Discovery Research Parameters

To build a comprehensive understanding of our tax preparation service, we conducted a five-part discovery process:

We began by auditing two years of tax preparation history across both Sole Proprietor and S-corporation customers, analyzing retrospectives, internal notes, and support tickets. We then conducted targeted interviews with both churned and current customers from the 2022 tax season, followed by in-depth discussions with stakeholders and tax preparation teams.

Using these insights, we mapped the complete customer journey and developed a detailed service blueprint documenting all interaction points between customers and Heard employees. Finally, we synthesized our findings into an actionable research report highlighting successful elements, improvement opportunities, and specific recommendations for a customer-centric experience.

Discovery Research Learnings

Our analysis revealed key insights across three critical dimensions: Validation, Education, and Transparency.

• Validation

  • Therapists are clinicians first, business owners second.

  • They seek expert financial guidance while maintaining focus on client care. Rather than forcing them to become accounting and tax experts, we needed to align our tax experience with their professional context.

  • Our research showed they deeply value understanding the reasoning behind financial decisions and want clear connections between requested actions and outcomes.

  • Close the loop. Therapists want to see how the tasks we ask them to complete lead to outcomes. Key questions included the purpose of monthly statement uploads and the relevance of spouse documentation.

    
    

• Education

  • Make things easy to understand. Customers want to understand what is needed for a successful tax filing.

  • Tax preparation must be approachable and clearly purposeful. We identified three key principles:

    • Make complex concepts accessible. Customers need a clear understanding of requirements for successful tax filing, stripped of technical jargon and accounting complexity.

    • Create clear connections. Each step in the tax process must visibly link to specific outcomes, reinforcing that we're partners in their financial success.

    • Use human language. By translating tax terminology into plain English, we reduce cognitive load and build confidence:

      • "File Tax Form 1120S" becomes "File Your Business Tax Form (1120S)"

      • "Complete your reconciliation" becomes "Review Your Expenses"

      
      

• Transparency

  Our research revealed critical needs around clarity and control in the tax filing process:

  Tax preparation creates significant anxiety for practitioners. They need clear assurance that their individual practice needs are being prioritized and maximized throughout the process.

  Given their academic background, customers expect structured progress tracking and clear task management. We aligned our process with their natural work patterns by:

  • Breaking down tasks to fit within their standard 50-minute session blocks

  • Providing clear time estimates for each task

  • Creating visible progress indicators

  We identified two key gaps in the current experience:

  • Customers needed better tools to analyze their practice data for informed decision-making

  • The lack of clear next steps created uncertainty about filing requirements and deadlines

  
  

Tax Team Delivery

Following the discovery phase, I transitioned to an advisory role, conducting deep-dive sessions with key stakeholders—our Staff Product Designer, Product Manager, Engineering Lead, and Senior Manager of Tax. These sessions ensured thorough understanding of research insights and guided implementation.

The team developed four distinct tax experiences designed to streamline information collection while reducing customer anxiety. Each feature focused on guiding customers through the tax preparation process while efficiently gathering essential business and personal tax documentation.

Every workflow was built around two core principles: clear customer communication and efficient internal document collection. Each experience addressed critical questions:

• Expected time commitment for completion

• Clear outline of deliverables

• Specific customer requirements

• Transparent next steps

Tax Season Kick-off (TSK)

This streamlined workflow guided customers through tax filing confirmation, life event updates, and a comprehensive 2023 tax season overview. The results demonstrated clear success:

• 98% customer opt-in rate for tax preparation services

• 96% completion rate for all required tax forms

• Average task completion time under 90 seconds
  
  

Year-End Review (YER):

This workflow empowered customers to finalize their books while resolving any outstanding income or expense transactions that required clarification. By creating a dedicated space for financial reconciliation, we ensured accurate tax preparation inputs.

1099-NEC

This workflow guided customers through 1099 filing requirements for contractors who received payments exceeding $600 in 2023. By streamlining this critical compliance task, we helped customers fulfill their reporting obligations efficiently.

Tax Checklist (TC)

This intuitive, TurboTax-inspired workflow streamlined the tax preparation process by guiding customers through deduction identification, tax form submission, and supporting documentation collection. The familiar interview-style format transformed complex tax requirements into manageable steps.