LEVELUP
Redesigning the "freemium" model and highlighting the value it brings to users.
MY ROLE
Prototype Lead
Usability Test Lead
Assistant Project Lead
TOOLS
Figma
Figjam
Google Forms
TIME
6.5 weeks (Oct - Dec 2022)
RESULTS
Achieved SUS score of 82/100
Clearly articulated the value of the pricing plans
Improved branding and visual design
About the project
This is the capstone project of my UX course, and I worked with 4 teammates to redesign the "freemium" model and pricing plans of an edu-tech start-up. We used this opportunity to practice and hone our skills in areas that we had less experience in. For me, that was prototyping.
About LevelUp
LevelUp is a edu-tech startup founded by Patricia Vlad that offers an online child psychometric assessment tool. The unique selling point of this product is the gamified experience, which makes it more engaging and attractive for children. Their products include:
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Free gamified psychometric test
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Free summarised report
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Paid detailed report
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Paid private consultation with an education specialist
Our client hoped for us to improve the pricing model. After our initial meeting, we identified:
Key Objective
Improve users' understanding of the "freemium" model and the difference between each pricing plan
Secondary Objective
improve the overall UX of the website, but adhering to the existing design system and avoiding major changes
The current context
The client had an existing website and design system that they were in the midst of implementing, hence we had to work within those boundaries. In consideration of the development team who was already coding the website, we should not propose major tweaks to the website.
When we analysed the website, we discovered that the landing page briefly mentioned only 1 pricing option. Users would not see all pricing options and what they offer until after their child has completed the game and received the free report. There was a lack of transparency.
In addition, the free report was already very detailed and it was not immediately clear which contents were paid and what the value-add was.
Discover
Competitive Analysis
We identified 3 competitors offering online psychometric assessment tools and studied their pricing models.
About
Know & Love is a online personality test for children.
16 personalities is an online MBTI personality assessment tool.
DiCS is an online personality assessment tool for the workplace.
Free
test and basic report
test and basic report
None
Paid
PDF guidebook
premium report and in-depth tests
test and report
Pricing
on their store page and at the end of the report
on a dedicated premium guide pricing page
on the shop catalogue page and at the end of the report.
Comparative Analysis
We also referenced websites which had similar tiered-pricing models and studied how they introduced their pricing plans.
01
All three showed clearly what is included in each plan.
02
Shutterstock and Google One highlighted their preferred plans more strikingly.
03
Google One and Netflix clearly compared the plans.
User Interview and Usability Test
Goal
(Interview) To understand why users might want their child to take a psychometric test, and if they would be willing to pay for it.
(Usability test) To discover at which point users would like to be shown the pricing plans, and how much they would be willing to pay.
Format
Virtual (Zoom) and in-person
Target Group
Parents with children between the ages of 5 and 15
No. of users
5
Key Questions
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Has your child taken any psychometric tests? Why / Why not?
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If yes:
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What information were you trying to find out from the psychometric test?
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Where did your child take the psychometric test? What did you like / dislike about it?
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What did you find useful from the results / report?
-
-
If no:
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Under what circumstance would you want your child to take a psychometric test?
-
-
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Would you be willing to pay for your child to take a psychometric test? What is a price range that you would be willing to pay?
Usability Test Task
Landing Page
You are looking for a psychometric test for your child and have landed on this page. Please look around and let me know what you think and feel about this landing page.
Report
You have decided to enroll your child in this psychometric test. Your child has completed the free game and you received an email inviting you to view the results. Please show me how you would do so.
Pricing options
Did you notice the pricing options? Please show me where you would expect to see them.
Would you purchase a paid plan? Why or why not?
Findings
Users found the information on the landing page too broad. It did not "land" 😏 with them or speak to their needs. They also could not understand the value they would get out of the product.
But I already know my child pretty well. Why would I need this test?
What does "most scientific" mean?
Are you saying that this report doesn't need to be read holistically?
Almost all the users missed the small mention of it on the landing page, and they did not realise there were paid options until they got to the report dashboard. They also found the current pricing option of $10 to "Unlock A Page" unnecessary as they would much rather pay a little more for the full report, especially if it was meant to be read holistically.
Users were confused by some information presented in the report. For example, they did not understand that 3 of the 4 personality types presented in the report were there for reference and comparison only, and were NOT their child's results.
Some users also thought that the free report already contained very detailed information, and hence felt less enticed to purchase the full report.
I didn’t get this at all. I thought these were all my child’s results.
We conducted affinity mapping and synthesised the following statements:
01
I want to see how LevelUp would be a value-add for my child’s growth
02
I want to know if LevelUp can be trusted / is credible
03
I want to know what exactly it is I’m paying for
04
I want to know what I’m getting from the consultation
Define
The client already has an identified user persona, so we used our research data to refine it as below.
Heather Tan
35, HR manager, married with 2 children (ages 6 and 10)
Bio
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Busy working mother
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Time-starved and frequently distracted by her children seeking attention
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Invested in children’s holistic growth
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Feels confused over her children’s behaviours and unsure how to manage them at times
Goals
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Want to know if the game is suitable for kids (age range too wide)
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Wants clear and easy to understand information about the pricing plans.
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Wants to easily find out the difference in the value she is getting out of each pricing plan.
Needs and Expectations
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Know what product is like at a glance
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Bite-sized and digestible test results
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For game to be short due to children’s short attention spans
Frustrations
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Unsure if product is reliable or can be trusted
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Unsure about benefit of the product
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No pricing information on landing page
Problem Statements:
Heather needs to be made aware of the pricing options so that she is not caught off-guard.
01
Heather needs to believe in the value of product so that she is willing to commit time and resources.
02
Develop
Heather needs to be made aware of the pricing options so that she is not caught off-guard.
01
Heather needs to believe in the value of product so that she is willing to commit time and resources.
02
How might we present pricing options clearly so that Heather is well-informed to make purchase decision?
How might we position the test as credible and useful so that Heather is willing to let her children take the test?
Solution:
To redesignthe landing and report pages to present pricing plans opportunelyand increase the perceived credibility and value of the productso that users are more willing to purchase the full report.
Proposed User Flow
In redesigning the user flow, we made 2 key changes:
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Allow users to view the pricing options at the landing page rather than after their child has completed the game; and
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Allow users to add on consultation even after they have purchase the premium report, so that they are not forced to make the purchase decision at the start.
Design Iteration
We prioritised redesigning the landing page and paywall as those were the first touch-points for users, and hence most impactful.
Original Design (A)
Redesign (B)
05
Expanded step 4 to describe the premium report and how users would benefit from it.
06
Being transparent and upfront about the pricing plan, and the value users will get out of each option
07
Remove the option to purchase 1 page only and replaced it with the free report option so as to retain 3 options for better presentation
01
02
03
01
Edited the hero text so that it spoke to their needs
02
More context about the product and what it was
03
Being transparent about the "freemium" model
04
04
Collapse steps 1 to 3 using a carousel design to declutter the page.
05
06
07
Comparison Study
In order to get quick feedback about our design iteration, we decided to use a survey questionnaire that we could disseminate to a larger number of users. We gave users scenarios and asked them to choose between Design A (the original) and Design B (our iteration) on a number of criteria - e.g. clarity of value, credibility, ease of understanding of pricing plan.
Format
Online survey (Google Forms)
Target Group
Users who fit the user persona
No. of users
29
Scenarios
Landing Page
Imagine that you’re a parent of a 10 year old child. You’re looking for a personality test for your child and you happen to open the LevelUp website.
Pricing Plan
You decide to have your child do the personality test. After your child completes the test, you receive the free basic report. You want to find out more about the full premium report, and you see this pricing plan.
Findings
For the landing page, users gave mixed responses. They preferred Landing Page A for some criteria, and Landing Page B for others.
Landing Page A
vs
Landing Page B
Users preferred Landing Page A for:
-
Visualising the process to obtain the report from start to finish
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Presenting the company’s credibility
Users preferred Landing Page B for:
-
Providing clear information about the value of the service offered
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Highlighting the need to pay for a full report
For the pricing plan, user were more unanimous in preferring Pricing Plan B for all the criteria.
Pricing Plan A
Pricing Plan B
Users preferred Pricing Plan B as:
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it provides a better explanation of the benefits of and differences among the pricing options
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it helps users make faster decisions by drawing their attention to the “Best Value” option
Deliver
Hi-fidelity Prototype
From the survey, we use the design of Landing Page A, and incorporate elements of Landing Page B that users liked (i.e. hero text, description of the premium report and pricing plans). For the pricing plan, we went ahead with B, the preferred design.
We added a payment flow for the client. As the Education Specialist held a full-time job and would not have time to manually reach out to each individual user to book the consultation slots, we included a Google booking calendar into the check out flow so as to streamline and automate the process:
We also had time to redesign the report pages this time based on feedback from the initial user research, so that the information is presented in a clearer and more enticing manner. I have outlined the main improvements to the report pages below:
Combined "Dashboard" and "Personality Type" page into a more comprehensive "Overview" page
The current "Dashboard", which is the first page users see for the report, is too bare-bones with little information. We wanted to present more information in an appealing and enticing way so that users would want to click through the other pages.
+
=
03
Redesigned the Personality Type information so it's easier to understand.
03
02
01
Simpler and smaller design
01
Used colours to emphasise the test results, improving readability and appeal.
02
Designed a more comprehensive bottom navigation bar
04
04
Designed a visual teaser for locked content to entice users to purchase
In our user interview, some users thought that the free report already has very detailed information, and hence felt less enticed to purchase the premium report. In response, we designed a visual teaser to provide users only a glimpse of the detailed analysis present in the premium report.
01
Hid more of the premium information and gave only a glimpse to make it more enticing.
01
Redesigned and reorganised the "Personality Trait" page
The original "Personality Traits" page had a lot of wall text, so we moved standalone content to a separate page and redesigned it to look cleaner and more visually appealing. We also decided to lock some of its content as premium, so as to not give away so much in the free report.
01
02
03
Locked "Sub-traits" content as premium. Added a visual indicator of the 3 levels (high, low and inconclusive)
02
Moved "Tips for Caretakers" to a separate page.
01
Added a top-up option for consultation.
03
Hi-fi Usability Test
Tasks
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Explore the website and determine whether you would let your child take the personality test, and whether you would purchase one of the plans.
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Your child has taken the personality test. Explore the free report and determine whether you would purchase the premium report.
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Purchase the premium report and explore the unlocked content.
Format
Virtual (Zoom) and in-person
Target Group
Selected users from the initial user interview and comparison study
No. of Users
4
Findings
Users rated the System Usability Score (SUS) score at 82/100. According to industry standards, this score is A-ranked (above 80.3) and considered excellent.
In particular, they liked:
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Vibrant choice of colours and glimpses into the gamified personality test (the visual images)
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Being able to locate the information they needed easily (i.e. product description, pricing and company credibility)
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Clear articulation of the value of the different pricing packages
Users also suggested some areas for improvement which we were able to quickly implement:
01
Add currency to pricing
03
Highlight the benefits of the private consultation so that it is more obvious
02
Add a CTA to upgrade to premium report at the bottom of "Overview"
For Future
Users also gave other suggestions which would be useful for future consideration:
01
Include a video demo of the game
02
Personalised user profile photo for kids
03
Additional payment option such as PayNow
Other Food For Thought
01
Most users felt that they already knew their child’s personality, strengths and growth areas well - instead, what they found useful were actionable tips.
The client could benefit from providing more of such content (e.g. expert videos explaining or demonstrating the tips).
02
Users also wanted to know what the next step is after receiving the report, e.g. links to enrichment classes, activity ideas or resources such as videos, articles or books.
There is potential to expand the product lines (e.g. offering customised programmes for different personality types) or potential partnership with other businesses.
03
Users were uncomfortable with the idea that every child can be classified into only 4 personality types.
It would be important to explain how this is backed by science in order to lend credibility to this methodology. This could eventually be in the “About the Test” page.
Reflections
1. Not starting from scratch doesn't make it easier.
This was the first time I've embarked on a UX project that builds on prior work done. We though it might make things easier, but we ran into more constraints. Since the client's developer team had already started coding the pages based on the previous group's designs, we were limited in the number of changes we could propose. We also had to ensure that they were easy to implement, so that the developer team's work would not go to waste.
2. Communicate frequently with the client!
Right from the start of the project, we established formal channels of communication with the client and set up meetings with them and the other stakeholders, such as the business and research teams. We also pre-planned for each meeting so that the time is well spent on getting the client up to speed on our progress, and consulting them on their feedback. This really helped in ensuring everyone was on the same page at any time.