Content Design > Reserves Terminology

Product - Reserve Funds inside of Wix Payments: Updates to terminology
Team - UX Writer (me), Product Manager, UX Designer
Overview
- This is part of the payment solution product, Wix Payments, where merchants receive payments and payouts.
- For risky merchants, Wix’s risk analysts (RAs) hold a portion of their payout funds in reserve, then release them automatically on a future date.
- Risky merchants have a lot of chargebacks or refunds, these reserves allow them to cover those in the future.

Ongoing problem
- Holding funds is a sensitive topic for merchants.
- Reason is unclear.
- User not notified when reserve extended
- (~40 complaints/month)
Additional problem I discovered
- There was no communication around a one-time reserve.
Tasks for team
- Define the reason for holding reserves
- Communicate updates to reduce customer complaints
Additional tasks I took on
- Define distinct terminology for one-time and continuous reserves
- Create new communication for one-time reserves

My process

User research

Meet with RA to figure out why we hold reserves and distinguish between one-time and continuous reserves.
Review customer care tickets to understand user pain points

Competitor research

Understand top terms used in the industry.
Come to conclusions and identify gaps, such as that no competitor has a coherent term for one-time reserves).

I tested new terms across the product to make sure they worked.

I identified areas where we could include the reason for holding reserves, like the existing knowledge base article and emails.

I mocked the RA one-time reserve creation flow.

I added new email communication around one-time reserve.

Compromise:

One-time reserves couldn't be explained in the reserve table header, so the designer and I identified it with a label and tooltip.
I also called it "held from balance" because it’s not connected to a payout.

I presented my ideas to all of the relevant stakeholders and we agreed on the new terminology.

We implemented updates to the reserve table to identify extended reserves, one-time reserves, and rolling reserves.

We added the reason for holding reserves to the knowledge base article.

We went live with the updates!

Results: 85% less customer complaints per month about the reason for reserves and why we extended them.