AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL
A new IRS form created a tangled web of if/then scenarios in our app. I worked across product, design, subject-matter experts, and compliance to turn the messy logic into a simple, clear instruction.
The problem
For the 2022 tax year, the IRS introduced a new Form W4-R. It needed to be submitted each time a client changed something called a “federal withholding standing election rate.” That rate can be updated to apply to all situations, or it can be changed as part of a money transfer. This led to many conditional if/then paths and behind-the-scenes processes, with a lot of potential for confusion. Challenge accepted.
What I did
I spent many hours with the product owner, designer, and subject-matter expert to identify the requirements and cut through the legalese and technical jargon. We reduced the word count and refined the language, going through many iterations. We ended up with a series of helpful alerts, tooltips, and error messages that clearly and succinctly explained to clients what happened and what they could do next.
The result
The new user experience shipped in the Ameriprise mobile app, covering multiple potential scenarios, using conditional logic, clear options, and fallback states. For example…
Success message after submission.
