NYC DCWP Scheduling Portal Re-design

NYC DCWP Scheduling Portal Re-design

NYC DCWP Scheduling Portal Re-design

Redesigning the financial scheduling portal for the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker’s Protection to enhance user experience, streamline navigation, and improve accessibility.

Redesigning the financial scheduling portal for the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker’s Protection to enhance user experience, streamline navigation, and improve accessibility.

Role

Role

Role

UX/UI Designer

UX/UI Designer

UX/UI Designer

Team

Team

Team

Chiu, Jimin, Jiyoung, Richa

Chiu, Jimin, Jiyoung, Richa

Chiu, Jimin, Jiyoung, Richa

Duration

Duration

Duration

12 weeks

12 weeks

12 weeks

Project Overview

Project Overview

The Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) at New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) provides free financial counseling and coaching services to NYC residents regardless of their immigration status. These services include counseling for budgeting assistance, debt management, credit improvement, student loans, and more. Clients can book appointments through the FEC’s scheduling website.


Recently, their website saw a 300% increase in traffic, driven by FEC’s growth strategy and marketing efforts. Despite this, the booking completion rate is low.

The Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) at New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) provides free financial counseling and coaching services to NYC residents regardless of their immigration status. These services include counseling for budgeting assistance, debt management, credit improvement, student loans, and more. Clients can book appointments through the FEC’s scheduling website.


Recently, their website saw a 300% increase in traffic, driven by FEC’s growth strategy and marketing efforts. Despite this, the booking completion rate is low.

Problem

Problem

Despite the surge in web traffic driven by FEC's marketing efforts, the appointment booking conversion rates remain low on their current website. This suggests that users face significant barriers preventing them from completing online bookings.

Despite the surge in web traffic driven by FEC's marketing efforts, the appointment booking conversion rates remain low on their current website. This suggests that users face significant barriers preventing them from completing online bookings.

Sneak peek of our final design 👀

Sneak peek of our final design 👀

Research

Research

7 in-depth stakeholders interviews, including interviews with former counselors and counseling managers, all within a short time frame of one week to understand their perspectives.

7 in-depth stakeholders interviews, including interviews with former counselors and counseling managers, all within a short time frame of one week to understand their perspectives.

Interview notes and affinity mapping

Attended and presented at FEC’s quarterly meeting, conducting polls with 60+ counselors to gain insights into their perspectives and common challenges reported by their clients

Live polling using Mentimeter

Distributed anonymous surveys directly with clients and analyzed annual digital performance reports provided by FEC to gather insights into pain points, device usage, and other statistics.

Glance into some of our survey responses

Key Insights

80% of users access the scheduling website via their mobile devices.

Misconceptions about financial services often lead to misaligned expectations among users.

Slow loading times and confusing layouts create an impression of limited availability,
resulting in errors and user drop-offs.

Collecting language preferences and visit reasons beforehand improves session flow and counseling efficiency.

Low tech-savviness, un-intuitive user flow, and excessive clicks decrease motivation for users, especially older adults.

High no-show rates stem from unclear appointment confirmations and weak reminders.

Guiding Strategy

Spreading awareness, educating clients about available services, and managing expectations, during scheduling and beyond.

Guiding Strategy

Spreading awareness, educating clients about available services, and managing expectations, during scheduling and beyond.

Guiding Principles

Mobile-First Design Approach: With 80% of users accessing the scheduler via mobile devices, we decided to prioritize a mobile-first design approach. This included designing responsive layouts and interactions optimized for smaller screens while ensuring scalability for larger devices.

Intuitive and Inclusive Design Experience: With a diverse user base spanning various ages and levels of tech-savviness, we prioritized clear navigation, language options, accessibility features, and a simple, user-friendly interface.

Streamlining the Flow to Reduce Friction: We mapped the ideal client journey, simplified complex processes, and applied progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load and user frustration.

User Journey

Streamlining Appointment Booking by applying the Principle of Progressive Disclosure

We applied the “Progressive Disclosure” design principle, breaking the appointment process into manageable steps to reduce cognitive load and improve clarity, especially for users across a wide age range. This approach also addressed long load times by distributing data across steps, ensuring a smoother experience. Additionally, we restructured the flow and tasks to make sessions more efficient and intuitive for clients.

Existing user flow

Newly proposed user flow

Turning our strategy into action

The redesign aimed to streamline the appointment booking process by reducing confusion and cognitive load. Leveraging research insights, strategy, and benchmarking against other financial service providers and scheduling platforms, we made informed design decisions, crafting high-fidelity prototypes and utilizing a cohesive design system.

We also conducted moderated usability tests with 8+ users, including 50% aged 55+, to gather valuable insights. These insights informed thoughtful design iterations, ensuring the process was more intuitive, accessible, and user-centered.

8+

User Testings

50%

aged 55+

Overall ease of use rating

4/5 (1 being very difficult, 5 being very easy)

“It was pretty straightforward and the questions were very simple to understand”

“It was pretty straightforward and the questions were very simple to understand”

“Overall this was easy to follow and the next steps were clear. “

“Overall this was easy to follow and the next steps were clear. “

Features & Iterations

Client’s Feedback!

Final presentation

Review from the First Deputy Comissioner

In conclusion, revamping FEC’s financial counseling scheduler has successfully improved service awareness, usability, and accessibility.


We received enthusiastic and positive feedback during the final presentation, which highlighted the design’s intuitive navigation, simplicity, and effectiveness in addressing previously overlooked challenges. The audience was particularly impressed with our detail-oriented approach and efficient execution, expressing excitement about implementing the design.

Final presentation

Review from the First Deputy Comissioner

Overall, the project not only exceeded their expectations but also provided a valuable solution that saves time and resources, creating a meaningful impact for both the client and their users.

Our clients not only plan to implement our design solutions to the financial counseling scheduler but also intend to apply this approach to other scheduling processes across their entire services.

“Excellent work! Very thoughtful approach to each and every aspect of the portal.”

-Stakeholder 1

“We’re going to use the same design for other appointment tool that we have.”

-Stakeholder 3

“This is how I was hoping it would look. Amazing work in such little time.”

-Stakeholder 2

“Shows services offers really well- works well with comms strategy as well- better than just talking about it during the session.”

-Stakeholder 4