Inforens
Inforens, a London-based start-up, links potential higher education students from India, Pakistan, and Nigeria to mentors attending high-ranking universities worldwide. The goal of the project was to boost prospective student registrations on the website and enhance conversion rates.
Time
1 week design sprint as part of the Experience Haus programme
Role
Research was conducted as a team of 4 UX/UI designers. All subsequent design processes were carried out myself
Stakeholder workshop
We kicked off the project with a meeting with the founder, Yash Gulati, by conducting a workshop to create a value proposition canvas to get a better understanding of prospective students' goals. The results from the customer profile showed that this was to secure an offer letter, followed by meeting with current students. We identified that the confusion around requirements and culture shock were some of the biggest pain points.
Understanding students' painpoints
As a team of 4, we aligned on a single research goal to understand the journey, needs, and challenges of students seeking higher education abroad. I conducted a total of 5 interviews individuallyl. We selected interviewees who have been or are currently in the process of applying to a Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in a foreign country and Inforens users and students who have used other educational consultancies.
Key insights
Essay stress
65% of interviees said application essays were the most stressful parts of their application as they were so time consuming
Lost with requirements
There are many moving parts in a single application, including Visa and scholarship applications
Lifestyle tips
Getting insider tips about living abroad helped students to prepare and adjust to a new lifestyle more seamlessly
Alumni experiences
Hearing first hand from family, friends and wider network about universities helped sutdents feel reassured about their decisions
Defining the problem
Problem Statement
Prospective students need to stay on top of all their application requirements because their main priority is to create quality materials that will make them stand out to their desired universities.
Hypothesis
We believe that by providing students an easier way to manage tasks, we can make their workflow more efficient reduce stress levels. We’ll know this to be true when there are faster application completion rates, more positive testimonials and referrals which lead to an increase in sales.
Ideation
I utilized the Crazy 8’s method to sketch potential solutions on paper which allowed me explore a wide range of approaches as the constraints meant I couldn’t focus too long on any individual solution.
I decided to explore a solution based on integrating a personal dashboard into the website’s existing “My account”page where students can track all their tasks, documents, applications and important dates in one screen. I chose to prioritise a desktop version as students would require materials to apply on official university websites on their desktop.
User flow
Learnings from usability testing
For an initial round of usability testing, I noted the challenges users faced while completing the primary goal of creating a task and adding a deadline.
Prototype
Results: client feedback
Next steps
If I had more time on the project, I would:
• Conduct more usability tests on the dashboard
• Develop a mobile version of the solution
• Explore additional features around organization and mentor-mentee communication