When Legal and UX Priorities Collide

Balanced regulatory requirements with plain language to reduce customer confusion at a critical decision point.

Timeline

1 month

Team

• Product Manager

• Conversation Designer (me)

• Legal and Compliance teams

Background

We were making minor visual tweaks to the visual design of the Interac e-Transfer flow. Legal wanted to revisit copy as well. They wanted to add specific terminology like 'irrevocable' because it has legal significance. Our concern was that many customers either wouldn't understand that word or would have to stop and interpret it, which increases cognitive effort at a critical moment.

And Then?

Rather than treating it as an either-or decision, we redesigned the message around the customer's mental model. We explained what would actually happen in plain language which is the money would be deposited automatically, there would be no security question, and the transfer couldn't be cancelled while still retaining the legally required terminology.

Feedback

We then validated the content through research. Participants understood the consequence, even if they didn't particularly like the word 'irrevocable' because we did add that it cannot be cancelled. That gave us confidence that we'd struck the right balance between legal compliance and customer comprehension.

The Insight

In financial services, content is about balancing clarity alongside helping customers make informed decisions. Sometimes that means communicating risk in a way that's both understandable and legally accurate.