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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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