Note: some of the details of this project are removed to protect the company’s confidential and proprietary information.
Problem
Gradescope’s biggest problem we needed to solve was the difficulty the freemium users had in getting their institutions to purchase an institutional license. We also needed to re-engage existing users who haven’t used the product in a while. This resulted in missed growth opportunities for Turnitin (owner of Gradescope). Key issues which lead to low conversion rates:
- Lack of effective onboarding flows which would allow new users to learn new features without spending too much time
- Lack of incentive for basic (freemium users) to upgrade to an institutional license because the basic tier was as useful as the paid tier
- Lack of help to direct satisfied customers to become advocates who get their institution to purchase an Institutional license
Qualitative data from already recorded user interviews with Gradescope users further confirmed the key issues listed above. Users were stuck on where to start once they jumped into Gradescope, what assignment type would be the most appropriate for which use case, and what the advocate program is all about.
My Role
As the lead designer of this project, I held regular synchronous meetings with stakeholders to ensure alignment on scope and requirements. Design decisions were supported by competitive analysis and feedback from user interviews.
Defining Scope
I identified the original scope of the onboarding flow, that would assume users would walk through the entire experience of Gradescope in one sitting, would not align with what customers expect from the product. To prevent the development of an onboarding experience that overwhelms customers and doesn’t meet their needs, I did the following:
- I put together examples of effective new/returning onboarding flows from other applications that showcase broken down tutorials.
- Using the competitive analysis, I emphasized with stakeholders that breaking down tutorials into small chunks would encourage more growth by giving users the power of choice. The power of choice refers to the user being able to decide which features they would like guidance on.
- Gradescope users love the ability to grade assignments quickly without anything getting in the way of that process (user interviews also confirmed this). Our users want to save time, not add more time. After realizing this, we decided to change the requirements and move forward with a broken down onboarding approach.
Another challenge was determining which features in Gradescope needed a tutorial. It was important that the new onboarding provide better guidance for users on how to navigate the demo course and how each different assessment type works, along with appropriate scenarios for each one. The last part of the onboarding was to give Institutional Trial users the push they need to advocate for an Institutional License.
- Banners were added to the dashboard to make it more clear to users they are in an Institutional Trial
- Another engagement was added to the Analytics page informing that users will lose access to their premium features when their Institutional Trial is expired. The engagement’s Learn More button directs the user to the appropriate page on the Gradescope website where they are guided on next steps
Designing Solutions
The design phase of this project started out with wireframe boxes over the existing screenshots of the Gradescope app. Wireframes were regularly reviewed during synchronous team meetings with product managers to ensure alignment on the chosen direction and guarantee on-time delivery by the launch date. After wireframes were approved, hi-fi designs were created in Figma that uses Turnitin’s internal design system to keep them consistent with the visual identity of Gradescope. A new product I had to learn quickly was Gainsight PX, a non-UX centric platform I had never used, but this was another opportunity to use my HTML/CSS knowledge to make the engagements that launch in Gradescope to look exactly like the figma designs.
Impact
The final designs of the onboarding experience have successfully led to new growth and engagement of the Gradescope product, in addition to an increase in institutions with a license. The biggest win is how it has raised more awareness of the Gradescope Advocate Program with a new engagement that entices users to learn more. By June 28, 2023, 28 out of 45 users (62%) click on Learn More as shown below. Gradescope advocates continue to help advance growth opportunities for Turnitin.
- The How to Use This Course 3 step carousel for the Tutorial course has a shocking 901/1010 completion rate. meaning they clicked through all 3 slides instead of x-ing out.
