A My Service Canada Account (MSCA) is a secure online portal that gives Canadians access to government services and benefits. It's one of the key pieces of the government services digitalization project.
Users have trouble accomplishing their tasks within My Service Canada Account.
The task success rate of My Service Canada Account (MSCA) is 63% and the satisfaction rate is 65%. Users have reported that this platform is not very user-friendly, it's hard to find things, and it lacks many features they need.
To provide a better user experience in My Service Canada Account (MSCA) through design.
A user journey is essential in design because it helps identify user needs, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.
By mapping the steps users take, designers can create intuitive, efficient experiences that address problems and align with user expectations. It also ensures team alignment, drives innovation, and enhances user satisfaction and retention.
An Exit Survey was implemented and captured user's feedback of the My Service Canada Account.
Based on the survey, we can gain a brief understanding of what drives users to the account, what they are looking for, and what is missing.
Name: My Service Canada Account (MSCA) Exit Survey
Duration - 2023.01 - 2023.11
Population - 5363
The My Service Canada Account provides multitudinous services. The team designed 10 tasks from the 2 main services - Canada Pension Plan (CPP)/Old Age Security(OAS) and Employment Insurance (EI) to understand user behaviours.
Task example:
1. Please imagine that you have recently applied for Employment Insurance, and you would like to know if you’ve been approved to receive payments. Can you please tell me, what is the current status of your application?
The tests are moderated and conducted in both English and French.
Duration - 60 minutes
Population - 13
After analyzing the data from the task survey, the team break down the issues of My Service Canada Account to 2 categories:
Users expect some of the services provide by Service Canada will also be provided in the My Service Canada Account. They felt frustrated not finding the service they're expecting.
There are 100s of link within the My Service Canada Account, and it's hard for users to find the link they're looking for
The analysis team provided following recommendations:
The language is not clear, confusing participants and increasing the need to backtrack. Update the language to be as descriptive and as simple as possible.
Reusing call to actions for different benefits causes uncertainty for the user. Consider separating their navigation, or using an all-encompassing title.
Important information should be immediately visible on the screen to avoid being missed by users.
Important links are not noticed by users, consider using Canada.ca hyperlink styles to differentiate links.
Based on the study, the team developed the information architecture, low-fidelity concepts, and high-resolution prototypes. The design prototype underwent five rounds of testing to finalize MVP 1.
The team delivered a newly designed panel with personalized push content. It will also display the status of benefits and some information that users want to see at first glance.
Over four rounds of moderated user tests, participants were assigned specific tasks to complete within the designed prototype. By analyzing test results and making iterative design adjustments, the final design for MVP 1 was confirmed.
Executive summary of user test - round 3
Although the new My Service Canada Account Dashboard design was approved, it cannot be implemented at this stage due to policy changes and technological updates.
On the other hand, more and more benefits and Service Canada services are joining the My Service Canada Account. We need to deliver a solution that can not only be implemented but also be sustainable.
In order to launch the product within the timeline, we made some adjustment on the design without compromising it's main function.
Some feature in the MVP 1 will be moved to the next release.
The My Service Canada Account Dashboard (MSCA-D) MVP 2 design underwent two rounds of scripted user testing. Results show that the new design reduces user task completion time and improves the success rate of assigned tasks.
The My Service Canada Account (MSCA) beta version (MVP 2) was released on December 27, 2023. Since then, more than 500,000 unique users have visited, and more than 1,000 users provided feedback to inform further improvements.
The MSCA-D beta is a parallel version of the MSCA without actual user data. The purpose of the beta version is to allow users to experience the new version in advance without integrating user data, enabling the collection of user feedback via the exit survey.
The feedback shows that the beta version improve the user experience by making it easier to navigate the dashboard and access services.
The My Service Canada Account (MSCA) dashboard was updated in September 2024 with a new, more user-friendly design. The update included a simpler registration process and a clearer layout.
More than 5.6 million Canadians have a My Service Canada Account (MSCA), the new design has a significant improvement comparing to the previous design.
In the meantime, new benefit programs are onboarding to the new MSCA dashboard, providing easy access to Canadians.
New My Service Canada Account Dashboard
The ultimate goals of the project are users have easy access to benefit information, allowing them to successfully self-serve while enjoying a seamless experience.
Providing a user friendly and personalization dashboard is the first step.
The My Service Canada Account Dashboard (MSCA-D) released in September 2024, the team is excited to integrate data and leverage it to make more informed design decisions.
Check it out on the Service Canada Lab - New dashboard for My Service Canada Account