Overview
Course Hero is an online learning platform where students access and share course-specific study materials. Fewer than 5% of visitors move through the sign-up flow—and even fewer convert. As the lead designer on the Growth team, I designed sign-up experiments to identify opportunities to convert more visitors into paying members.
My role
Owned end-to-end design process. Rapid prototyping, followed by qualitative interviews.
Collaborators
Cross-functional partnership between Product, Design, Engineering, and Marketing
Timeline
3 months
2020 launch
Hypothesis
Our highest drop-off rate was on the pricing page (84%), aligning with survey feedback that many visitors felt the price was too high. Because pricing changes required a larger cross-functional effort, we focused on what we could address immediately: understanding whether visitors truly thought the price was too high, or if they simply didn’t understand the value of the membership.
Our hypothesis: clearer communication of Course Hero’s subscription benefits would increase conversion.
Tests
We ran an A/B test with three variants. Two variants introduced an improved sign-up flow with clearer value propositions. The third variant added an extra step to test whether offering personalized resources based on specific courses was more valuable than personalization based only on a user’s school.
Test variant 1: the control
We evenly divided traffic across three test groups. Group 1 acted as the control, featuring the existing sign-up flow that recommends resources based on the school alone, which lacked a clear value proposition and had an outdated look and feel.
Test variant 2: clear value prop + enhanced visual and interaction design
We kept the steps and content in the sign-up flow the same but introduced branded value proposition at the beginning of the funnel. Additionally, we enhanced the brand presence and improved the interaction design for a more engaging experience.
Test variant 3: variant 2 + course-specific recommendations
Group 3 built upon Group 2 by adding course-specific details to the sign-up flow. The hypothesis was that showcasing study content tailored not only to students' schools but also to their specific courses would provide significant value, encouraging them to recognize the long-term benefits of a paid membership.
Impact
We implemented test variant 2, which delivered the strongest performance and improved the sign-up experience through clearer value propositions and personalization. While the A/B test did not reach statistical significance, rolling out the top variant gave us a stronger baseline for future experiments.
The test also clarified that improved messaging alone couldn’t overcome visitors’ price sensitivity or hesitation toward longer-term commitments—insight that helped us fast-track the upcoming pricing work.
Approach
We leveraged design research to gather qualitative insights that would inform and prioritize our A/B testing strategy. The goal was to identify meaningful, incremental improvements to drive higher conversion rates.
Look to people for answers
Unmoderated user testing
We asked a group of 20 people with varying levels of familiarity with Course Hero on Usertesting.com to walk through our website to give us their reactions and thoughts about their general experiences and specifically the sign-up flow.
Key Insights
Strengthen brand awareness
Awareness and understanding of Course Hero as a brand and service were low, even many repeat visitors struggled to recall what Course Hero offered.
Need better motivaiton to explore beyond landing
Many users landed directly on the document details page, quickly finding the content they needed, and then dropping off quickly. They didn’t see a reason to sign up
Make pricing more transparent
The pricing tiers and add-on structure was overly complicated. Many people were confused by what they were buying and often felt the prices were too high for the services they needed.
Build trust
Some users hesitated to commit to a paid membership due to trust concerns. Frequent upsell pop-ups felt intrusive, making it difficult for them to fully grasp the value of Course Hero’s services before encountering the paywall.
Finding direction
Research synthesis
Based on our initial research and within the constraints of working solely on the sign-up flow, we identified some table-stakes improvements to build trust with visitors. Our main hypothesis focused on whether surfacing Course Hero’s core value—course-specific study content—earlier in the journey would increase conversion. We believed that if visitors saw personalized course recommendations before hitting the paywall, they'd be more likely to become members.
Design and test ways to convey course-specific values
Wireframes
UX/UI deisgn
User testing
We explored various storytelling approaches to communicate the potential value of a membership to interested visitors. To validate and refine our concepts, we used UserTesting.com to gather feedback on early prototypes, helping us narrow in on the most promising design direction for A/B testing.
Brand alignment
Visual Design
We collaborated closely with our Marketing and Brand Design partners to refine the language and visual design of the new sign-up experience, ensuring alignment with our shared brand tone and voice—especially on the initial screen, where first impressions matter most.
Product Strategist
Researcher
Designer