Reimagining the upsell flows to guide customers better in choosing the right TurboTax DIY products.
⚠️ This project is partially shipped, so this page does not reflect everything I worked on—If you're a hiring manager, please contact me for the complete portfolio walkthrough :)
User story
I am a TurboTax user who is trying to file my taxes - but I keep getting asked to pay more for my return which makes me feel confused and frustrated.
THE PROBLEM
We received a higher number of calls from users complaining about TurboTax’s product pricing and upsell screens than usual, and a higher drop-off rate from users when faced with upsell.
More users chose the wrong TurboTax product for their tax situation in 2022.
Multiple upsells (1 soft + 1< hard upsell) is caused by choosing an incorrect product. And 45% of users who experience multiple upsells abandon their TurboTax return. That’s close to 150,000 users in 2022.
Multiple upsells (1 soft + 1< hard upsell) is caused by choosing an incorrect product. And 45% of users who experience multiple upsells abandon their TurboTax return. That’s close to 150,000 users in 2022.
Goals, HMW
SOLUTION
✦ Soft Upsell Reimagined; HMC Tool
✅ The upsell experience is wrapped with an in-app help-me-choose (HMC) interface to create a relevant upsell offering to the users
✅ A personalized and clear upsell message to better communicate why the users need to upgrade and the benefits of upgrading
✅ Designed for scalability to accommodate changing business needs!
✅ A personalized and clear upsell message to better communicate why the users need to upgrade and the benefits of upgrading
✅ Designed for scalability to accommodate changing business needs!
PROCESS OVERVIEW
TERMINOLOGY
✦ Soft upsell vs hard upsell ✦
Soft upsell recommends the proper TurboTax product based on the user's at tax situation and is skippable. When the user skips the soft upsell, they will likely experience hard upsell at some point in their filing process. Hard upsell must be taken in order to continue and file the user's tax return.
Interact with the modal to see the current TurboTax DIY user flow!
Interact with the modal to see the current TurboTax DIY user flow!
❗️Interactive user flow is currently only available on desktop view. Sorry!
FINDNGS
Users don’t understand the differences between TurboTax products. They also don’t understand why they have to upgrade.
Essentially, when the users fill in forms that are not covered by their chosen TurboTax product, an upsell flow will be triggered.
More than half of our new users start TurboTax Free. TurboTax Free only covers simple tax situation and isn’t suitable for most users. Multiple upsells happen the most on this product line.
The majority of returning users start with the product they used in the previous year, but TurboTax changed their product offerings in 2022 and most users were not aware of it.
PAINPOINTS
✦ Minimum guidance in product-choosing
and cognitive overload✦
While the expandable cards explain the perks and benefits of each product, the explanations are long, hard to understand, and visually confusing on mobile interface. On top of that, users mostly care about perks and benefits that directly align with their needs, and this information is not highlighted properly.
✦ Weak soft upsell messaging ✦
The soft upsell that is supposed to lead the users to the correct product based on their tax situations looks similar to the promotional ad UI within the TurboTax app, causing users to often disregard them.
✦ Unclear messaging✦
1. Unarticulated reasons why users need to upgrade
As seen from the upsell screen, users are just essentially told to upgrade without being explained why.
2. "Most popular" tag
Users have different tax situations that are covered by different TurboTax products, yet the highlighted product is not customized to the user's needs which can lead them into multiple upsell flows later on.
As seen from the upsell screen, users are just essentially told to upgrade without being explained why.
2. "Most popular" tag
Users have different tax situations that are covered by different TurboTax products, yet the highlighted product is not customized to the user's needs which can lead them into multiple upsell flows later on.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Guiding users early and closely
We should be guiding the users as early as possible to rightsize them to the right product.
We should be guiding the users as early as possible to rightsize them to the right product.
Transparency builds trust
Users should have a clear expectations of how our upsells work and help them make an educated decision.
Users should have a clear expectations of how our upsells work and help them make an educated decision.
Simplicity at its best
It is imperative for us that we educate users about our product offerings without overwhelming them.
It is imperative for us that we educate users about our product offerings without overwhelming them.
Solution explorations
The first two explorations are protected under NDA, so I will be focusing on the exploration of Help-me-choose tool. Contact me for full portfolio showings!
First iteration
“What if we present the upsell experience in the onboarding process? Like an online test format, like a personality test?”
Streamlining the initial product-choosing experience and the upsell flow into the in-product help-me-choose (HMC) tool.
THE CHALLENGEs
✦ The IKEA Effect ✦
While enforcing a single hard upsell seemed intuitive for us to do at this moment, (instead of the current soft upsell → hard upsell), the IKEA effect seems to take place based on our user observation: users are more likely to file when they are faced with the hard upsell screen after completing several forms upon skipping the soft upsell.
✦ Visual indicators and written explanations ✦
More than 50% of our user testing participants said that the visual indicators and busy texts explaining why they need to upgrade are too distracting. Some of them go as far as clearing the input field to avoid the visual indicators, putting them at risk for tax evasion.
✦ New users need to choose a product before they create an account ✦
The unguided product choosing experience shown above is a result of the technical restraints that our designers had to work with in the past.
IMPROVEMENTs
✦ Early Guidance with HMC tool✦
✔️ Users automatically start free - reducing decision-making for users
✔️ Collapsible summary to avoid visual and cognitive overload
✔️ Dynamic product cards to accommodate product changes
✔️ Allowing people to experience the app value before paying
✔️ Collapsible summary to avoid visual and cognitive overload
✔️ Dynamic product cards to accommodate product changes
✔️ Allowing people to experience the app value before paying
✦ Recommendation Highlight ✦
✔️ Empowering users with more options; agency
✔️ Stronger and clearer recommendation messaging
✔️ Stronger and clearer recommendation messaging
✦ 👁_👁 ✦
This section of the project is still protected under an NDA. Contact me for the full case study presentation :)
NEXT STEPS
✦ This product is shipped!✦
Many improvements were made since I left Intuit, but the concept we worked on was shipped and is live in the product now.
✦ Designing for user behaviors✦
In our Follow Me Home (user observation) session, we noticed that users removed certain items from their claims in hopes of getting further price reduction and filed without claiming. This action will result in inaccurate tax filing, and is in need of intervention that can be done in the future.
THANKS FOR READING!
This work is only partially displayed due to NDA. Please refer to this link if you have the password from my resume.
Or you can also contact me through email, LinkedIn, or X if you are interested to learn more about it.
Or you can also contact me through email, LinkedIn, or X if you are interested to learn more about it.
BACKGROUND
In the summer of 2022, I worked as a Product Design intern at Intuit where me and my team work collectively to improve the experience of using TurboTax Core product line, focusing mainly on the Canadian mobile product experience. Scroll down to read about what I've worked on and what I learned from it!
OVERVIEW
In this internship, I was involved in:
Creating a smoother in-app experience to advocate for optimal user control and reduce user error
End-to-end design process including competitor analysis, design facilitations, and wireframing to solve user and business problems
Lots of fun in building professional and personal relationships!
and more!
KEY LEARNINGS
My internship experience catalyzes both my personal and professional growth due to its challenging nature. While I wished I could spend more time to create and learn with the TurboTax team, my short but sweet internship semester taught me a lot more than I could ever expect. Here are the highlights of my semester at Intuit:
✦ Go crazy! (within constraints) ✦
At a complex organization like Intuit, I had to work within the constraints of the design system. Especially as an intern, I had to adapt to this and constantly reiterate, making sure that I adhere to the product's "design language". I learned how to explore deep and wide while not breaking the existing product experience.
Of course, a lot of my explorations ended up being tossed out right to archive because they stepped outside the business scope. But that's okay! That's how I learned the most about the business cycle of an established company. This also taught me how to be holistic in my design thinking because not only I design for the users, but I also design for the business.
Of course, a lot of my explorations ended up being tossed out right to archive because they stepped outside the business scope. But that's okay! That's how I learned the most about the business cycle of an established company. This also taught me how to be holistic in my design thinking because not only I design for the users, but I also design for the business.
✦ Prototype without permission ✦
This is a value that is practiced highly within Intuit. As a designer, I learn that the best way to communicate my ideas is by visually demonstrating it! Prototyping early also jump starts conversation, showing a proactiveness within the team.
✦ Design critiques are professional, not personal! ✦
While design critiques is an important part of a design process, I have to admit that I used to struggle with accepting critiques. Being used to design as an individual, I tied myself to my designs quite often, resulting in me taking criticism as a personal attack. At Intuit, I worked collaboratively with people from different functions to achieve one common set of goals. This was how I learned that design critiques are not personal, but it is simply for the sake of everyone involved in the project, including the users.