Beta testing a file upload journey for sending personal details

HMRC is the UK tax, payment and customs authority that collects money to pay for public services.

HM Revenue and customs form landing page title reads send HMRC evidence of your personal details with text that reads if you've been sent a letter or asked by HMRC, use this form to send evidence of your personal details.

Scope of work and problem

This project's goal was to support beta testing a new end to end online journey for citizens to upload evidence to update their personal details with HMRC. Some problems identified:

  • The only method for customers to send their personal documentation is using a postal route.

  • 42% of complaints are due to missing and incorrect documentation through the current postal process.

  • This causes a delay in updating customer records by nearly a year.

  • There is no offline or online guidance to report this change of circumstance independently through self-serving.

Things I thought about

  • The full end to end journey including how users would access and find the page to use the online form and using the form to upload a file.

  • Clear and simple instructions starting with essential information first is useful to test in beta and making sure offline journey has the same clear and simple instructions to maintain continuity.

  • What support users would need to successfully upload their documentation independently.

Things I did

  • Worked closely with process owners, product managers and developers to clarify the scope and identified user pain points with current journey and mapped out new process.

  • Iterated design concepts of the file upload form's landing page and offline journey, which is a letter, to make sure all relevant information and instruction were clear and adhered to government digital standards (GDS).

  • Defined success metrics like reduced customer contact and the success rate of uploads.

Results and impact

Testing these designs during beta phase resulted in:

  • 95% of successful file upload journeys.

  • Reduced customer complaints by 5%.

  • Streamlined a process to send and receive sensitive documentation that reduced digital scanning by £8,000.