TurboTax

Start with Data

Role

Design Lead

Timeline

2026

Team

4 Designers

Background & goal

Jumpstarting taxes for millions of customers

Jumpstarting taxes for millions of customers

To maximize the pay-off of the 'Done for you' no work tax experience promise, TurboTax needed as much data as possible about the customer right from the start. Our AI models could then use the data to personalize and streamline the rest of the downstream experience, resulting in a much simpler workflow that only required a quick review.

To maximize the pay-off of the 'Done for you' no work tax experience promise, TurboTax needed as much data as possible about the customer right from the start. Our AI models could then use the data to personalize and streamline the rest of the downstream experience, resulting in a much simpler workflow that only required a quick review.

Customer problem

New customers were leaving without knowledge of the time saving magic available with data-in

New customers were leaving without knowledge of the time saving magic available with data-in

Many new customers start TurboTax having never used DIY tax software before. They're intimidated by the amount of perceived work and complexity of taxes, without knowing that there is a suite of data-in and AI powered review experiences waiting for them.

Many new customers start TurboTax having never used DIY tax software before. They're intimidated by the amount of perceived work and complexity of taxes, without knowing that there is a suite of data-in and AI powered review experiences waiting for them.

12%

Abandon before income

+22%

Conversion if try data-in

50m+

TAM

Hypothesis

IF WE offer data-in features during onboarding, THEN customers will be willing to share documents and be delighted in the downstream work we save them WHICH WE WILL MEASURE BY doc share % and conversion impact (Start to Complete).

IF WE offer data-in features during onboarding, THEN customers will be willing to share documents and be delighted in the downstream work we save them WHICH WE WILL MEASURE BY doc share % and conversion impact (Start to Complete).

Solution

An onboarding experience that showcases the ease of data-in and dramatically streamlines tax prep downstream

An onboarding experience that showcases the ease of data-in and dramatically streamlines tax prep downstream

Outcome

After multiple iterations, Start with Data drove outsized business impact in TY25.

Despite several failed attempts to execute on this idea in past seasons, we were finally able to apply all of our learnings and launch a successful test. The win from this test and lessons learned will be vital to the future AI native TurboTax product.

+16%

Conversion if docs shared

+3%

Conversion overall

+$10.5m

+$10.5m

Incr. Revenue at scale