Clarifying Spending Accounts

Challenge

At Alight, spending account holders needed to understand complex year-end deadlines governing when funds could be used and when claims had to be submitted. The design team needed to determine whether users could correctly interpret balances, deadlines, and potential forfeiture of unused funds. They were also tasked to identify ways to make this time-sensitive information easier to understand.

Approach

I chose remote moderated usability testing to evaluate comprehension while also exploring participants' existing experiences and mental models around spending accounts and year-end deadlines. Because the team had limited prior research on these experiences, sessions combined evaluative tasks with exploratory questions about account selection, account usage, and deadline management.

I conducted three iterative rounds with 15 participants. After each round, I analyzed findings and provided design recommendations, which the team incorporated into subsequent iterations.

Insights & Impact

Key Finding: The Prototype Created the Wrong Mental Model

Participants struggled to determine what the progress bar represented. Some interpreted it as their remaining account balance rather than the time remaining to use their funds, while others misunderstood the “Today” indicator or couldn't determine which year's balance the visualization referenced.

The experience intended to communicate urgency was therefore creating ambiguity around the very deadline users needed to understand.

From Research to Design

I recommended simplifying the relationship between account balances and deadlines and making critical dates more explicit. The design team incorporated recommendations after each round, and I evaluated successive iterations to determine whether the changes resolved the comprehension problems identified in previous testing.

From Research to Design

I recommended simplifying the relationship between account balances and deadlines and making critical dates more explicit. The design team incorporated recommendations after each round, and I evaluated successive iterations to determine whether the changes resolved the comprehension problems identified in previous testing.

Outcome

By the third round, participants were able to understand the revised visualizations and responded positively to the additional deadline, balance, and contribution information. The final experience greatly clarified the relationship between prior-year balances, claim deadlines, and remaining time.

The validated design moved into development.