MobLab
Role: User Experience Designer
Responsibilities: User Interviews, Research, Visual & Interaction Designs, Prototyping, and Usability Testing
Outcome: Improved Product Tour and the Overall Outlook of the Platform
Date: 2022
Overview
MobLab specializes in developing games & experiments for economics and management for high schools & colleges. The platform has been used in hundreds of classrooms and students, augmenting lectures with immersive activities in which students learn by participating and exploring.
Problem Statement
The sales and Product team expressed that the software was losing too many users after the initial sign-up.
Goal
Identify the pain points for new users, prioritize the solutions, and deliver a design solution that would eventually increase the user retention rate.
Project Scope
I led the UX design process and began by conducting a heuristic analysis of the application to experience what new users were going through. I shared my finding and established a roadmap for the improvements,
Research
I scheduled a call with an existing long-term user to find out:
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what were the obstacles he faced?
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how he overcame the problems?
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what changes would make his life easier?
I also reached out to some new sign-ups to discover the following:
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why did they stop using the platform?
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what were their expectations?
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if they would be willing to participate in usability testing after improvements?
It seemed too complicated to figure out the platform without making a call
Functionality over students and assignments required many steps
I preferred to have a bit of an idea on my own before calling the sales
Anything I needed was there but navigating my needs for the platform weren't easy
User Persona
After interviewing with some existing and previous users, I created a user persona to understand and demonstrate understanding and empathy with the end users. It was helpful to gain a similar perspective to the users. This persona was also helpful with:
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Understanding of who our users were among team members.
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Deep understanding of user behavior and needs.
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More effective, focused conversations and business meetings.
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Stopped everyone from talking about themselves and recognized different users had different needs and expectations.
Objectives
We discovered that there were discrepancies between the product value and users' expectations.
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they didn’t see any value in the platform
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they were unaware of its functionalities
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the platform was confusing to navigate
Now-How-Wow Matrix
We had many ideas, but we were a small team, and developers wouldn't be able to make a big change.
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Important parts of class creation: We agreed that users needed to name a class, choose a subject, create their playlist, and invite students.
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Two steps of onboarding: Users needed to have an "Aha!" moment before making a purchase. We broke down the onboarding into two different stages. The first and most important stage was for users to become familiar with the platform and its features. We decided to achieve this part with a "learn-by-doing" onboarding process. Users could make a call to the sales at the end for detailed information.
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Free trial: Although we advertised which package users preferred the most, this strategy didn't make a significant impact. By establishing a free trial of premier membership, users could utilize every feature and trust MobLab.
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Visibility over students: There were three important features instructors needed to access for students: Invitations, roster, and grade book.
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Calendar: For each class, instructors needed to see the class schedule for live classes and assignments.
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Minor UI improvements: We agreed on making minor changes to the platform that matched the existing design system, such as color, cards, illustrations, and interaction design.
Mind Mapping
I designed a mind map to generate and structure ideas, engage the mind, reduce complexity, and identify relationships between ideas, data, and information that I gathered from the users.
New Onboarding Experience
The new and improved onboarding experience included:
Value Proposition: We kept the product tour informative and minimal to prevent new users from information overload.
Aha! Moment: After the initial sign-up, users had the opportunity to play a game, view the student's screen, and see the result.
Easy Onboarding Process: Learn-by-doing strategy helped users to learn the platform by creating their first classes.
Personalization & Friendly Outlook: The previous design lacked personalization and warmth.
Solutions
Greeting & Demo
The new design enabled users to greet them with their names, and suggested playing a game to showcase how the platform would help their students to learn economics. Users could quit anytime or decide to skip the step.
The previous design left users clueless after signing up.
Solutions
Class Creation
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Subject Choice: As part of the personalization, the new design gave topics to choose from.
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Free Trial: Previous design required users to make a decision about which package to choose even before they knew what the platform offered. The new design implemented a code for a free trial.
Solutions
Playlist Creation
The new design explained to users what a playlist was and how to create one.
Solutions
Adding a Game
The new concept suggested users add a game with visible options - Add, Demo, and Guide. Previously, these options were available only when they were in a hover state.
Bigger cards and a brief explanation helped users' decision-making process.
Solutions
Inviting Students
Inviting students became much easier by giving multiple options to users. Users could invite their students by Sending bulk emails, Copying a QR code, or Uploading a CVS document.
Once the invite was sent, the default student list became available on the platform. This feature enabled users to see which students' invitations were pending.
Usability Testing
The testing result was successful overall because we included some users throughout the design process. The testing consisted of ten previous and existing users.
I observed users during the product tour, what they were saying when they noticed the improvements, and their facial expressions. Towards the end and through the survey, I asked their opinions about the platform, if they would give it a try with their students, and what else they wished to see.
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The task accomplishment was increased by 90%
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The duration time of completion on each task was reduced by 50%
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The anticipation to use the platform at school was raised by 80% (the other 20% was for school budget reasons)
Final Thoughts
This was one of the most successful challenges I overcame because we involved users from the beginning of the process and created a design that exactly suited their needs.
This project is currently on hold due to the shortage of staff. However, it's approved and will be implemented within the year. Though another test may be required because within a year. users' expectations and needs also evolve.
