Tax Optimiser
Tax Optimiser is a comprehensive solution that helps income tax payers save taxes and increase their in-hand income. It provides personalized tax savings recommendations and financial insights. It ensures that individuals can take full advantage of available deductions and credits, ultimately helping them keep more of their hard-earned money while staying compliant with tax regulations.
Company
ClearTax
My Role
UI & UX Design
Platform
Desktop & mWeb
Duration
Oct - Nov 2022
The Team: Shibu Ponnan (PD), John Antony (Motion Designer), Vinish Varghese (Design Head), Anurup Mishra (PM), , Harshith (FE), Thanushree (FE), Lakshay (BE)
TARGET MARKET
Indian income-tax payers who lose money by not effectively planning their taxes.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Many income taxpayers struggle to minimize their tax burden due to a lack of awareness and understanding of available deductions and credits. This results in higher tax payments and lower take-home income.
Taxpayers are unaware of legal tax-saving opportunities.
Individuals fail to maximize deductions and credits.
Inefficient tax planning leads to reduced savings and disposable income.
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
Competitive Edge
Gain a competitive advantage for Cleartax's Tax filing platform with an integrated tax and financial planning tool.
User Engagement
Boost user engagement with ClearTax by offering a powerful tool to help users plan and save their hard-earned money.
Customer Retention
Enhance customer retention by delivering continuous value through personalized features, timely updates, and exceptional user support.
Revenue Growth
Generate extra income by monetizing the product and promoting investment and lending products through upselling and cross-selling.
DESIGN PROCESS
Research
& Analysis
Market Analysis, User Analysis, Competitors Analysis, etc..
1
Design
Wireframe, High fidelity Design, & Prototype
2
User Testing
Test the prototype with target users for early feedback.
3
Launch & Performance Analysis
Deploy and Analyse the performance metrics.
4
1
Research & Analysis
We conducted mild to extensive research understand the pain points of potential users. Additionally, we collaborated with our in-house CAs (Chartered Accountants) to gain valuable insights into common tax challenges faced by individuals.
Competitive Analysis
Tax2Win:
Lengthy input journey, outdated UI, lacks actionable tax-saving guidance.
ET Money:
Good UI, but it's complex for average users, filled with financial jargon.
FinBingo:
Simple but outdated UI, lacks in-depth insights & recommendations
Key Takeaways
Market Gap
Users need a comprehensive and easy-to-use tax planning tool.
Goal
Build a better, seamless, intuitive, and effective tax optimization experience.
USR PERSONA
Rahul Mehta
Age
32
Occupation
Software Engineer
Location
Bangalore, India
Income
₹28 LPA
Financial Awareness
Low
I want to minimise my income tax and boost my take-home salary.
Background
Works in a fast-paced corporate environment with limited time for tax planning.
Invests in EPF and Mutual Funds, but isn't sure if he's optimising his tax savings.
Needs
Simple and efficient way to maximise tax savings.
Personalized recommendations on where and how to invest for tax benefits
Goals
Reduce taxable income and increase in-hand salary.
Ensure tax compliance while making the most of available deductions.
Pain Points
Finds tax rules confusing and often misses out on benefits.
Unaware of legal tax-saving options.
Lower in-hand salary due to high tax slabs.
Solution
Personalized Tax Saving Recommendations
Provide tailored tax-saving strategies based on individual financial profiles, ensuring users make the most of available deductions and credits.
Comprehensive Financial Guidance
Offer insights into optimal investments, insurance, and loan options, helping users take actionable steps to improve their financial health and maximize in-hand income.
Tax Optimization Simulator
Offer a simulator that allows users to experiment with reshuffling their tax-saving parameters, helping them visualize and optimize their tax strategy effectively.
2
Design
The focus was on a clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interface that builds trust while handling sensitive financial data.
FEATURES TO BE DESIGNED
A landing page highlighting the necessity of tax savings.
Seamless user data collection.
A compelling summary preview to encourage paid recommendations.
Expert financial insights and tax-saving suggestions.
An interactive simulator to customize tax-saving strategies.
HIGH FIDELITY DESIGNS
PROTOTYPE
3
User Testing
Presented the prototype to a select user group and gathered feedback to refine and enhance the product.
FINDINGS
In response to user requirement, we added additional and general financial tips to provide broader guidance.
The first draft of the tax savings simulator featured basic input fields. Based on user feedback, we introduced sliders to enhance interactivity and engagement.
4
Launch & Performance Analysis
Launched it in June 2023 (before the 2023 tax season).
The Tax Optimiser garnered impressive success and received positive feedback from users in the first month itself. We quickly monetized the product in the second month and it started generating a revenue of 50k per week without any marketing effort. We expect an annual revenue of at least 2Cr (with some marketing effort).
This product is currently on hold due to evolving income tax regulations, along with internal bandwidth and prioritization constraints.
CONCLUSION
The product fills a market need by offering a simple, intuitive, and comprehensive tax-saving tool.
Empowers users to save taxes, optimize investments, and make smarter financial decisions.
Boosts user engagement, monetization, and upselling opportunities for financial products.
PRODUCT
DESIGNER