Take a sneak peek into upGrad's future direction, with a focus on the innovative experiments based on internal UX research studies conducted for all learner-facing experiences throughout the user journey.
Introduction
upGrad is one of South Asia’s largest EdTech companies. Their main objective is to impact the lives of working professionals by helping them upskill while they work. With an endeavour to facilitate quality education to the future workforce through UG and PG programs, upGrad creates immersive online learning experiences for learners globally.
Analysis
Overview
As part of our yearly roadmap planning at upGrad, we embarked on a project to identify opportunities for improving our products and services. We identified the need for a design system and design tokens to speed up design and development while bringing consistency across multiple product offerings. Inconsistencies and varying UI patterns across different services made it imperative to address this issue immediately. To meet pressing business goals, we conducted an in-depth user research study as part of this exploration, which informed our design decisions.
Problem
We noticed a sharp decline in user traffic on our website and app after users viewed our homepage and course offerings. This prompted us to delve deeper into the issue and conduct user research to identify why users were not finding courses that met their requirements.
Contextual Research
Our UX research team, led by Soumya Manivannan and Vipul Jain, aimed to understand the user's goals, motivations, and pain points when searching for an online course on upGrad. We also examined the expectations of users with different levels of work experience. To achieve this, we conducted in-depth interviews and contextual inquiries with 28 upGrad leads, a survey with 300 respondents, and in-depth interviews with upGrad mentors.
Budget Constraints
By visualizing the budgets of learners against Upgrad's offerings, it becomes apparent that the majority of the company's courses are priced beyond the financial means of most professionals. This is due to the fact that these courses are designed as university-level programs, spanning multiple years and requiring a significant investment.
Why does this require solving? — Upgrad's vision and mission are centered around empowering career success and lifelong learning for all members of the global workforce. To achieve this goal, the company must meet users where they are and overcome the challenge of making education accessible and affordable for all, while taking into account the constraints of individual learners.
Time they're willing to commit
In the analysis of learners' preferences, we found that the majority preferred 1 hour and 30 minute slots for online learning and skill development, regardless of their work experience. Interestingly, only a minority of learners were willing to commit an extensive 4-5 hours per day for these activities. As a result, it is essential to design courses and programs that align with the preferred time slots of learners while ensuring that they are engaging and effective.
Learner Intent
In order to understand our learners' core motivations, we conducted a test across nine factors to determine what they were seeking. Our analysis showed that across all groups, approximately one-third (33%) were looking for a new opportunity with long-term potential. Furthermore, among learners with 0-5 years of experience, 38.8% were looking for a completely new career.
Learning Preferences
After conducting an in-depth analysis of the preferred learning platforms, we discovered that free content on YouTube and LinkedIn was highly favored by learners. In order to leverage this insight, we were advised to create goal-oriented channels on these platforms and use them to drive learners towards upGrad's content. By adopting this approach, we could optimize our efforts to attract new users to the platform and increase its adoption rate.
Proposed Vision
Insight #1 — 1 Hour Live Classes Most Preferred Format
After analyzing the popular content durations among our user groups, we found that videos that are less than 2 minutes and 1-hour live classes were most favored. Taking this into consideration, we concluded that there was a need for interactive live classes that are 40 minutes to 1 hour long.
Insight #2 — Diverse Learning Options
To offer more diverse learning options beyond degree programs, we decided to introduce condensed content formats such as micro-courses, expert videos, quick tips and life hacks under 2 minutes, educational games, curated reads, and podcasts for on-the-go learning.
Insight #3 — Consistent Visual Language
upGrad's design system is based on four core values: human, joyful, credible, and growth. It aims to maintain the warmth and human spirit of coaching and peers while providing convenient online learning. Pursuing joyful learning creates a meaningful and emotionally relevant experience, while trust and mutual respect are the foundation of learning. The system intends to deliver growth through the mastery of skills via human and joyful experiences.
