Tax exemption feature

Reduce cost-to-serve by enabling B2B customers to view, renew and be notified of changes to their exemptions.

Client: Univar Solutions, Manage workstream

Role: UX research, UX design

Status: Design work completed Summer 2023, not launched due to reorganization after company acquisition

Project Overview

Background

Univar Solutions operates as a global B2B distributor specializing in regulated products. The majority of its clientele comprises tax-exempt entities, necessitating careful management of tax exemption statuses.

To qualify for tax exemption, businesses must furnish valid certificates for each ship-to address where tax-free goods are received. Traditionally, tax exemptions are established during the onboarding process and subsequently updated manually as necessary.

In response to customer feedback citing onboarding complexities, Univar Solutions has undertaken initiatives to streamline the process, introducing features for progressive onboarding.

Problem

Managing exemptions poses a considerable challenge, particularly for multi-location corporate accounts. Currently, customers are reliant on customer service channels to confirm exemption statuses, kickstart renewals, or request new exemptions. A notable challenge arises when customers inadvertently place orders without awareness of expired certificates, necessitating CSRs to process refunds for taxes collected. These activities not only strain customer service resources but also emerge as substantial contributors to the overall cost-to-serve, as reported by the customer service organization.

Hypothesis

Implementing customer self-service capabilities along with proactive notifications for tax exemptions will alleviate the burden on CSRs and consequently lead to a reduction in the cost-to-serve, aligning with the primary business objective of Univar Solutions' digital team.

Moreover, this initiative is expected to support the company's aim of fostering a progressive onboarding experience for its clientele.

Discover

Extensive secondary research was carried out to understand the intricacies of tax exemptions. This was followed by comparative analysis of Amazon Business, Home Depot and Walmarts tax exemption flows. Finally, I interviewed members of the CSR organization and the Tax team to understand the current process and needs.

Define

We reviewed the findings as a cross functional team, including a product manager, product owner, business analyst, and engineers. From there we identified our direction and a list of self service features.

  • A tax exemption dashboard to view exemptions and their statuses

  • An upload feature, to add or renew exemptions

  • An enhancement to checkout, communicating exemption status and allowing customers to add/renew during checkout