Smashing Magazine is an online magazine dedicated to web developers and web designers around the world. It also runs web design conferences in Europe and North America, known as SmashingConf with a 2.500.000 visitors per month.
PRODUCT
BUSINESS GOALS
Increase video courses + training packages sales with UX tools.
01
Attract users, especially large companies, to purchase online educational products: online seminars and video courses + training packages.
02
Find interesting and engaging formats that will attract people to sign up for workshops.
03
Improve the quality of the educational platform.
04
RESEARCH
  • Product requirements and features
  • User roles and goals
DEEP INTERVIEW WITH USERS TO DETERMINE:
Allowed to assess the current state and conditions, explore the platform, understand how it works, its problems and business needs.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEWS TO DEFINE:
Usability of competitive and alternative solutions;
Needs of the target audience and other potential users;
Find ideas to create effective solutions.
  1. awwwards.com/academy
  2. interaction-design.org
  3. learnuxid.com
  4. www.nngroup.com/courses
MARKET AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS FOR EVALUATION:
Studying user habits when buying online workshops;
Learn as much as possible about users;
Identify the issues the platform is facing
SHADOWING 5 NEW USERS FOR:
358 answers to get information and ideas
QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
Checks and validation of new implementations
TESTING WITH 6 USERS FOR:
PERSONAS
RESULTS
The description of the workshop is missing important information. It is not clear whether there is live feedback at the UX training, lecture recordings. “It is not clear what is included in the workshop.”
We explore and analyze all of our research results to identify the most important needs, pain points and habits of our target users.
01
No one perceives clickable icons at the top as buttons.
08
It is not possible to buy a workshop for a third part (so that all information about the course reaches the workshop participant).
02
The lecturer's page does not contain all the information that is important for the user: a list of his courses, the company in which he works, etc.
04
Confusing user flow for workshop purchases.
03
Users do not see the difference between regular workshops and UX training.
05
Users don't understand the names Master Sheff and Souse Sheff
07
Large companies need individual training for their teams.
09
There is a need for a user account with a list of his trainings and certificates.
06
SOLUTIONS
Home page restructuring
  • Optimization of the header and menu structure.
  • Adding Important Attributes to the Masterclass Card
  • Homepage Optimization with Masterclass Cards
  • Simple architecture, clean and intuitive interface
  • Added a built-in chat support service via email.
The user experience has become easier thanks to:
  • Structuring information on the workshop page;
  • Structural distribution of information on the platform and simplified authorization.
  • Optimized workshop purchase flow;
Optimized the purchase flow of the workshop. Removed the required list of other master classes in the checkout flow.
List of lecturers. Lecturer's page.
  • Optimization of the structure of the list of lecturers on the page of lecturers. Adding lecturer attributes.
  • Adding important informational attributes and user information to the lecturer page.
08
Added account function
  • Added a tab with a list of all workshops on the account page. Certificates.
  • Added account attributes.
LEARNINGS
As a team we committed to launch scrappy solutions to get fast learnings and iterate. We were constantly tracking data and interviewing users to see which experiments were successful, and which failed.