CASE STUDY
Client search: Helping field associates find the correct client, the first time
The Challenge
Field associates can't eaily locate clients they are looking for, which results in excess duplicate records and decreased client satisfaction.
The Solution
A unified client list with filters that allow field associates to quickly and effectively locate the client they are looking for in all situations.
View the design
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
TIMELINE
May 2025 - Jan 2026
COLLABORATORS
1 product manager
1 content designer
4 developers
IMPACT
+6pt increase in system usability and decrease in duplicate profile creation
Process overview
Research & discovery
Reviewed heatmap data and session recordings to understand user behavior, then conducted qualitative research to understand the search process for each role & pain points in the experience.
Ideation
Based on the pain points identified, we discussed multiple solutions & prioritized them based on desirability and feasibility.
Design & test
Explored multiple design solutions & tested them with field associates to understand usability before moving into detailed design.
Develop & release
Adjusted final designs based on feedback & annotated before handing off to development. After launch, we monitored performance and have continued iterating on the experience.
Research & discovery
OVERVIEW
Starting with existing data and insights, I was able to understand which filters and actions were most commonly used on the client search page. However, since most information was masked, I wanted to get additional insight into the accuracy of the results. In addition, since all roles at Block (6+) use client search, I wanted to get feedback at scale to uncover the most common pain points.
WHAT WE WANTED TO LEARN
- Common scenarios for searching clients
- How field associates search for clients today, by role
- The effectiveness of client search, by criteria input
- Common workarounds for locating clients
- Pain points with the current experience
METHODOLOGIES
- Heatmap & session recording analysis from our analytics tool
- 5 one-on-one interviews with tax pros, leaders, and front desk associates
- Survey of 500+ tax pros
WHAT WE LEARNED
INSIGHT
In most cases, searching for a client is time-sensitive and requires too many workarounds
- If a client is sitting in front of you or calling to request something of you, there is limited time before frustration sets in. In some cases, the field associate will give up and create a new client record.
INSIGHT
Search requirements vary based on role responsibility
- District managers need quick access to clients across the whole district. In contrast, tax pros needs quick access to all of the clients they work with, regardless of how many offices they work in.
INSIGHT
Clients without a started service were harder to find than those with one
- Locating these clients typically required additional navigation that was easily forgotten, leading to the increase of duplicate record creation.
How might we help tax pros reliably and quickly find a client on the first try?
Ideation
OVERVIEW
With the key insights outlined and pain points identified - too many workarounds, inconsistent results, lack of customization by role, and difficulty locating clients without a service, we wanted to ideate how we could solve some of these problems.
FEATURE
Unified client results list
Instead of having a separate list for those with a return vs those with an appointment, document, etc.
FEATURE
Custom views for all roles
Tax pros, front desk professionals, managers, etc. would have custom default views based on the client set most relevant to their role and responsibilities.
FEATURE
Identify existing clients during account creation
This helps prevent duplicate creation from our system, but won't prevent it from others.
FEATURE
Quick filters
Knowing that tax pros used the appointments tab as a way to quickly see clients with appointments, we wanted to still offer that same flexibility.
FEATURE - DEPRIORITIZED
Fuzzy match
While this is still something we plan to implement, the other features were more desireable and feasible than this one, so it will hopefully be added in this next year.
FEATURE - DEPRIORITIZED
Unified & condensed search criteria across systems
A larger research effort was about to start to learn what criteria clients were comfortable with providing, so we waited to tackle this problem until we could align as an enterprise on approach.
Design & test
DESIGNING THE NEW SEARCH
We first outlined the different needs based on role - for example, field associates who were also corporate employees, tax pros who worked in multiple offices vs one, team leaders who were over multiple offices vs one, etc. We made sure that each scenario was accounted for before moving into design.
KEY FEATURES & REASONING
- Quick filters by office or tax pro: Since associates may have to help a client working with a different office or tax pro
- Quick filters by appointment data: Since tax pros want to re-locate clients who they saw recently or are about to see
- Custom views by role: So each user is getting the results most applicable to their role and responsibility
- Unified client list: So associates don't have to recall if the client they are searching for has a service or not
- Saved filter views: For users that have unique needs, they don't have to re-select filters each time they return to search
- Reset to default: For users that needed to use another filter, but quickly want to get back to their default view
TESTING THE SOLUTION
We tested our solution with 7 participants to see if they could successfully find a client working with themself, someone else, and other office. We also tested if they could reset their view back to default and find clients who have an appointment tomorrow. Nearly every task had 100% direct success, so there were only minor content issues that needed to be addressed before handoff.
Develop & release
ROLLOUT
To test the effectiveness of this feature, we launched it to a small group of offices to validate that all was functioning correctly. After a few weeks, we released to all offices and sent a pre- and post- system usability survey to see how our updates impacted the users' experience.
IMPACT & RESULTS
- +6pt increase in system usability
- Decrease in overall duplicate profile creation
NEXT STEPS
The research team did additional analysis on criteria that clients are comfortable providing. We plan to use that research as an enterprise to align search experiences across our appointment tool, the website, and our payment portal before next tax season.
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