One of the biggest challenges in the TaxAct onboarding flow was early abandonment. Analytics showed that 48% of users who started filing their taxes dropped off during the “Basic Information” section, often before completing the first few steps.
For many users, this was their first real interaction with the product. If the experience felt confusing or overwhelming early on, they simply left. The goal of this project was to reduce early drop-off and help more users successfully complete the beginning of their tax return, while also increasing user confidence and trust in the platform.
After improvements were introduced, the completion rate for the Basic Information section increased from 52% to 71%, significantly improving the number of users who continued deeper into the filing process.
Understanding Where Users Struggled
Before redesigning the experience, we focused on understanding why users were abandoning the flow so early. We conducted a mix of discovery activities, including:
User interviews with both new and returning TaxAct customers
Journey mapping to identify friction across the early filing steps
Analytics review to identify drop-off patterns and device behavior
Competitive analysis of guided experiences used by products like tax and insurance platforms
Several patterns quickly emerged. Users often felt overwhelmed by the amount of information requested upfront, and many were unsure whether they were entering information correctly. The language also felt too technical for users who weren’t familiar with tax terminology.
Another major friction point was document uploading and repeated data entry, which created unnecessary effort and broke the flow of the experience. These insights helped shape a key direction for the redesign: simplify the experience, reduce cognitive load, and guide users step-by-step through the process.
Simpler Filing Experience
Over the next six weeks, I designed a series of mid-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes to explore ways to simplify the onboarding flow.
The focus was on:
Breaking the experience into smaller, guided steps
Simplifying language so questions felt easier to understand
Improving the structure and hierarchy of the form
Reducing unnecessary fields and repeated data entry
We tested prototypes frequently with users both remotely and in moderated sessions. These tests helped us identify confusing moments early and refine the flow before moving into higher fidelity designs. Through iterative testing, we reached a point where about 80% of participants could complete the basic information flow without assistance, a significant improvement from the earlier experience.
A/B Testing the Final Experience
To validate the design improvements, we ran a series of A/B tests comparing the existing onboarding flow with the redesigned guided experience.
We tested variations in:
Form layout and structure
Language and question phrasing
Step-by-step progression vs. a longer form layout
The results were encouraging. The redesigned flow led to:
36% reduction in drop-off during the Basic Information section
19% increase in completion of the first filing stage
14% improvement in user confidence scores during testing
Users reported feeling more comfortable progressing through the process because the experience felt clearer, more structured, and less overwhelming.
Outcome & Learnings
By simplifying the onboarding experience and guiding users through smaller steps, the TaxAct filing flow became easier to understand and complete.
Users were able to move through the early stages of filing with greater confidence, and more people continued through the full tax return process.
These improvements helped reduce early abandonment and increase overall engagement in the filing journey, setting a stronger foundation for the rest of the product experience.
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