoid fields that confuse or hinder the user from finishing the process.
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Minimize as much as possible the text and keep only content that helps the user in his registration.
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Fewer options make decision-making more straightforward and the user experience smoother.
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Determine the hierarchy of fields and their order. Start the registration with a simple task and with every step it becomes a bit more demanding – the psychology behind it is that after filling half of the process the user will be invested in it and will prefer to finish it and not waste the time he already spent.
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Questions and issues that arose during the process:
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If a User has several companies, how does he create a new account for each one of his businesses with an ID number, and what happens afterward when he wants to register for one of the services?
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If there are several partners in the business – Is it possible for each one of them to register?
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Is it possible to finish the process even if one of the provided details is wrong?
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How to inform the user that even though he has completed the registration process, he still needs to wait for approval that his membership has been authorized.
Conclusion
My client (the Tel- Aviv Municipality) is very pleased with the number of businesses joining the program. Six months after the launch, over 1,000 companies have already joined the Business community, and the numbers are increasing rapidly. Accurate analytics will follow shortly.