Simplifying the payroll setup experience
How can we simplify the payroll setup process and direct users to key pay-offs?
Company
Intuit QuickBooks
Timeline
3 months
Role
Product Designer, Content Designer
Outcome
Our customer-backed designs lessened cognitive load, improved visual hierarchy, and confidently drove 100% of users across 3 geographies towards intended payoffs. Developed a new, scalable framework for our design system.
Summary
For small businesses, running payroll for their first employees can be daunting. Once users bought QuickBooks Payroll or added payroll to their existing QuickBooks accounts, they immediately wanted to run payroll for their team. However, they first had to set up payroll, which can be a long, confusing, and overwhelming process.
Research
30 moderated interviews
What's the user's primary goal? Secondary? What's their mental model? How do these goals change with each SKU and geography?
Language audit
Initiated and conducted a QuickBooks Time functionality language audit to ensure end-to-end consistency as we bridge the gap between two distinct products.
Internal cross-functional goals
How do we need to surface QuickBooks Time? Does moving CTAs beneath am accordion reduce benefit conversion?
Accessibility
How can we best communicate completion and incompletion? What accessibility gaps currently exist within the QuickBooks Time onboarding experience?
Before
Text heavy
No clear path to pay-off
High cognitive load
+9 tasks
After
Clear path to pay-off
Reduced cognitive load
2-4 tasks per group
Outcome
Lessened the cognitive load of payroll setup by:
Improving visual hierarchy
Creating concise, value-driven content
Tailoring the experience for each distinct customer segment
Thus, confidently driving users towards key payoffs and reducing time needed for task completion. Additionally, we developed a new, scalable framework for our company-wide design system.