Some teams who want to send letters can’t use our templates, or submit PDFs using our API

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Two main reasons people can’t use our templates:

• formatting
• record keeping

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Started with the assumption that we could expand the ‘precompiled PDF‘ feature of the API to teams who aren’t integrated with the API. The main reason teams want to use precompiled is formatting options. For users who aren’t using the API not using template/generating letters in Notify is as much about record keeping/case management.

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First prototype

This prototype explored the idea of a blank template into which the user uploads their letter. We wanted to see if we could shoehorn this new thing into Notify without having to invent new concepts:

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Second prototype

This prototype explored whether it made sense to start with ‘sending a file’, and then having the choice of how to send it (by post or by email).

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Third prototype

Gives users a way of making a batch of things that they control when to send.

Uploading a contact list

This page is a stub to test whether this proposed feature would fit in with uploading letters.

Uploading a single letter

Uploading one file containing multiple letters

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We did some usability testing of prototype 3 with people in the building. We decided to make 3 changes where people were getting confused, but without changing the proposition of the feature. We hope that this will give us a better fee

1. Simplify the layout of the ‘upload’ pages

Users were missing the ‘all your letters in one file’ link. We reckon we can make it more obvious by having less things on the page and moving the link alongside the button.

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2. Add a confirmation message to the ‘sent’ page

It wasn’t initially clear to some users that their letters would now be sent once they reached this stage. We copied the same confirmation message from the real flow where users send letters by uploading a spreadsheet of recipients.

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3. Play back the address from each letter

This addresses two areas of confusion.

Users don’t know where Notify will the letter will be sent

People don’t infer that because the address is printed on the letter that the envelope will be windowed. So they start wondering how Notify is going to know where to send the letters. And they start thinking that maybe the ‘contact list’ thing they say before is what they need to do next. We think that playing back the addresses will help people understand that Notify does ‘know’ already where to send the letters.

It’s possible to upload a single file with many letters and for it to look like it’s working

Because the file uploaded and didn’t have any errors it looked like Notify would send each of the letters in the file. In reality it would have sent all of the letters in one envelope (very bad news). We think that playing back the address of who the letter is being sent to will help people understand that they would be making a mistake here.

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