System feedback and error messages

System feedback and error messages

Context

This project was for a large SaaS company specializing in legal, tax and accounting software. I worked in the plaform pod and led content design for the retention workstream.

My most impactful contribution: I advocated for the user by fighting for helpful error messages and for alert messages that contained important system feedback.

Problem

Legal and tax admins need to easily pay a monthly subscription without adding to administrative tasks. The solution for that is the autopay feature, which unfortunately was not yet widely adopted. Recently late fees were implemented to deter late payments. That however contributed to customer complaints and more support calls. As a result, users needed have possibilities to activate autopay.

Goals

User: Complete order flow as quickly as possible.

Business: Decrease late payments by encouraging the right users to enroll in autopay.

Design: Without interrupting the renewal flow, guide the user to easily add a payment option for autopay, to understand where this feature can be managed and let them know if it fails.

My approach

  1. Gather info and do some quick content research. I met with stakeholders to understand what content was pulled from other parts of the experience.
  2. Drafted initial copy for the entire flow.
  3. Identified missing content i.e. success modal and warning alert.
  4. Worked with UX/UI designer to determine what components would be best.
  5. Collaborated with the UX content design team to get recommendations that align with our content standards.
  6. Had terms and conditions copy approved by our in-house legal team.
  7. Reviewed with product stakeholders and engineers to answer questions and add transparency around design decisions, highlighting the value of certain decisions.

Content decisions

Step 1: Set up autopay

Autopay banner: Used the title to highlight primary benefit, and emphasized user control and addressed user concerns in the body.
Autopay banner: Used the title to highlight primary benefit, and emphasized user control and addressed user concerns in the body.

Step 2: Enter payment details

Modal content: clear simple headline with a standard payment details form. The payment authorization copy is revised to address autopay specifically. The CTA conveys low commitment with ‘save.’
Modal content: clear simple headline with a standard payment details form. The payment authorization copy is revised to address autopay specifically. The CTA conveys low commitment with ‘save.’

Step 3: Payment saved successfully

Success alert: confirms that the action was completed as intended and guides the user on to the next step.
Success alert: confirms that the action was completed as intended and guides the user on to the next step.

Step 4: Autopay is set up

Autopay banner: Used the title to indicate that there are more steps in the process, and the body to set clear expectations on how this feature will function.
Autopay banner: Used the title to indicate that there are more steps in the process, and the body to set clear expectations on how this feature will function.

Outcome

What I might have done differently

I’d have standardized autopay messaging across the platform. I was only able to align messaging with the account because I worked on that as well.

Ideally, this would mean a closer relationship with marketing where we could establish and document messaging for campaigns and in-product communication. That messaging could be implemented uniformly across the product and in the funnel.