Research · Product Design
Introduction
What sets Aifer apart is their unique focus on emotional learning, delivering not just top-tier educational content but also vital mental support and psychological motivation.
My Role
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Research
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Analysis
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Product design
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Design System
The Team
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1 designer, 1 product manager and 2 developers
Results
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Created a design system for Process9 from scratch.
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Established success metrics to measure user engagement and efficiency.
The problem
When I first met Aifer, it was like watching a talented student buried under too many textbooks. The app had great content but suffered from "kitchen sink" syndrome - every new feature request got added without strategy.
Key Issues
🥱 Students abandoning courses mid-way
Support/marketing teams were frustrated with increasing number of whatsapp messages from students about exam pressure and technical faults.
🖥 Inconsistent UI
Moxwords followed dated UI paradigms from an old tech stack, with critical usability issues.
🎧 Support teams drowned in Whatsapp messages
Critical support (motivational content, mentorship) was scattered across WhatsApp, telephone and YouTube.
📉 Conversion rates less
than 10%
Students lacked clarity on course quality and instructor credibility.
Overview of the old interface
Process
With no budget for traditional studies, we became UX detectives: Relying on alternative methods that were both swift and budget-friendly. I found two approaches particularly effective:
☕ Coffee cup interviews
Spending time with Marketing, Support and Academic team to understand recurring complaints and needs.
🏎️ Competitor benchmarking
Reverse-engineered by selected six industry leading EdTech platform offering similar courses and studied why they succeeded.
(Unacademy, Adda 24x7, Coursera, Entri, Simplilearn and Udemy.)
⚙️ Stakeholder Workshops
Collaborated with sales, academic and support team to align features with pedagogical goals.
Research Process
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Engaging in a conversation with Employees in Aifer to understand their work and struggles
User Behavior Mapping: Analyzed employee interviews to reveal user needs and pain points.
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Competitor Insights: Studied engagement strategies of top EdTech platforms. (Unacademy, Adda 24x7, Coursera, Entri, Simplilearn and Udemy.)
Streamlining Features. Created a detailed Information Architecture for clarity.
Key takeaways
1. 💰 High drop-off at payment stage: Marketing leads showed significant drop-off when reaching the payment stage, indicating potential friction in the conversion process.
2. 😕 Trust deficit in content quality: Student inquiries were primarily focused on free previews and content quality, suggesting a lack of trust in the learning material.
3. 🎧 Emotional support outside the platform: Students sought emotional support through external channels, particularly WhatsApp, leading to fragmented communication.
4. ⛓️💥 Disjointed learning experience: Videos, study materials, and tests were siloed, disrupting the continuity of the learning journey.
5. 📉 Decreasing motivation over time: Student motivation declined as the exam date approached, contributing to disengagement.
6. 😖 High cognitive load in competitive exams: Exams like UGC NET were perceived as overwhelming, increasing mental fatigue and frustration.
7. 👥 Preference for peer learning: Some students found peer interactions beneficial, as they provided motivation and a sense of accountability.
Design goals
🧭 Simplify
Reduce cognitive load through guided workflows.
❤️ Empathize
Integrate emotional support into every interaction.
👏 Motivate
Encourage consistent engagement.
📏 Scale
Build a design system for future courses
Final Outcome : Highlights
We envisioned the first impressions like a perfect first date – welcoming but not overwhelming. The communication should be relevant to the user and also confidence giving
New user onboarding
Existing onboarding
Display of content relevant to the user and availability of context switiching
'First date' Onboarding
User Scenario
Users need relevant content quickly without feeling overwhelmed.
Solution
✅ Guest login allows users to explore courses without commitment.
✅Minimal Q&A (exam goal, name, dob and state) gathers essential information to display personalized course recommendations.
Design goal
Simple
How to increase conversions?
During interviews with Aifer employees, it became clear that students were very keen on offers but often unaware of them. Additionally, high prices were causing most drop-offs, as the target audience was uncomfortable paying the average course price of Rs. 20,000.
Highlighting offers
User Scenario
Students hesitated to purchase courses with high cart value
Solution
✅Dynamic banners for festival discounts, referral bonuses, and demography-specific offers with countdown timers.
✅Algorithmic prioritization based on user behavior (e.g., frequent cart abandoners see installment plans).
Design Goal
Motivate
Free video classes
Free ebooks
Quick trial of value offerings
Free courses for quick enroll
Free Classes and Tests: Boosting confidence
User Scenario
Students hesitated to purchase courses without sampling content.
Solution
✅Free Previews: Part of every course accessible without login.
✅Promoted free classes within the app using existing YouTube content.
✅Free trial of value offerings
Design Goal
Motivate
Trust Surgery Through Transparency
User Scenario
Students questioned instructor credibility, course quality before enrolling.
Solution
✅Professor Spotlight: Teacher intros with "PhD in Economics, Lecturer at MGR University" badges.
✅Success Story Testimonials: Success stories of students were added along with course description.
✅Course X-Ray: Upfront syllabus + sample videos + Course intro videos + FAQs along with description.
Design Goal
Empathize, Motivate
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Affordable Access with Partial Purchases
Fragmentizing Payments: Solving the ₹20,000 Problem
User Scenario
High cart values caused drop-offs.
Solution
✅Installment Plans: Split payments into 3-6 months to bypass high cart value.
✅Selling test & materials at lower price (partial conversion aiming potential full conversion in the future)
Design Goal
Empathize, Motivate
Learning journey better than ever
Earlier course structure was like videos, tests, and materials being placed separately, leaving the learning sequence up to students or requiring guidance from academic coordinators.
Structured Learning Path
User Scenario
Students skipped theory to binge-watch videos. Dropped off without accessing many siloed contents.
Solution
✅Structured learning: Designed a logical lesson sequence for holistic engagement.
✅Seamless Navigation Between Lessons: Added Next/Previous buttons for easy transitions. This reduces friction and ensures a smooth learning experience.
Design Goal
Simplify, Empathize, Scale
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Affordable Access with Partial Purchases
Examinations: Engagement and Insightful Reviews
User Scenario
Students lost momentum without rewards.
Solution
✅Easy Question Navigation: Facilitate seamless movement between questions.
✅Comprehensive Review Metrics: Provide detailed insights into performance trends, strengths, and weaknesses.
✅ Re-Attempt Mode: Offer a "re-attempt" mode without displaying correct answers, encouraging deeper learning.
User Scenario
Simplify, Motivate
Chat Support: Direct Mentor Access
User Scenario
Students switched to WhatsApp for doubt resolution and felt isolated and needed immediate support.
Solution
✅Integrate an in-app chat for seamless communication with mentors.
✅Offer real-time doubt resolution, eliminating the need to switch to external apps.
Design Goal
Simplify, Empathize
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Integrated Note-Taking
User Scenario
Students struggled to recall key lesson points without a structured system.
Solution
✅Allow students to take notes directly within the app while watching videos or reading materials.
✅Offer easy organization and revision by keeping all notes within the same environment.
Design Goal
Simplify, Empathize
Progress Tracking
User Scenario
Students couldn’t measure improvement.
Solution
✅The Exam Analysis : provides detailed insights into test scores and performance trends.
✅Overall Progress Tracking gives a broader view of course completion and learning consistency.
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Affordable Access with Partial Purchases
User Scenario
Motivate, Simplify
Gamification
Earlier course structure was like videos, tests, and materials being placed separately, leaving the learning sequence up to students or requiring guidance from academic coordinators.
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Game On: Turning Grind into Glory
User Scenario
Students lost momentum without rewards.
Solution
✅Leaderboard: The leaderboard allows students to compare their progress with peers, encouraging competition.
✅Study Streak-Rewarding Consistency
✅ Learning Badges for completing tasks
User Scenario
Motivate
Hive : Social Learning with Study Buddies & Silent Cheers
Students have diverse learning styles—some thrive in peer-based study environments, while others prefer independent learning.
From user interviews, it was evident that peer engagement played a crucial role in motivation and curiosity. Seeing others’ progress pushed students to stay consistent, while discussions with fellow learners helped in knowledge retention.
Social learning
User Scenario
Peer interaction was limited to external google meets or whatsapp communities.
Solution
✅Sharing learning progress: Students can share their learning status to track and celebrate progress, encouraging consistency and motivation.
✅Poll question for interactive learning: Polls encourage peer-driven knowledge testing and engagement.
✅Learning Stories: Quick Study Updates: Polls encourage peer-driven knowledge testing and engagement.
User Scenario
Empathize, Motivate
Emotional and Psycological Support
Aifer’s unique approach to education goes beyond just delivering content—it emphasizes emotional well-being, making it an Emotech Learning System. Many students struggle with self-doubt, burnout, and exam anxiety. To address this, a dedicated section focused on emotional and psychological support was added.
Flexible Pricing for Higher Conversions
allowing users to choose between a discounted one-time payment or shorter installment-based plans.
Affordable Access with Partial Purchases
Progress Tracking
User Scenario
Students battled burnout alone.
Solution
✅Dedicated section for emotional support.
✅Motivational video.
✅Motivational articles which supports in regional languages as well.
✅Chat/call support
User Scenario
Empathize
Design system development
Another key deliverable of this effort was to create comprehensive design system so that developers and designers from first and third party partner teams who wish to enhance or scale the system can do so with ease.
Excerpts from the design system
What is next?
I need to validate my design decisions with based on the key metrics such as conversions, user engagements, retention rates and average time spent.
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A/B Testing for Engagement Features – We plan to experiment with different engagement strategies and UI variations to identify what drives the highest user retention and satisfaction
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Enhancing the Dashboard for Learning Insights – Improving the dashboard will offer clearer, more actionable insights into user behavior, helping stakeholders make data-driven decisions to optimize content strategies.
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Establishing an Analytical Framework – Implementing Firebase Analytics will allow us to track user interactions more precisely, measure feature effectiveness to optimize future strategies.
The biggest learning from this project is the tradeoff between quality and cost. Obviously nothing is ever "done" because there is always another idea. However, designers have to learn to balance between time, cost and quality constraints.
Redesigning 'Aifer Learning App' has been an incredible learning opportunity for me. And am really grateful that Aifer has given me full control over design decision though i was not at the luxury of time and budget. They were open to changes and always listened to me.