Context
A 1099 is a tax form used in the United States to report income received from sources other than a regular salary. Estimates suggest around 200 million people receive at least one annually.
QuickBooks received $30M revenue from 1099 filings in the prior year, and considers automated filing to be the main contributor.
QuickBooks received $30M revenue from 1099 filings in the prior year, and considers automated filing to be the main contributor.
Role
I led the research and redesign of the 1099 shopping experience, driving cross-functional collaboration across product, engineering, data, and ecosystem teams to deliver a scalable and user-centered solution.
Problem
Our analyst estimated 3.6M companies in QuickBooks likely need to file 1099s, yet only 579K did so — a 16% adoption rate.
Our survey told us that the top reasons customers choose not to file 1099 through QuickBooks are price (21%) and lack of awareness (18%).
60% of respondents were not even aware of Automated 1099.
Our survey told us that the top reasons customers choose not to file 1099 through QuickBooks are price (21%) and lack of awareness (18%).
60% of respondents were not even aware of Automated 1099.
Approach
Prior landing page
- Auto offering not prominently surfaced
- Generic visual with no insight cue
New landing page
- Auto offering highlighted in header
- Social proof added to increase confidence
- Visual signals automation and smart insights
Prior shopping page
+ What worked
- Transparent pricing
- Value props of time-saving and convenience
- Having choice
- The opportunities• Letting QuickBooks prep felt like a black box
- Confusion about the actual auto process
• Video illustration received few clicks (~2%)• Too many words
- Information overwhelm
• Missing purposeful white space• Feature list was hard to decipher
- Difficult to compare choices
• CTAs had similar language
New shopping page
- Shed light on the black box
- Add step-by-step process
- Give product moments to garner delight
- Let the page breathe
- Modernize visuals for cleaner feel
- Minimize content for quick scanning
- Use tooltips for feature list
- Grow into AI space, but remember roots
- Emphasize auto as primary offering
- Keep options on equal footing
User interview
Company admins + accountants
Learnings:
Challenges
Prior QuickBooks navigation
- 1099 is a level 2 item
- Can be accessed from both Taxes and Expenses
New QuickBooks navigation
- 1099 is a level 3 item
- Can only be accessed from Expenses
Iteration
Tab navigation
A/B test
Control
Variant
![]()
Result
2.6x top-of-funnel views
1.1x started filing
2.2x chose Auto
Shipping the winner
1.5x
Auto 1099 adoption is accelerating revenue growth
(Auto starts at $17.99 vs Core starts at $5.99)
(Auto starts at $17.99 vs Core starts at $5.99)
40m
Revenue vs. previously forecasted 32m