Online Account Recovery - Gov.uk Client
Organisation
Capgemini
Role
Senior Interaction Designer
Project Overview
My team and I designed an online account recovery service for our Gov.uk client. This led to a 67% reduction in offline account recovery calls.
The problem/The brief
The process for recovering access to an account was entirely offline for all customers.
An online solution was sought to alleviate pressure on the customer helpline team as the number of accounts increased. The goal was to create an online service for users who no longer had access to the phone number or email address used for account authentication. This process needed to collect updated details from the user and 're-bind' them to their account using facial image comparison.
My role
I joined the project one month before the second round of user testing and quickly familiarized myself with the service, its current state, and the team's objectives.
Collaborating with the Content Designer and User Researcher, I incorporated insights and best-practice design principles into the Round 2 prototype. After completing the second round of testing, I made the final changes to the design before the developer handover.
Finally, I documented the updated user flow and presented the final designs to the team for handover. The designs were approved, added to the production backlog, and successfully rolled out two months later.
Process
Getting up to speed
I started my involvement in the project by meeting with the UCD team to gain a clear understanding of the service. I then reviewed Confluence pages and journey maps to better grasp the intersections between the various services. To consolidate this information, I created a whiteboard document summarizing the key points for easy reference.
Understanding the solution
The solution introduced a recovery journey starting with the user's ID number and date of birth. This allowed the user or their helper to update their email and phone number, followed by an automated verification process involving a face scan, ID scan, and passport photo upload. These security measures ensured account protection.
Upon passing the checks, the user regained access to their account automatically, removing the need for manual intervention by a caseworker. If the user failed the security checks, they could still opt for the offline recovery process by contacting a caseworker.
Iteration
Taking insights from the first round of research, I worked with the Content Designer to:
Clarify the ID requirement for the user
Include breakpoint dependent messaging to differentiate desktop and mobile messaging
Specify what will happen to the user's old email address and phone numbers once they submit a new ones for recovery
Craft the confirmation and outcome emails for the end user
I implemented these changes using the code based GOV.UK prototyping kit with Visual Studio Code. This allowed me to create a realistic, interactive and accessible prototype.
Handover
For the handover to the development team, I created and annotated a Mural board to accompany the interactive prototype. The board incorporated the user journeys for online account recovery, along with the corresponding screens and call outs to the individual patterns.
Before vs After
Before
After
Impact
On the first day of launch, we received 135 Online Account Recovery requests, with an impressive 121 (90%) successfully processed automatically. Two months later, offline account recovery requests plummeted by 67%.
This significant reduction eased pressure on the customer helpline team, and dramatically improved the user experience for those regaining access to accounts after losing both email and phone number access.