Alight IRA

Overview

Alight wanted to expand its savings and retirement services with a new product: Alight IRA. The vision was simple—offer employees more flexibility, tax efficiency, and investment choice. The challenge was more complex:

How do we introduce a new financial product to users in a way that feels approachable, not intimidating?
How do we educate users without overwhelming them with financial jargon?
How do we align multiple partners (Goldman Sachs, Fintron, and internal Alight stakeholders) around a single, cohesive narrative?

Outcomes

25% adoption rate in the first 7 months, directly contributing to a new revenue stream.
Enhanced cross-functional collaboration across design, product, legal, and partner teams.
Validated user clarity: 97% of participants found the messaging understandable.

Team and Role:

PM, Product Design Lead, Content Design Lead, Junior Product Designer, Developers, external teams (Goldman Sachs and Fintron)

Target Audience:

For clients that opt into offering Alight IRA - All active employees, plus terminated employees that still use or have an Alight account balance.

Alight IRA Landing Page

Home Page w/ Alight IRA entry points

Interstitial Message for Alight Worklife

Discovery & Strategy

Starting with Empathy

We knew retirement planning is deeply personal and often overwhelming. To build trust, content had to be clear, empowering, and scannable. Early user insights confirmed that people wanted simplicity: plain language, short explanations, and guidance they could act on.

Defining the Problem Together

Myself and my designers worked through a problem statement exercise to consolidate user pain points and business objectives. This gave us a shared foundation to move forward with clarity and purpose.

Meeting Users Where They Are

Through leading a content audit, I mapped out the best entry points across the platform: homepage, insights cards, quick links, interstitials, and transaction flows. The strategy: Insert the IRA at moments of intent, so guidance felt timely and natural rather than disruptive.

Content as Strategy

I led content brainstorming sessions with our Savings & Retirement SME to uncover the most compelling advantages of Alight IRA. We translated complex financial benefits into user-centered messaging—positioning the IRA as not just another product, but a tool to help employees make smarter retirement decisions.

Problem statement exercise

3 key areas of Alight Worklife to promote Alight IRA

Early design and copy concepts for Alight IRA

Iteration & Collaboration

Early Concepts

Our first landing page used simple, educational language. But usability testing showed it was too safe—readable but forgettable.

Pivot: We shifted to bolder statements, empowering calls-to-action, and more market-driven language. This aligned with business goals while also resonating with users.

Cross-Functional Feedback

I built a Miro template for asynchronous input from product, legal, and partner teams. This not only captured critical disclaimers and accuracy checks but also fostered stronger collaboration across silos.

Research-Driven Refinement

UX research validated our direction with the Content Survey Study: 97% of users found the final language understandable.

The Content Survey Study also helped us dial in on specific language that was confusing to participants, such as the use of the phrase “tax-deferred” and providing further distinction between the “Do It Yourself” and “Manage For Me” account options.

Early design and copy internal feedback

Content Survey Study language feedback

Content Survey Study overall results

The Solution

The final Alight IRA experience combined clarity, education, and bold storytelling:

Landing Page: Engaging copy that educated without overwhelming, while making the IRA feel approachable and empowering.
Homepage & Quick Links: Promotional placements encouraging exploration.
Interstitial Messaging: Timely awareness for newly eligible users.
Withdrawal & Rollovers Flow: Contextual alerts ensured employees considered all options before making retirement decisions.

Takeaways

Strategic Thinking: Start with user pain points, then align messaging with business goals.
User Empathy: Simplicity and empowerment resonate far more than jargon.
Collaboration as a Strength: Structured feedback loops broke down silos and built shared ownership.
Content as Problem-Solver: Thoughtful words didn’t just explain the product—they built trust and drove adoption.

The Alight IRA project proved that with storytelling, empathy, and collaboration, content can unlock both user confidence and business growth.