Introduction & Project Overview

Sending international couriers often involves uncertainty beyond delivery time and cost. One of the most common pain points is the unexpected taxes charged at the destination country commonly experienced by users as “tax shock.” These charges are often revealed only when the recipient collects the parcel, creating anxiety and frustration for both senders and recipients.

Sardonyx Air Express is a courier service company with over 30 years of experience, offering local and international shipping through global partners such as DHL, Aramex, and UPS. While this network enables wide reach, it also introduces complexity around customs duties that are not always predictable at the time of shipment.

This UX research project explored how customers experience cost uncertainty when sending international couriers through Sardonyx and how better expectation-setting could reduce anxiety around destination-country taxes.

Problem Context

Customers sending international couriers through Sardonyx Air Express are informed of the courier charge at shipment, but additional costs like customs duties and taxes are often revealed only when the parcel arrives. This creates unexpected financial surprises for recipients and anxiety for senders.

The issue is not the taxes themselves, but the lack of clear information beforehand. Customers reported feeling unprepared, stressed, and less confident in the courier process.

A Problem Canvas was used to summarize the challenge:

Research Goals and Approach

Following the problem framing, the research aimed to understand how Sardonyx customers experience international shipping costs, identify moments of anxiety, and explore opportunities to reduce uncertainty. The focus was on uncovering both qualitative insights about user behavior and emotions, and quantitative data to validate patterns and preferences.

Research Goals

• Understand how customers currently estimate international courier costs.

• Identify moments of uncertainty and stress during the sending process.

• Explore what information would increase confidence and reduce anxiety.

• Validate which features or tools users would prefer to manage cost expectations.
  
  
  

Mixed-Method Approach

A mixed-methods approach was selected to combine depth and validation. This design allows exploration of initial questions and the development of hypotheses through qualitative research, followed by quantitative data to test or confirm those findings.

Qualitative Research

Why interviews?

To explore user experiences, emotions, and decision-making in real time, five customers were interviewed while sending parcels at Sardonyx offices. Using a semi-structured interview guide, observations and notes were captured to understand how users navigate the shipping process, what information they look for, and how uncertainty around destination-country taxes affects their confidence and decision-making.

Interview Timing and Context

Customer interviews were conducted at the Sardonyx office on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. This time window was intentionally selected as it is the busiest period for international parcel drop-offs, based on Google business activity data and on-site observation. Conducting interviews during peak hours allowed conversations to happen in a real sending context, capturing user concerns and decision-making as they prepared their parcels.

What works

What doesn’t work

Key takeaway

Customers consistently expressed strong trust in Sardonyx due to its reliable service, straightforward shipping process, and dependable parcel tracking. Long-term usage, timely deliveries, and careful packaging contribute to a positive overall experience and encourage customers to continue using premium courier options like DHL.

However, this confidence weakens when it comes to cost transparency. Unpredictable destination-country taxes create anxiety, force customers to rely on calls and workarounds, and sometimes discourage them from sending international parcels. Improving upfront visibility into total costs can help close this expectation gap and maintain trust throughout the entire shipping journey.

Quantitative research

Why surveys?

To validate the patterns observed in the interviews, a survey was conducted with six long-term customers who frequently send international parcels through Sardonyx. The online survey collected quantitative data on users’ pain points, preferences, and expectations around shipping costs and destination-country taxes. This helped confirm recurring challenges and prioritize features for a potential cost estimation solution.

Key takeaways

1. Cost uncertainty affects almost every international sender

100% of survey respondents reported paying more than expected at least once, and 67% experienced this many times. Even frequent senders lack confidence about final costs, showing that uncertainty is a systemic issue rather than a one-time mistake.

2. Taxes, not shipping, are the biggest source of anxiety

While users are generally comfortable with shipping fees, 100% of respondents identified taxes and duties as unclear, making them the primary cause of frustration and “tax shock” when parcels are received at the destination.

3. Lack of early cost visibility changes user behavior

Due to unclear pricing, 83% of users rely on workarounds such as calling offices or searching online, and 83% reported delaying, avoiding, or second-guessing their shipping decisions. This shows that missing cost transparency directly impacts user confidence and action.

The Core Insight

The research revealed that the main issue was not service quality or trust. Customers consistently trusted Sardonyx, valued its reliability, and preferred fast couriers like DHL. The real problem emerged after committing to send a parcel. Both interviews and survey data showed that users often send international couriers without knowing the full cost their recipients may face. 100% of survey respondents had paid more than expected at least once, with destination-country taxes being the most unclear factor. This lack of visibility caused anxiety, especially when family members were unexpectedly asked to pay taxes during festive or important occasions.

Reasoning approach

An abductive reasoning approach was used to interpret these patterns. Users repeatedly relied on workarounds such as calling the office, searching online, or delaying shipments, not due to confusion but to regain confidence. Rather than treating these behaviors as isolated issues, the research identified the most plausible underlying cause: the absence of upfront cost visibility. This insight reframed the problem from reducing costs to closing the expectation gap through early estimates and clearer comparisons.

Affinity Mapping

After collecting data from interviews and survey responses, an affinity mapping exercise was conducted to synthesize patterns across user feedback. Individual observations, quotes, and behaviors were grouped based on similarity, allowing themes to emerge organically rather than being predefined.

The responses clustered into four key themes:

User persona 

Based on the affinity clusters, a primary user persona was created to represent the most common patterns observed across participants. The persona reflects frequent and occasional international senders who trust Sardonyx but struggle with cost visibility.

User Journey Map

To better understand where anxiety and uncertainty occur in the courier-sending experience, I mapped Nimal’s end-to-end journey when sending a festive parcel to his grandchildren in the UK. This journey highlights not just actions, but emotions, questions, and breakdown points across each stage.

Design Implications

The user journey reveals that trust in Sardonyx remains strong until after the parcel is sent, when unexpected destination-country taxes are revealed. This moment causes the largest emotional drop and overshadows an otherwise reliable service.

To prevent this, the experience must provide early cost visibility before users commit to shipping. Users do not expect exact figures, but they need credible estimates for courier charges and taxes to set expectations.

Reducing reliance on phone calls and informal advice is critical. A self-serve estimation and comparison tool can help users make confident decisions, preserve festive joy, and maintain long-term trust.

Solution Concept

To address the cost uncertainty uncovered in the research, I proposed a Tax and Courier Price Estimation Tool that helps users understand potential costs before sending an international parcel. The goal is not to eliminate taxes, but to reduce anxiety by setting realistic expectations early in the journey.

The tool allows users to enter key details such as parcel contents, weight, destination country, delivery speed, and preferred courier. Based on this information, the system provides an estimated shipping cost and a range of possible destination-country taxes, along with clear explanations for any variations.

By offering early visibility and courier comparisons in one place, the solution replaces phone calls and guesswork with confidence. This helps preserve the emotional value of sending parcels, especially during festive seasons, while reinforcing Sardonyx’s role as a trusted partner throughout the entire shipping experience.

User Testing

To validate the proposed solution, I tested a low-fidelity version of the estimation tool with three Sardonyx customers who regularly send international parcels. The goal was to understand whether the concept reduced uncertainty and supported confident decision-making.

Participants were asked to simulate sending an international parcel by entering parcel details and reviewing estimated courier charges and taxes. Feedback focused on clarity, trust in estimates, and whether the tool reduced the need to call the office. Overall, users responded positively, noting that early cost visibility helped them feel more prepared before sending a parcel.

Updated User Journey

To illustrate how the proposed solution improves the overall experience, I mapped Nimal’s journey after introducing the tax and courier cost estimation tool. This updated journey highlights how early cost visibility reduces uncertainty, builds confidence before payment, and prevents emotional drops after delivery.

What I Learned from This UX Research

• User anxiety often comes from missing information, not poor service

• Strong trust in a brand can still be weakened by cost uncertainty

• Real-time interviews revealed emotions and workarounds surveys alone could not

• Mixed methods helped validate patterns across small sample sizes

• Setting expectations is often more valuable than providing exact accuracy

  
  

What I’d Do Better Next Time?

• Test with a larger, more diverse sample

• Explore seasonal shipping scenarios

• Improve tax estimates by item category

• Test integration with real courier APIs