Portfolio: Melany Biekarck
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    Cross-functional collaboration
    Cross-functional collaboration

    Cross-functional collaboration

    Context

    This was a fast-moving project for a company in the EdTech space. I was pulled in as a UX writer / content expert during the wireframing stage.

    My most impactful contribution: mapping the customer journey and empathizing with users. This led to a tone that received a positive response, despite high friction.

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    Problem

    The conversion rate of free users to paid users was low. Many users were simply happy with the free experience. The perceived value of a subscription was little to none for many users.

    Goals

    Business: Increase the number of paid users by introducing a reduced free experience and driving users from a trial experience to a platform subscription. Content: Write content that empathetically introduced a reduced free experience and drove trial conversions—without alienating users who were about to have something taken away.

    My process

    1. Discovery: Benchmarked free-to-premium models (LinkedIn etc.), built relationships with UX/UI and marketing early.
    2. Customer journey map: Created the journey map from UXR insights.
    3. Iterated on content: Applied learnings from discovery, journey map, and UXR to draft and revise content.
    4. Stakeholder alignment: Aligned with partners in marketing in particular around the free trial modal (entry point for the free trial).
    5. UXR loop: Contributed to study design, fed results back into revisions.

    Content decisions

    Homepage Hero: Educate

    Hero content: I crafted the body copy in the hero, the pills, and the content tags.
    Hero content: I crafted the body copy in the hero, the pills, and the content tags.

    Hero content considerations:

    • Sets the context and educates the user about the new free experience.
    • Short, simple sentences improve scannability and quick understanding.
    • The tone is positive but not overly excited. We wanted to be empathetic with the user, who was likely returning to a vastly reduced experience.
    • If I could make revisions now, I would experiment with removing the hero. This content is likely no longer helpful to returning users.

    Premium Content: communicate added value of subscription

    Premium content section: I crafted the headline and the body copy.
    Premium content section: I crafted the headline and the body copy.

    Premium content considerations:

    • The headline aims to spark interest and prep the user for a browsing experience.
    • The body aims to show the breadth of content formats (not all of which is visible) and the high quality of the content.

    Trial CTA: funnel users into the trial when they hit the paywall

    Banner content: I crafted the headline, body and CTA.
    Banner content: I crafted the headline, body and CTA.

    Banner content considerations:

    • The banner encourages the user to browse the content. The most convincing moment to start a trial is when the user finds a solution (premium content) to an immediate need (relevant to curriculum) that’s behind the paywall.
    • The activating word ‘Unlock’ is used throughout the free experience, accompanied by the safe icon. This is relatively common for digital platforms, referencing a familiar pattern.

    Modal: activate trial

    Free trial modal: this content was a collaboration with marketing partners.
    Free trial modal: this content was a collaboration with marketing partners.

    Modal content considerations:

    • The primary goal of the modal is to convert curious free users to trial users by highlighting and listing in a hierarchy the benefits users will enjoy, as well as educating the user on the trial terms.
    • The secondary goal is to appease user concerns like, "What can I do at the end of the trial if I like it? Will I be automatically charged if I miss the end date of the trial?”
    • The CTA indicates that the trial will start immediately (no need to fill in forms). It is a low-commitment CTA.

    Outcome

    Results

    • UXR studies confirmed that users found the tone and content satisfactory.
    • As of November 2023 (4 months after release), the overall Newsela Recommended Score (NRS) rose to 65.6, up 1.8 points from the previous year. Notably, among paid users, the NRS jumped by 8.1 points to 70.1, suggesting that the improvements to the premium experience were highly effective and positively received by users.

    What I learned

    There are many tools and models available to help us empathize with the user. Applying those tools effectively paves the way for more targeted and empathetic content. Ideally, this happens in the discovery phase.

    What I would do now

    • Over a year later, the hero content needs to be updated to address the current context.
    • Usage data and UXR studies should be conducted to better understand the user’s mental model of the free and paid experiences. Those results could be used to adapt content.
    • Drop-off rates could help us understand where we are losing the free users and help us to optimize the experience.