Internship / Skillify Freemium

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Background: Skillify offers a coding bootcamp for students learning to code and starting a career in tech.

Problem: The program is an expensive commitment that requires trust in the coaches and curriculum before buying.

Solution: Build a freemium experience for two Skillify coding courses to allow prospective students to try the learning platform before enrolling in the paid bootcamp.

My Role: I designed onboarding modals, pricing/plans page, tooltips, and opt-ins for the premium plan.

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RESEARCH

I conducted 6 user interviews with Skillify students to identify pain points and insights to improve the product and marketing strategy. I also did online research on the advantages/benefits of offering a freemium model and the average conversion rates.

Interview Findings:

• Most students heard about Skillify through word-of-mouth or LinkedIn
• Students enjoyed Skillify’s unique method of learning coding through real projects
• Students most valued the personalized coaching and mentorship
• Students are more likely to purchase a product if they have tried it (i.e., free trial, freemium)

Research Findings:

• Codecademy started off 100% free, growing its user base to over 200,000 people within 3 days.
• The average conversion rate for freemium models is between 2% to 5%.
• Spotify is a great example of a successful freemium, achieving an exceptional conversion rate of 46% in 2019.
• A freemium model should have a frictionless onboarding process to ensure that users understand the benefits of upgrading to the premium version and are motivated to do so.

Skillify’s Value Proposition:

Students gain relevant coding skills and experience by working on real projects in a cross-functional team, while receiving personalized coaching from experienced professionals.

How might we help aspiring coders realize the value of a coding bootcamp?

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IDEATION

Before starting any designs, I created a rough user flow to illustrate the two different pathways students can take. To ensure a frictionless onboarding, our team streamlined the signup process by integrating Google Account Signup/Login and enabling automatic course enrollment for freemium users, so that they can get started right away.

FINAL DESIGNS

Freemium vs Premium Plan (Landing Page)

Onboarding Modals (Student Portal - Website)

Onboarding Modals (Student Portal - Mobile)

LEARNINGS

This project taught me how to thoughtfully design and consider user-centred design principles to minimize user friction and avoid negative user experiences. Since these modals represent the onboarding experience for first-time users, I chose to reduce the number of modals (from 5 to 3), keep the design simple/uncluttered, and limit the amount of text in order to avoid overwhelming the user with too much information.

Throughout my internship at Skillify, I learned how to collaborate with developers/engineers, handoff designs for development, and build/ship a minimum viable product. I grew significantly during my time at this startup because I was the sole Product Designer for many projects and participated in the entire process, from research, ideation, design, to testing and implementation.

Since we launched the freemium model at the end of my co-op term, I unfortunately don’t have access to the conversion rates and success metrics. Nonetheless, it was an insightful learning experience and helped me recognize the value of a freemium model to grow a business.

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