2024

QuickBooks: Automating Identity Verification for ProAdvisor Network

Intuit’s QuickBooks ProAdvisor Network™ allows over 450,000 skilled professionals to match with small-business owners, providing financial guidance, bookkeeping, and accounting support. To join, experts undergo a thorough verification process to confirm their business legitimacy and service offerings.

However, the current manual process is slow and decreases enrollment. It also requires substantial operational resources. This inefficiency is problematic for the experts looking to join the network and for Intuit. It entails multiple steps to allow expert profile publishing privileges and hampers the overall user experience.

- The Problem Space

The QuickBooks ProAdvisor Directory™

The program offers a platform for success and enables experts to market their business through a “Find-A-Pro” search directory to over 2.6 million small and medium-sized businesses, expanding their reach and potential client base.

- Customer Problem

Multiday manual process for experts to get verified

"As a financial expert, I want to join the ProAdvisor Network™ and have my profile listed. However, the process is prolonged because all my information undergoes a manual review. Despite creating a ProAdvisor account, I can't publish my profile until my identity is verified and my business credentials are approved. This delay is frustrating as I'm eager to connect with customers immediately."

- Challenge

How can we expedite the identity verification process for experts looking to join the Network, reducing the onboarding time from 3-5 days to seconds?

Supporting Data: Due to the wait time, only 5% of eligible ProAdvisors manage to join the network, resulting in lost revenue and growth opportunities.

Role & Contributions

Took ownership from design concept to code

Own and drive the following tasks:

  • Platform/Identity SME for the QuickBooks ProAdvisor team.

  • Collaborated with the QuickBooks product team to design an E2E identity verification capability to expedite ProAdvisor Network onboarding.

  • Built a reusable component library for future capability adoption.

  • Designed happy/unhappy paths for verification triggers post-product and in-product profile re-verification events.

  • Participated in post-launch E2E development tests.

Old Experience

Onboarding Into The QuickBooks ProAdvisor Network

Customers won’t be able to make their profiles visible in the ProAdvisor Network Directory until they’ve done two key things:

  • Go through a manual review process to confirm identity and prove ownership of a legitimate, compliant business.

  • Finish all necessary trainings and certifications to join as an approved QuickBooks ProAdvisor.

Utilize a third-party vendor for identity verification

Solution: Identity Verification In Seconds, Not Days

The new capability can verify the accuracy of information provided during onboarding by tapping into data from public sources. This not only boosts security and prevents fraud but also ensures regulatory compliance. Plus, it streamlines the ProAdvisor Network onboarding process through automation.

Automated & instantaneous identity verification

The updated process simplifies expert onboarding by directly transferring verified data into QuickBooks Online Accountant via a third-party verification vendor. Experts' profiles are automatically filled with pre-verified information, saving time and effort.

Plan for the unhappy paths

It was crucial to anticipate potential hiccups in the experience, including verification failures and customers who may not be eligible to sign up for the ProAdvisor program.

Results.

Learnings. 🧐

Due to confidentiality, I can only share high-level insights:

  • There were more successful verifications than failures. The highest success rates originated from those who signed up as sole proprietors, in which those entity types have a business owner’s personal identity associated with the business entity.

  • We found a correlation between verification failures and bad actors trying to get through the flow. It would be interesting to learn about their intentions.

  • Some users converted to QBO customers after being directed to the product recommendation screen because they were ineligible to join the ProAdvisor Network.

Credits.

  • Matthew Lett - Sr. Product Designer

  • Carrie Deakin (Sr. Content Designer)

  • Hami Nejadriahi
    Rudy Serna
    Michael Offenbecher
    Ranjith Kumar Narayanaswamy

  • Jason Gu

  • Keya Tollossa

Next

Intuit: Increasing Discoverability For Customers