Optimizing withholding

Qualitative research

I conducted user interviews with some users who were active on the app but didn’t withhold. A clear pattern emerged: they didn’t feel comfortable storing their tax money in the app because they couldn’t see it. They explained that in their banking app, for example, their account balance was prominent along with actions to withdraw or deposit funds. They didn’t know where to find the same info/actions in Track’s app and it made them anxious, so they were just using the app like a tax calculator. (Spoiler: the balance was buried in the settings views!)

Present to stakeholders

I discussed my findings with internal stakeholders and proposed showing users’ tax withholding balance prominently on the home view, along with implementation of withdraw/deposit actions. There was slight pushback at first from stakeholders not wanting to encourage money withdrawals (Track earned a profit each time a user submitted their quarterly taxes through the app), but ultimately everyone agreed that it’s preferable to have users potentially withdraw than not withhold tax money in the app at all.

Exploration

I made some wireframes to get my ideas out fast and play around. After choosing a direction, I skipped making a flowchart since there were so few screens and instead used the wireframes to make mid-fidelity screen flows to be used for testing later.

I used the wireframe screen flows to make a clickable prototype in Figma, then I tested the flow internally and with peers.

Results

The design update proved successful with all participants quickly locating their tax withholding balance on the new card at the top of the home view, and most participants quickly locating the associated withdraw/deposit actions. As such, we decided to move forward with the proposed design update.

I created high-fidelity mockups and screen flows in Figma as the final deliverable.

Problem

When I first started working at Track, we implemented a product-wide UI update. Afterwards, there was an influx of users reporting that they’d transferred money by accident; they didn’t realize clicking the “withhold” button in the confirmation dialog shown in the withholding flow meant money would be moved from their bank account into the app for taxes, and they wanted their money back.

My role

Find out what users think the withhold button does, or what “withhold” means in general, then find a way to make it clear that “withholding” means saving money for taxes, and that performing this action will transfer users’ money into the app.

Qualitative research

I conducted user interviews with some of the users that had reported accidentally withholding money in the app. The biggest insight gained was that users said the experience didn’t look like they were “making a payment.” They understood what “withhold” meant, but assumed clicking the “withhold” button was maybe flagging or labeling a certain payment they received as still owing taxes. They just weren’t sure what it did. This was despite the dialog having some copy explaining that a money transfer would occur.

Present to stakeholders

I discussed my findings with internal stakeholders and proposed my solution:

1. Redesign the withholding confirmation dialog to look and feel more like a payment flow/view which is a well-known design pattern. This way, users could immediately understand the nature of the action simply by scanning the screen, rather than having to read a written explanation.

2. Implement a “cancel transfer” action so that users can quickly undo a transfer themselves if needed, rather than having to contact support. This item was already in our backlog and we decided this was a good time to tackle it.

Exploration

I made some wireframes to get my ideas out fast and play around. After choosing a direction, I made a flowchart so I could document all states and scenarios for reference when creating the views later.

I fleshed out my wireframes to create mid-fidelity screen flows, then used those to make a clickable prototype in Figma. I presented the prototype to internal stakeholders.

Results & takeaway

Stakeholders found the design update to be clear in its intention to transfer money, and found the new option to cancel a pending transfer to be easily accessible. Because they were concerned with fixing this issue ASAP, it was decided that we’d move forward with implementing the new design.

I created high-fidelity mockups and screen flows in Figma as the final deliverable.

I worked directly with the developers to implement my designs, then helped QA before pushing to production.