EMPOWERING INVESTORS AT TAX TIME
When Hatch Invest first launched, share market investing was new for most New Zealanders. Investors were excited to buy and sell shares but often unaware of the tax rules that applied. Tax confusion created stress for customers and heavy support loads for the team.
As Product Designer and tax subject-matter expert, I co-led work with the new Product Owner to make complex tax obligations understandable, approachable, and ultimately self-managed inside the product.
Over two tax years we transformed Hatch Invest's tax experience:
in the first year by, educating investors with clear, plain-language guidance both in and outside the app,
in the second year by, embedding those learnings into the newly refreshed in-app reporting system that gave users real-time visibility of their tax position.
COMPANY
KEY ACTIVITIES
Customer Research, UX/UI Design, Content Strategy, Project Management, Product Discovery, Workshop Facilitation, Continuous Iteration with Cross-Functional Teams
INDUSTRY
FinTech | Retail Investing | B2C
DELIVERABLES
Educational Content and Tax Guides, Interactive Quiz, Email and in-app Communication Plan, Redesigned Tax Reports page, FIF (Foreign Investment Fund) Report, UX Flows and Research Artefacts
Problem Landscape
Hatch operated as an early-stage startup during the rise of retail investing. Tax quickly became both a pain point and an opportunity to stand out in the competitive market through clarity and education.
• EARLY-DAYS FOR RETAIL INVESTORS
Thousands of first-time investors were joining Hatch, some with limited financial literacy. Some of the influx being driven by the GameStop movement.
• TAX INFORMATION INACCESSIBILITY
Historically, tax rules and legislation was left to the accountants and institutional brokers both to interpret and relay. With customers investing in the US share markets both NZ and US tax rules apply.
• OPERATIONAL STRAIN
Customer Success inboxes filled with tax questions every tax year. We didn't have a dedicated tax resource to support us.
• LIMITATIONS IN TAX CONVERSATIONS
The team had to educate and communicate with customers without providing formal “tax advice,” requiring carefully balanced language.
Approach
Year 1 - Educating Investors
In the first year, the goal was to help investors understand the tax rules and recognise which applied to them, so they would feel less intimidated by tax season. We delivered four long-form tax guides to the new Learn Hub, an MVP Foreign Investment Funds (FIF) report and an In-app Tax Quiz to help self-determine their tax situation.
• DECODED LEGISLATION
Read and reframed the Income Tax Act 2007 to create a simple flow chart explaining NZ tax obligations and when they apply (see below).
• FUNDAMENTAL USER RESEARCH
The flow chart helped us understand the "tax personas", we conducted research with each of the four groups to get their baseline understanding of tax obligations and their confidence.
• SOPHISTOCATED COMMUNICATION PLAN
• DELIVERED UNDER PRESSURE
Completed all deliverable and validated understandability with investors, within two months before tax year end, improving confidence and thought leadership in the market (top-three ranking for “FIF Tax NZ” on Google).
Year 2 - Empowering Investors
Building on the learnings from the previous year, we redesigned the In-app Tax Reporting experience so investors could view and manage their tax position directly and all-year-round.
• RETROSPECTIVE RESEARCH
We conducted surveys and interviews to understand how our four tax personas went at tax time after our first wave of solutions to understand the iterations required and gaps still remaining.
• POLISHED THE FIF TAX REPORT
Having received clear feedback from our Foreign Investment Fund (FIF) report buyers in the first year, we added commentary on how to interpret the results and added Hatch-branded layout.
• TAX REPORTING HUB
• VALIDATED THROUGH TESTING
The Tax Reports hub went through three rounds of both external customer testing as well as internal design critique to ensure alignment with our design principles and comprehension by our tax persona groups.
What Shipped & Why it Matters
The two-year effort shifted Hatch’s tax experience from reactive help to proactive empowerment.
• INCREASED CONFIDENCE
After the second year we conducted retrospective research to understand investor sentiment on tax and obligations. They self-reported confidence in understanding at a glance whether they had obligations and what to do next.
• AUTHORITY IN THE MARKET
Educational content positioned Hatch as a trusted source on tax, outperforming competitors in SEO. We used the popularity of the Learn Hub to launch additional thought leadership content.
• CUSTOMER SUCCESS... SUCCESS!
Customer Success saw fewer inbound questions during tax season. They were also able to confidently address any arising questions because the tax content doubled as internal knowledge artefacts.
• REVENUE GROWTH
FIF report sales increased 768% from the first to the second year. Showing continued value for Hatch's FIF reporting service. Helping solidify our market position as THE retail investing app for the US share market.
