Our Brand Refresh Journey: Conversations With Customers
Thankyou Payroll’s UX Designer Tom, explains how conversations with our customers became the foundations on which our refreshed identity would stand on.
Welcome to the second blog in our refresh series – we’re taking you on a journey through the evolution of Thankyou Payroll’s look and feel.
If you’re new to this series, make sure to check out blog number one, where our CEO David explains why we started this journey in the first place.
To get this project off the ground, we needed to start from the outside, in.
We wanted to learn more about what Thankyou Payroll meant to our customers – both the good and the not so good. Our aim was to freshen the look and feel of Thankyou Payroll, without losing the elements you value most about us.
Here’s Tom, our UX Designer, with everything you told us.
Tom Bond, UX Designer at Thankyou Payroll
A conversation with you
Having worked with Thankyou Payroll for the last 10 years, I know that there’s always something to be learnt from our customers. That’s why we started this project with you – the people who keep the cogs on Thankyou Payroll turning.
We wanted to understand your needs and priorities, rather than make assumptions about what you wanted.
Through a combination of our 2021 Customer Happiness Survey, and a bunch of insightful one-on-one conversations, we were able to uncover your thoughts on Thankyou Payroll, payroll in general, and what you expect from us.
These insights, alongside our own company goals, set out the boundaries for this work.
What you told us
Awareness
Kiwi business owners don’t have the time to research payroll software, so awareness of their payroll options is generally quite low. There’s an opportunity and a need for us to stand out from the crowd and demystify the process of payroll in NZ – for all Kiwis.
Connection
Building lasting connections is central to who we are – and it’s why our customers choose to stick by our side. The relationships we form with our customers are not simply transactional – we’re building a community of like-minded, purpose-driven businesses.
Personal
Our Customer Success Team is the driver of our identity. In a world shifting towards automation and AI, our customers value the human touch of our service, more than anything else. This is something that we mustn’t lose on our journey to grow and modernise.
Leadership
Our customers trust us – and they want to learn more from us. As experts in NZ payroll, there’s a desire for us to take on a more prominent leadership role – passing on our expertise to support business owners with the complexities of payroll and payroll legislation.
There’s also a gap to fill as advocates in the social enterprise space. We have a unique opportunity to tell our story, and the stories of the Thankyou Payroll community, louder – inspiring better business in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Safety
The kiwi nature of our business and the transparency we provide is what builds trust within our customers. This trust can be enhanced by centring professionalism and maturity in our communications. Our current look and feel restricts this somewhat, due to a lack of cohesion and consistency in the way we communicate and present ourselves to you.
Simplicity
Our customers value simplicity in design, communication, and processes. While our communications have always been dense with helpful information, this isn’t easily digestible for some.
Evolution, not a revolution
These themes confirmed to us that this project wasn’t a do-over.
A lot of what our customers were seeking already lay within Thankyou Payroll – it was just a matter of bringing these qualities to the forefront.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog in this series, where you’ll see how these conversations informed the direction of our refresh project and the discovery of our identity.