Reducing pre-payment panic in filers while boosting tax pro expertise ratings

With nearly 1.6 million annual average users, the "Approve Online" application is a key to our conversion and retention of clients, both new and returning.

Project goals

Give users insight into how their tax pro got the final numbers so they feel more confident in their pro's skills

Help H&R Block improve their reputation in the eyes of new customers, thus increasing new customer retention rates

Impact

Expertise ratings ⬆️ 1.6 pts

Met expectations ratings ⬆️ 0.5 pts

Showcased to org as example of good UXR 🥰

The problem

Users felt we were holding their personal financial info hostage by requiring payment before they were able to review their full tax returns.

2024 Summary reveal screen (designed in 2021)

Before: Our only outcome summary screen gives users a single number to review and lacked details

As many as 17 screens (and payment) stood between users finding out their return was ready and actually being able to review it.

By putting the full return behind a paywall, we were protecting our business—but at the expense of losing our users' trust.

The insight

The lack of details exacerbated the gap between the value our users were promised, and the value they thought they received.

Our first solution was to break down the big numbers as soon as our users entered the Approve Online app

Our taxes dashboard has a summary card that contains a simple list of tax return terms.

To save both design and development time, we decided to re-skin the card to fit our needs.

Our taxes dashboard has a summary card that contains a simple list of tax return terms.

To save both design and development time, we decided to re-skin the card to fit our needs.

Tax return summary from MyBlock Taxes (designed in 2021)

Blurred for emphasis to show the lack of visual hiearchy

I quickly realized that re-using the dashboard summary card would create two new pain points for our users.

Pain point 1

All the terms and numbers looked the same especially at first glance or when scrolling

We theorized that users wouldn't be able to tell what was important, and we wanted users to be able to follow along, not get lost.

Pain point 2

Technical jargon was alienating and scary to users without tax prep experience

Without tax knowledge to understand the numbers & terms, users might assume their tax pros made errors on their returns.

Taxes are a sensitive subject, and if we weren't careful, we could scare people further.

via GIPHY

Who the heck knows what non-refundable credits are?

The question

How might we make the outcome reveal summary easy to read and understand while maintaining our users' confidence in their tax pros?

Design A

Tool tips

The pros

Tool tips could potentially be helpful if used correctly
Would keep any additional info short and sweet
Keeps info optional, so those who want to can access it

Tool tips could potentially be helpful if used correctly
Would keep any additional info short and sweet
Keeps info optional, so those who want to can access it

The cons

Way too many tool tips, many Oprah jokes were made
Repetitive format wouldn't be helpful for users
Unsure if tool-tip is best UI for the user goals (learning)
Makes the user work for the info/hides info as a default

Way too many tool tips, many Oprah jokes were made
Repetitive format wouldn't be helpful for users
Unsure if tool-tip is best UI for the user goals (learning)
Makes the user work for the info/hides info as a default

Design B

FAQ-style with the option to hide

The pros

Keeps info optional, with the possible default state as "open"
Allows for more conversational and precise content design
Clearly communicates that this screen is a learning opportunity for the user in case they had questions

Keeps info optional, with the possible default state as "open"
Allows for more conversational and precise content design
Clearly communicates that this screen is a learning opportunity for the user in case they had questions

Keeps info optional, with the possible default state as "open"
Allows for more conversational and precise content design
Clearly communicates that this screen is a learning opportunity for the user in case they had questions

The cons

Some concern over how much information we were fitting onto a single page (could be overwhelming)
Accordions inside accordions was not an accessible designs pattern we should be implementing

Some concern over how much information we were fitting onto a single page (could be overwhelming)
Accordions inside accordions was not an accessible designs pattern we should be implementing

Other feedback from design critiques

Where should the final number go?

Of those present, 7 out of 9 designers likened the summary to a receipt and wanted to see the refund total at the bottom of the summary compared to the top of the card.

Is the order of the content correct?

In most scenarios, an umbrella category would go above a sub category when reading content. The original summary card flipped the order, and had umbrella categories at the bottom of each section. There was concern that the "math wouldn't math" when our users read it for the first time.

Lacking internal consensus to move forward

Ultimately, the design org was split on which approach was better.

Knowing users already felt frustrated about the lack of transparency of the current design, I opted to over-educate and display tax definitions in the card itself as opposed to tool tips.

Version of summary card that moved forward to testing

Usability research findings

Partnering with our lead researcher, we set up an A-B-C preference test with 24 different participants across desktop and mobile. We compared 3 options to assess how much info would satisfy users: "no-info" vs. "low-info" vs. "high-info".

"No-Info"

Most confusing terms were non-refundable and refundable credits; the second most confusing term was tax liability but every piece of information was considered helpful

"No-Info"

Most confusing terms were non-refundable and refundable credits; the second most confusing term was tax liability but every piece of information was considered helpful

"Low-Info"

3 of 24 wanted to see their full return, even after seeing the summary, but still appreciated the summary regardless

"Low-Info"

3 of 24 wanted to see their full return, even after seeing the summary, but still appreciated the summary regardless

"High-Info"

When given the choice between less info and more info, 21 out of 24 participants always chose the version that had more information

"High-Info"

When given the choice between less info and more info, 21 out of 24 participants always chose the version that had more information

The research takeaway

Simple isn’t necessarily better, and though more info made the page longer, users still preferred having the details for their return compared to having none

Pushback from tax pros

Feedback from pros at an internal convention uncovered significant fear and anxiety around the release of the feature.

Tax pros were the key to delivering great customer service and we wanted to hear them out.

Many voiced extreme concern that we would be encouraging their clients to ghost them if we "gave away" too much return information, and take all their hard work to a competitor for a cheaper price.

Our final design

Final design: Reverting the order of the content

In addition to the tax pro concerns over losing business, several tax pros contacted us to let us know some of our content was incorrect and in the wrong order.

We solicited feedback from 6 tax pros from around the country, discussing both the math and the education aspect of our summary card.

By the end of the hour-long workshop, we had slightly wordier content, but with correct examples, proper definitions, and napkin math that was easy enough for users to understand.

Impact in 2025

Core service values & how users are ranking us

Expertise rating

82.1/100

⬆️ 3.0 pts since 2024

Expectation rating

84.2/100

⬆️ 2.2pts since 2024

Ease of use rating

90.4/100

⬆️ 0.8 pts since 2024

Tax pro overall satisfaction rating

How happy users were their tax pros after using the Approve Online app

82.5/100

⬆️ 3.1pts since 2024

Future ideas

Comparing prior year returns ➡️

During research, 7 out of the 24 participants mentioned wanting to compare their current year results to their prior year results.

Updates on how user are getting their refunds distributed ➡️

Another frequent question research participants asked was where the information on their refund was supposed to be.

Users expected this, yet we weren't delivering.

How might we incorporate refund delivery method and expected delivery date?

Ability to schedule calls with tax pros in app ➡️

In 2025, an ethnography study uncovered that many users were using the return summary to double-check their tax pros' work.

While not the intention of our summary feature, we realized we could adapt to this new user behavior.

We're currently asking ourselves how we might make it easier for users to let their tax pros know they found a mistake.

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Skim time: 2 minutes

H&R Block

2024

DESIGN STRATEGY

UX/UI

UX RESEARCH

Reducing pre-payment panic in filers while boosting tax pro expertise ratings

Reducing pre-payment panic in filers while boosting tax pro expertise ratings

Reducing pre-payment panic in filers while boosting tax pro expertise ratings

With nearly 1.6 million annual average users, the "Approve Online" application is a key to our conversion and retention of clients, both new and returning.

Project goals

Impact

The problem

Users felt we were holding their personal financial info hostage by requiring payment before they were able to review their full tax returns.

Users felt we were holding their personal financial info hostage by requiring payment before they were able to review their full tax returns.

The insight

The lack of details exacerbated the gap between the value our users were promised, and the value they thought they received.

The lack of details exacerbated the gap between the value our users were promised, and the value they thought they received.

The lack of details exacerbated the gap between the value our users were promised, and the value they thought they received.

Pain point 1

We theorized that users wouldn't be able to tell what was important, and we wanted users to be able to follow along, not get lost.

We theorized that users wouldn't be able to tell what was important, and we wanted users to be able to follow along, not get lost.

Pain point 2

Without tax knowledge to understand the numbers & terms, users might assume their tax pros made errors on their returns.Taxes are a sensitive subject, and if we weren't careful, we could scare people further.

Without tax knowledge to understand the numbers & terms, users might assume their tax pros made errors on their returns.Taxes are a sensitive subject, and if we weren't careful, we could scare people further.

The question

How might we make the outcome reveal summary easy to read and understand while maintaining our users' confidence in their tax pros?

How might we make the outcome reveal summary easy to read and understand while maintaining our users' confidence in their tax pros?

How might we make the outcome reveal summary easy to read and understand while maintaining our users' confidence in their tax pros?

Design A

Design B

Usability research findings

Partnering with our lead researcher, we set up an A-B-C preference test with 24 different participants across desktop and mobile. We compared 3 options to assess how much info would satisfy users: "no-info" vs. "low-info" vs. "high-info".

"No-Info"

"No-Info"

"Low-Info"

"Low-Info"

"High-Info"

"High-Info"

The research takeaway

Simple isn’t necessarily better, and though more info made the page longer, users still preferred having the details for their return compared to having none

Core service values & how users are ranking us

Core service values & how users are ranking us

Tax pro overall satisfaction rating

Tax pro overall satisfaction rating

Future ideas

Without tax knowledge to understand the numbers & terms, users might assume their tax pros made errors on their returns.

Taxes are a sensitive subject, and if we weren't careful, we could scare people further.

Without tax knowledge to understand the numbers & terms, users might assume their tax pros made errors on their returns.

Taxes are a sensitive subject, and if we weren't careful, we could scare people further.