UX Strategy
Understanding the problem, scenario & business
The Problem
The challenge started with the following briefing:
Hello Designer, are you ready to revolutionize education? Congratulations on joining our team. It's an honor to have you here, and we count on you for this mission! High expectations have been set.
You know that distance learning can be challenging. Many people struggle to establish a study routine and can't sustain motivation for long periods.
That's why we're creating an educational platform that doesn't leave the responsibility of self-motivation solely in the hands of professionals.
Every significant step the collaborator takes will be rewarded with points that can be converted into money. Additionally, these points will serve as measurements of performance evaluation and metrics to determine future promotions.
It's important to note that we should exercise discernment and not award points for each and every action.
Actions that bring the collaborator closer to their ultimate goal of investing their time and energy in professional development should be recognized and rewarded. Simple day-to-day actions should be less valued, but we must still show the collaborator the importance of compound effort to progress.
Our platform currently includes:
List of video lessons
List of text lessons
Challenges
Space for comments
Forum for questions, daily discussions, live event announcements, and sharing of internal projects and volunteering opportunities.
The main questions we have today to implement the entire gamification dynamics are:
What other didactic mechanisms can we create to engage collaborators?
What actions should be considered as relevant and grant points in the study journey? How many points should each different kind of action award?
What actions are considered important to managers and the company that we need to encourage collaborators to execute?
How to help collaborators understand the importance of points and the impact it can have on their education and career - beyond the reward of exchanging points for prizes/money?
What gamification mechanisms can we use to translate effort and results into scores such as Points, Badges, Rewards, Ranking, Progress Bars, Multiplicative Factors, Intermediate Goals, etc.?
What biases such as the sunk cost bias, loss of progress, and FOMO can we apply to prevent less motivated individuals from giving up on completing the courses?
We are sure that besides these questions, you will have many others to create a proposal for what would be the best online study platform.
You have a free pass to contact people who study online and understand more about their experience - what frustrates them, what motivates them, what can be improved.
Your goal is to prototype an educational platform implementing tools and mechanisms that motivate employees on their study journey.
It's time! Get to work.
Considering the briefing, we identified our main challenges:
Analyzing the scenario and the operation tasks of training courses offered by companies to identify and understand the pros and cons of the current model according to users and companies.
Developing a solution that boosts the engagement and motivation of employees in the process of professional development.
Facilitating the creation of a collaborative environment with the incorporation of Gamification principles.
The next step was to understand the context of the problem. Hence, we applied the 5W2H Method.
5W2H Method
With the aid of this information, we formulated a hypothesis for the Problem Statement: How can we promote user engagement and motivate these professionals to complete the training courses?
Problem Statement
The purpose of the statement was to put ourselves in the user's shoes, better understand the problem, and clarify what issues the solution needs to address. Moreover, an effective statement aligns the team regarding the situation that needs resolution.
Context: Currently, companies seek engagement from professionals in training courses and active participation in company processes. Among the obstacles are the lack of adherence by employees and a lack of employee participation in choosing courses and activities proposed by the company. As a result, there are dropouts and delays in course completion deadlines.
This causes problems for: Employees, managers, and clients (indirectly).
Why: Because the employee cannot establish a study routine or cannot prioritize the course due to work/life imbalance. It affects the employee because:
The company often does not accurately gauge the value and importance of providing knowledge to the employee.
Employees are not highly engaged.
High cost for the company and fear of course inefficiency.
This is important because:
Employees may become more engaged.
The company will be more likely to retain the employee to better serve its clients.
Employees may gain more autonomy and decision-making power in company processes.
Reduction of errors.
Increased leadership engagement.
Alignment of processes and objectives.
Evaluation of employee performance.
Assists in outlining a career plan.
May provide important and concrete metrics for future promotions.
Individualized evaluation metric based on challenges and results measurements.
Motivates people to be part of something bigger.
Motivates people to acquire and renew knowledge.
The Scenario & Business
Understanding the scenario is a foundational when it comes to designing a solution. To achieve this, we used tools to determine and familiarize ourselves with the stakeholders and the education industry, assess the market conditions, and identify the user profile.
The first step was to employ the Business Model Canvas, a strategic management tool that allows the development and sketching of business models on a single page. This enabled us to analyze the entire business process.
In addition to the Business Model Canvas, we utilized the Value Proposition Canvas to delve into the specificities of the user and the company. This allowed us to analyze their pains, gains, and day-to-day tasks in comparison to the value the product/service can provide.
Business Model Canvas
Value Proposition & User Profile
The Business Model Canvas provided an overall view of the business, targeting medium to large companies and establishing a direct channel of collaboration with Human Resources teams to stay updated on market training demands. On the other hand, our user is the employee. The Value Proposition Canvas is crucial to focus on our target and illustrate how the product fits into the user’s daily life and contributes to their development.
We then progressed to the Certainties-Suppositions-Doubts Matrix (Matriz CSD), consolidating all the information we had and precisely defining what we still needed to uncover.
Matrix CSD
From the Certainties-Suppositions-Doubts Matrix (Matriz CSD), we derived the Impact x Knowledge Matrix tool to prioritize the key uncertainties and information that needed validation. This matrix served as the foundation for developing a subsequent research. It also acted as a guide for the next steps, complementing the Benchmarking, the Desk Research, and the Proto-persona that would be conceived later on.
Impact x Knowledge Matrix
During the research phase, we conducted the Benchmarking process to analyze the course platforms currently available in the market. The objective was to understand the educational platforms and the key gamification elements in each one.
To achieve this, we divided our research into two fronts: apps with gamification elements and education platforms/courses with gamification elements. The first group did not have a specific theme (there are apps for music, languages, programming, and physical exercises), while the second was focused on education (business courses, pre-college courses, corporate training).
For the Benchmarking analysis, we first conducted an exploratory research to examine the different products and their presentation. Next, we mapped the elements and functionalities that appeared most frequently in each front. Finally, we compiled these characteristics into tables to compare and determine which functionalities were detected.
Furthermore, for a more comprehensive view of the functionalities offered by education platforms, we selected the most relevant ones for the business and compared them across the platforms we analyzed. As a result, we were able to determine how we could provide our users with a more complete and effective training experience.
Benchmarking
The Benchmarking analysis was essential for us to understand the different companies and their position in the market. To conclude our initial drawing of the current scenario, we conducted a Desk Research investigating the corporate training market and upcoming trends.
According to the Workplace Learning Report 2022 from LinkedIn Learning, the training and development field became more prominent after the pandemic. This event catapulted digital acceleration further, highlighted the relevance of developing skills and shifted som of the employees’ priorities - such as flexibility and personal fulfillment. The report emphasized that the training area has become more strategic for companies resulting in structural changes, increased budget, and more training opportunities. Another change emphasized was the intensifies focus on well-being. Due to the increase in training, employees need to better manage their time and develop techniques to avoid constantly feeling overwhelmed.
Business Metrics
Before building the platform, it was necessary for us to clarify our goals and which metrics would be important to track during the process to determine how close or far we were to our targets. For this purpose, meetings were held to objectively determine the product, business, and user goals, the guiding metrics, and the proto-persona.
Even though these metrics were specified before the research, meaning there was no concrete data basis for validation, their aim was to align the group and guide the next steps. Additionally, they would later be revisited or altered if needed.
The Product Objectives were identified by the statement below:
Sapiens is a training platform created for the implementation of professional courses. It incorporates gamification strategies to increase user interest and engagement, and streamline the teaching and learning processes.
For the Business Objectives, six main goals were defined:
Incorporate gamification into corporate training courses;
Inform employees about available courses and training;
Encourage course completion;
Facilitate communication between managers and employees and the sharing of feedback;
Provide metrics to illustrate employees’ performance;
Promote updates according to current market trends and demands.
For the User Objectives, the following were defined:
Check the availability of courses and training;
Monitor personal course progress and complete courses within established deadlines;
Stay in touch with colleagues and managers;
Invest in qualification and professional growth;
Balance professional and educational demands;
Promote collaborative actions within the work environment;
Finally, the Metrics outlined were:
Course completion rate;
Duration of study sessions.
Opening of emails and other forms of communication;
Tasks (success rate, execution time, correct and incorrect actions)
After establishing the objectives and metrics, we organized the strategy guiding the development of the product. We applied the HEART Framework to better understand the user experience and guide the next steps in building the platform.
Our main concern during this process was to identify the motivating factors, such as feelings and emotions, necessary to stimulate user participation. We envisioned to ensure that the app provides a positive and high quality experience to its users.
We mapped out the main goal of offering users a playful learning experience and providing convenience when interacting with the platform. Using the HEART Framework, each category was structured as follows:
Happiness
This goal is related to user satisfaction. Happiness in this context is defined by the user entreatment while using the platform and motivation to continue the course. The main strategy here is the gamification elements of the platform. Metrics such as user evaluations and the duration of each study session are used to determine how the user feels about the platform.
Engagement
The active participation of users in courses, where they watch lessons and complete activities, is essential to assess their engagement on the platform. Therefore, metrics such as session duration, progress rates and course completion should be examined.
Adoption
The goal of this metric is to evaluate the number of registrations on the platform and rates of course enrollment. To increase adoption, the solution should provide simple and intuitive registration and access. Additionally, all procedures should be validated through usability tests. Finally, the tracked metrics should include the number of users and enrollees in courses and the receipt and visualization of communications.
Retention
User retention aims to increase access frequency and use of platform features. Thus, signals of enrollment in new courses and general navigation on the platform should be monitored. For metrics, DAU (Daily Active Users), WAU (Weekly Active Users), and MAU (Monthly Active Users) are useful indicators.
Task Success
The ultimate measurement of task success is the completion of courses in their entirety. Tracking the numbers of task completion within each module is a viable way to estimate rates of course completion.
The Framework has established how to monitor our product and user satisfaction.
See below the complete framework:
Framework HEART
After establishing the metrics to be monitored, we delineated a proto-persona to represent the users, understand their pains, and identify their main needs.
The team conducted a meeting to align the basic needs of the user before conducting research through interviews. Each team member presented their proto-persona, which led to the alignment of ideas and allowed the definition of the final version. Additionally, an exploratory research was conducted on the market and potential professionals who will be users.
The persona is a young professional at the beginning of their career struggling to balance work, study, and personal life. The research indicated that the platform's user profile would be young professionals at the beginning or middle of their careers, facing challenges in balancing the course with work, leading to concerns about performance and stress. Managing available time is one of the most impactful challenges for these users.
