Michelle McAlister

Personalization and motivating with emotion can make software experiences seem more warm and human-like. I worked to identify and target customer segments for strategic messaging. I then sought ways to recognize who someone is, and acknowledge their accomplishments.

This experience originally led with a complicated tax form name, then reminded the customer they hadn’t started something yet. I repositioned the framing by acknowledging the customer first, then telling them that we’ll help them a little later, taking the burden off them.

Harsh titles followed by an ‘unless you do x…’ don’t bode well for customer confidence. I flipped the burden off the customer and softened the error messaging. I also cleaned up the visual noise by hiding the text entry box dependent on the user’s answer.

Let’s face it: tax laws can be mysterious things, especially when you have to sift through industry jargon. Customers didn’t know how to answer this question. I researched with tax pros and uncovered the real essence behind this question, then moved it to the top. This reframing tested extremely well in usability and stymied customer drop-off rates.

When it comes to money, waiting can be the hardest part. Tasked with deflecting perceived brand blame, I used metaphor to help customers better understand a complex situation: Congressional delays meant tax refunds were also delayed. In usability, customers were able to articulate the situation in their own words and understand what it meant for them.

A vague headline warning something is ‘under construction’ is enough to make a customer ditch your product. I was asked to reimagine the tax form delay experience to cut abandon rates. For research, I brainstormed with a group of TurboTax super users. We targeted personalization, setting next steps, and keeping customers moving forward.

I redesigned the content on this screen to eliminate visual clutter and overbearing question-asking. The goal was to get customers into the product and to answer simple questions so they feel in control and have a high confidence they can tackle their taxes on their own.

Taxy terminology (like ‘Dependent’) doesn’t resonate with average users. Customers speak about their children, or their moms, but not ‘dependents’. I humanized this experience and proposed less intimidating entry fields so early into the product. Do the easy stuff first, and lead users along gently.

Your message framing can make the difference between a user continuing in your product or abandoning. In this experience I concentrated on the positive message—the savings. It’s not a summary a customer cares about, it’s money in their pocket.

Claiming a dependent on a tax return in TurboTax had high customer confusion rates. All of the qualifying criteria was tricky, complicated and modern family situations couldn’t be more diverse these days. I worked with a team of tax experts and product managers to put together a smarter way to ask questions: nesting questions, employing show/hide and creating alternate paths to show the right content at the right time to the right people. This hierarchy of questioning helped reduce contacts in this area.
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