Redesigning a customer account portal for a Housing Association
Challenge
Understand the jobs customers are trying to complete when they contact the Housing association & experience with online account portal
Action
Led research, data analysis, and usability testing to uncover reaspns for contact, barriers to online services and designed improved user flows using the existing design system.
Outcome
Delivered validated wireframes and user insights to inform a more accessible, task-focused portal experience & improved multi channel service
Client | Wheatley Group
Role | Lead User Researcher
Team | Project Manager / Consultant UX Designer / Content Designer
Duration | September 2022 - March 2023
All images are either royalty free stock or examples images. No imagery is from project work to protect privacy
01_Context & Challenge
Scotland’s largest Housing Association aimed to improve its digital customer portal to encourage more tenants to complete key tasks online, such as paying rent and reporting repairs. The organisation favoured the call-centre channel and lacked insight into why many customers preferred online channels.
My role was to lead user research and design activities to identify barriers to digital adoption and help shape a more user-friendly, accessible portal.
The challenges were:
An existing out-of-the-box solution that had little room to be improved on
Limited data on current usage volumes and customer behaviour
No interest in re-platforming on-line portal
No desire to promote digital channels properly
Resistance to integrating digital solutions with the call-centre
02_Process Highlights
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Conducted a heuristic review of the online portal to identify usability gaps and areas for deeper research.
Led 20 user interviews with tenants from varied demographics, exploring:
Reasons for contacting the Housing Association.
Digital literacy levels.
Experiences and perceptions of the customer portal.
Distributed a survey to gather quantitative insights on:
Portal usage patterns.
Barriers to adoption (trust, usability, digital skills).
Desired improvements.
Analysed usage data, uncovering:
High abandonment rates during rent payment.
Low engagement with repair-reporting tools.
Drop-off points within the repair-reporting journey.
Key Insights:
Low trust in both the digital portal and the Housing Association, particularly around repairs.
Users found key journeys unintuitive and lacked clear online support pathways.
Tenants expressed a desire for flexible digital options to suit their schedules.
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Worked with Executive management team to uncover areas of customer behaviour they wanted to explore through use research
Created different structured insight reports to connect with differing stakeholders (e.g EMT, Head of Call Centre, Call centre personnel)
Brought different stakeholders into user research sessions to give them first-hand insight into customer opinion.
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Created wireframes for critical journeys (e.g., paying rent, reporting repairs) using the Housing Association’s vendor-supplied design system.
Streamlined task flows to reduce cognitive load, improve form clarity, and surface support touchpoints more prominently.
Conducted usability testing with target users to validate design decisions, which confirmed increased ease of navigation and stronger confidence in completing key tasks.
Conducted A/B testing of new solution using GDS patterns to provide evidence for future development of online services into this framework
03_Major Contributions & Artefacts
Research plans & testing scripts
Purpose | Developed a structured research plan and discussion guides for interviews, surveys, and usability testing, ensuring consistency across participant touchpoints.
Impact | Enabled efficient and focused research activities, helping uncover both qualitative and quantitative barriers to digital adoption.
Research plan template
Research Insights Report
Purpose | Synthesised research findings and analytics into actionable recommendations for UX improvements and broader channel strategy.
Impact | Helped the organisation understand customers wanted a blend of offline and online solutions and identified opportunities to shift them to self-service.
Some highlights from the research study
UX/UI Design (Vendor design system)
Purpose | Redesign high-priority tasks (rent payment, repair reporting) with a focus on reducing friction points and aligning with user mental models
Impact | Usability testing confirmed that users found the new designs clearer, easier to navigate, and more trustworthy
*Unfortunately due to Privacy, I am unable to share any of the designs* 😢😐💅🏽
04_Pre-launch outcomes
Delivered validated wireframes and research-backed recommendations to support both the portal redesign and a potential multichannel strategy shift.
Enabled internal teams to make more informed decisions about supporting call centre demand by improving digital service design.
Note: Project postponed due to internal budget reallocation.
05_Reflection & next steps
What worked:
Combining qualitative research with usage data created a robust understanding of both user behaviour and service pain points
Designing within the vendor’s design system enabled rapid iteration while maintaining brand consistency.
Next steps:
Future work could focus more on co-design with digitally hesitant users and further develop offline-to-online transition strategies.
Greater understanding of how digital solutions will help both internal and external users
Holistic review to digital solutions to align with user’s online experiences.
06_Key takeaway
This project demonstrated how deep research can uncover the true motivations of customers for contacting an organisation, and how a blended approach of online and offline channels can serve customer and staff needs