Augmenting Value Proposition with CertXP Providing 62% Increase of Conversions

Overview

At Pragmatic Works, I led the design for CertXP, a certification exam prep tool complementing an existing on-demand training catalog. This was to augment their value proposition, providing a practice exam in the form of a game. Impact solidified after I persuaded leadership to allow me to redesign critical usability issues that plagued the user journey. We also had to reduced the size of the beta in order to release it on time. Yet, the overall result was successful. We also learned that some users preferred the format of CertXP over the video content as it was more compatible to those with a busier schedule. To this note, we're exploring supporting user-appropriation of CertXP.

A later version of our landing page for CertXP

Process

Discovery & Research: Conducted a competitive audit (Duolingo, Uxcel, etc.) and user interviews.

Design Execution: Iteratively crafted user flows, mockups, and interactive prototypes, aligning with stakeholders' inputs and constraints. As well as delegating illustrations and animations with an offshore team. The strength of the development team also required a delicate balance of reducing complexity of the UI, to make the project feasible.

Validation: I performed usability testing to iterate and confirm and address user needs. When enough themes were captured, I sought additional qualitative discovery to support user data that I felt would impact future projects. In our initial tests, needed refinement for feature navigation and onboarding was identified and redesigned.

A revised UXR study, where I sought discovery after gaining enough themes from CertXP usability study

Results

While the delivery of CertXP augmented the company's value proposition, we did see an immediate influx of short-term (monthly) subscribers. This product also I speak about this in my other piece on PLG, where we still had usability issues in platform that prevented the true potential of CertXP's impact. CertXP showed improved engagement through redesigned features, such as onboarding videos, narration, and responsive design. The product team and CEO learned to respect user's autonomy in how they can adopt the feature, by not requiring a sequential order to completing the map. We also learned how this feature does not necessarily help the average lifespan of a subscriber, as many users came to pass a test, then close their subscription immediately afterwards - deeming the platform "no longer needed". As the catalog grew, the interface now requires enhancing search / filter functionality.

Mapping out the necessary elements I had to manage in this project

An early "search flow" of CertXP in mobile format

Early mid-fi version of the CertXP catalog page

Rejected mockup from transposing a mobile-first to desktop

Hi-fi mockup of course map. Constraints kept me from transposing the "grid" more to the right. This was satisficing with limitations.

Lofi mockup of quiz screen, before game logic and dev-constraints were confirmed.

High fidelity mockup of question screen, with Lottie-driven narrator that interacts with audio narration.

Prototypes

An older hi-fidelity prototype of the main menu. Search and filter was omitted for MVP due to only having 4 options to choose from.

Conclusion

Thank you for your time and interest in this project. Please feel free to look at other case studies, presented, below. Or feel free to contact me and ask me about this project. I'd love to share more.