Optimizing the QuickBooks Payment Experience
- RolePrincipal product designer
- CompanyIntuit
- ProductQuickbooks
- AudienceSmall-medium business and their customers
Introduction: Setting the Stage
In QuickBooks’ high-volume payment ecosystem, key KPIs like invoice-payment conversion were stuck, hovering around 45% for two years and indicating hidden friction despite platform maturity. My focus as a Product Designer, working within the product-engineering-design triad, was to identify why and design solutions. My approach centered on user listening, iterative design, and close collaboration.
The work involved targeted initiatives like optimizing emails, implementing embedded fees, simplifying bulk B2B payments, and adding SMS nudges. The goal: make invoice payment clearer, faster, less burdensome. These efforts collectively improved key conversion metrics and user satisfaction.
Background: The Payments Landscape
Key challenges included: payment friction (tedious logins, repetitive data entry); merchant headaches (processing fees, manual reconciliation); critically, with about 60% of online-payable invoices to businesses being paid ‘Off rails’, many business payors (C2s) bypassed the portal, contributing to payor churn; and missed connections via ineffective email/mobile communication. Underlying this were unavoidable corporate realities like legacy systems and shifting priorities.
This pointed to opportunities: sharpening communications, simplifying core flows, offering flexible choices (fees/methods), tailoring experiences, and using data insights.
Progress was measured via KPIs covering Engagement (Open/CTR), Progression (Adoption/Success Rates), Conversion (Completion/Time-to-Pay), and Sentiment (CSAT/Feedback).
Design Initiatives & Impact
This landscape was the ground we worked. Core goals guided the projects: make paying less painful by reducing friction; get more payments through by improving sticky conversion KPIs; and build trust & clarity through security, transparency, and simplicity.
My design approach relied on key principles: start with the human behind the click; cut the clutter through simplicity; use data as a compass but trust design sense; iterate and learn through experimentation; and collaborate to build with product and engineering partners.
Spotlight: Email & Subject Line
Improving the First Handshake
Challenge
Initial invoice emails underperformed. Low open rates and buried CTAs hindered the crucial first step towards payment.
My Role
As the Product Designer, key responsibilities included owning the UI redesign, defining the A/B/C test setup, and collaborating closely with Data Science on the SLO V2 AI model.
Design Process
Analysis identified poor information hierarchy hiding the CTA. We experimented lifting it above the fold. For subject lines, testing evolved to include AI generation (SLO V2), requiring pragmatic experiment design choices for faster learning. Collaboration with Data Science was crucial for model inputs and interpreting results.
Solution
A revised email layout prioritizing the CTA. A data-driven approach to subject lines using performance insights (including AI).
Impact
Clear improvement in CTR from CTA placement. Noticeable increase in open rates from SLO. Improved ‘sent-to-viewed’ funnel stage and contributed positively to overall conversion.
Spotlight: Embedded Fees (MAIP)
Enabling More Payments
Challenge
Enabling MAIP (Make All Invoices Payable) was blocked by merchant resistance to processing fees, limiting payor options.
My Role
Key contributions included extensive foundational research (dozens of SMB interviews), owning the end-to-end UX, prototyping extensively for alignment (esp. Legal, Compliance, Policy), and leading kickoff workshops.
Design Process
Began with empathy work (interviews, surveys showing around 30% payor willingness to pay a fee). We explored fee models, navigating complex legal, financial, and compliance constraints. Surcharging faced significant hurdles; convenience fees weren’t viable. Cash discounting emerged as the most pragmatic path, balancing requirements and framing the UX positively (a discount vs. a fee). Kickoff workshops and high-fidelity prototypes were essential for achieving alignment across Product, Engineering, Legal, Compliance, Policy, Risk, and CX. Iterative refinement ensured clarity.
Solution
The “Embedded Fees” feature using cash discounting allowed merchants to include fees while offering discounts for lower-cost methods (ACH), focusing on payor transparency.
Impact
Addressed key merchant barrier, increasing pay-enabled invoices and unlocking payor flexibility. Contributed to increased payment volume (addressing a multi-million dollar annual revenue opportunity) and supported the strategic MAIP objective.
Spotlight: SMS Notifications
A Direct Line
Challenge
Email wasn’t reaching everyone. Needed a more direct, mobile-friendly channel without causing notification fatigue.
My Role
Responsibilities included designing the merchant UI flow, setting up adoption experiments, working with Legal/Compliance on TCPA, and handling iterations on requirements with carriers/gateways.
Design Process
Mapped the user flow (SMS -> pay). Research focused on heuristic evaluation, competitor analysis, and internal data. Collaborated closely with Marketing and Content Design on concise, compliant messaging strategy. Defined merchant controls and clear consent/opt-outs to meet TCPA/compliance standards while navigating carrier constraints.
Solution
Feature enabling merchants to send SMS invoice notifications with payment links, including opt-outs/controls. Simple, direct message format.
Impact
Opened significant new channel, improving ‘sent-to-viewed’ rates. Appeared to contribute to faster payment cycles for some merchants.
Spotlight: Frictionless Login
Smoothing the Path
Challenge
Logging in was often a frustrating barrier (password fatigue, repeated data entry), causing abandonment.
My Role
Key responsibilities: leading user journey mapping, defining experience requirements, owning UI design for login/payment widgets, and creating prototypes for usability testing and stakeholder buy-in.
Design Process
Began by mapping the existing journey to find friction. Research and usability testing explored user preferences (e.g., for flexible auth). Due to technical limitations, the initial design was adjusted to focus on an OTP-based flow, refining the UI/messaging accordingly. Prototyped solutions like embedded widgets and saved payments. Close collaboration with Engineering, Security, and Identity teams ensured feasibility and robustness.
Solution
Designs for streamlined login/payment: securely saving/reusing payment methods, seamless embedded login flow. Mobile-first principle.
Impact
Targeted key drop-off points. User testing showed preference for simplified flows. Intended impact: measurable decrease in login abandonment, faster checkout, improved conversion.
Spotlight: Bulk Payment
Solving the B2B Invoice Pile-Up
Challenge
Businesses paying multiple invoices faced tedious, manual loops (pay, reconcile, repeat). Inefficient, error-prone, delayed payments.
My Role
As lead Product Designer, involvement was extensive: shaped UX vision, responsible for end-to-end experience, led journey mapping/research synthesis, defined requirements, owned UI design, created prototypes for testing/alignment.
Design Process
Rooted in user interviews over two years (with PM). Competitor analysis showed QuickBooks was uniquely positioned. Analyzed internal data; planned C2 surveys. Mapped existing convoluted process. Ideated/prototyped UIs in the Counterpart Portal (CP). Used interactive prototypes extensively for user testing and stakeholder communication (Product, Engineering, Risk, Data/Analytics) regarding significant backend changes.
Solution
Design for Bulk Payment feature in CP. Allowed C2s to view/select multiple invoices and make one single, consolidated payment. UI prioritized clarity, efficiency, control.
Impact
Targeted major B2B inefficiency. Aimed to significantly reduce manual effort/time (potentially thousands of hours annually). Expected to drive substantial increase in B2B volume on Intuit rails, addressing a multi-million dollar annual revenue opportunity.
Synergistic Impact
These initiatives were interconnected efforts aimed at holistic improvement. Email/SMS/SLO opened the door; Frictionless Login eased entry; Embedded Fees widened the path inside; Bulk Payment streamlined the core B2B task. By reducing friction at multiple stages, the cumulative effect targeted a smoother, faster experience, lifting overall invoice-payment conversion (a critical lever, with each percentage point improvement valued at around \$5 million annually) and user satisfaction (CSAT), making the ecosystem more efficient and humane.
Lessons Learned
Working in QuickBooks payments was a constant learning process. Key takeaways include recognizing that small hinges swing big doors – minor tweaks matter at scale. Corporate navigation needs patience and strong collaboration (prototypes help align); empathy has layers (understand all users); data points the way, people tell the story (marry quant + qual); compliance is part of the architecture (integrate early in Fintech).
These experiences honed my skills: I developed greater ability in navigating complex systems within mature platforms, gained deeper Fintech/B2B understanding, improved my effectiveness in cross-functional collaboration (aided by prototyping), strengthened my data-informed design practice, and built pragmatic resilience against ambiguity.