Government agency website redesign
North Carolina Department of Revenue
Overview
A significant challenge for the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) many people don’t understand how their taxes are determined. This leads to unnecessary frustration and poor perception. To mitigate that, the NCDOR publishes over 13,000 pdf’s of documentation to assist the citizens of North Carolina. The problem is that without a good information architecture, navigation, and search, the average citizen couldn’t find the information they are looking for. The NCDOR needed a partner for their government website redesign that could update the website with a simplified user journey so information could be delivered more quickly and effectively.
Project Type
Custom Website
Technology
HTML/CSS
Industry
Government
Company Overview
The North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) is a cabinet-level executive agency charged with administering tax laws to fund public services benefiting the citizens of North Carolina. They administer the tax-laws on behalf of the people of North Carolina and collect taxes in an impartial, consistent, secure, and efficient manner.
The Ask
NCDOR was flooded with calls from residents asking for information that they couldn’t find online. The information was there, so it was clear the agency had some major website issues – it was not user-friendly. During this same time, the agency was trying to encourage electronic tax filing. They knew driving behavioral change wouldn’t be easy, but with an online process that was already so difficult to use, they were fighting an uphill battle. In order to improve the user experience and add more functionality, they needed a complete government website redesign.
Our Government Website Redesign Process
Discovery
Our team developed task-based personas to represent the various user types and their diverse needs. We conducted in-depth user research to help us determine and then design a clearer and quicker pathway for users to find the information they were searching for. During usability testing, subjects navigated through the menu to desired content in less than 5 seconds.We built an improved information architecture for over 6,000 web pages that housed 13,000 PDFs.
Design
By revamping the website, we improved the site’s navigation, provided clearer labeling, and modernized the design. All of which improved their website issues by making the site more user-friendly
The End Result
Once launched, the NCDOR noticed an instant impact. Call volume reduced, web usage increased and users began to prefer filing their taxes electronically. After four months, phone calls decreased by 24,000 and the number of tax filings completed online doubled from the prior period.
NCDOR Hero
NCDOR Desktop home page
