How to Redesign for Student Success Like the Princeton Review

HOW TO REDESIGN FOR STUDENT SUCCESS LIKE THE PRINCETON REVIEW

2 © Ayantek, LLC Confidential

Praveen Ramanathan President & CEO, Ayantek LLC

•  18 years of experience in delivering strategic eBusiness solutions •  Engineer by trade •  Specialties: Customer Experience ▪ Technology ▪ Content Management

•  Founded Ayantek in 2008 •  Profitable since inception •  Average Y2Y growth of ~200% •  Our vision: Enrich the Digital Experience for all users

•  Email: [email protected] •  Skype: Praveen.Ramanathan •  Twitter: #Ayantek

•  Phone: 857-928-5406


About Ayantek We are a Digital Strategy & Solutions firm

•  Using Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud (SMAC) technologies to •  Drive Business Innovation & Productivity •  Increase Customer Loyalty •  Generate Market Opportunities for our customers

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE


State of Test Prep Industry

Market has grown to $4B worldwide, $1B in US

Lots of innovation & new entrants


Landscape Shift Technology innovations have introduced a new dimension

Social Media •  Ability to share experiences •  Feedback and commentary Mobility •  Use of tablets and smartphones •  Students can be anywhere taking courses •  Virtual Tutoring

Interactive Experiences •  Videos •  Gamification •  Real-time


•  Offer test preparation, tutoring and admissions services

•  Online courses, resources, and books (both electronic and printed)

•  Operating through a network of 5,000 tutors and teachers

•  United States, Canada and International franchises

•  Prep for all major admissions tests, including the SAT®, ACT®, SAT Subject Tests™, AP® Exams, MCAT®, LSAT®, GMAT®, GRE®, DAT® and OAR®.

The Princeton Review A leader in helping college and graduate school–bound students achieve their higher-education goals.

OVERALL STRATEGY


Students

Parents

•  Junior High School Students •  High School Students •  College Students •  Graduate Students

•  Parent of Junior High School Students •  Parent of High School Students •  Parent of College Students •  Parent of Graduate Students

Each persona has unique needs List of Personas

Others •  Working Professionals with all levels of education •  Educators


•  Leverage analytics to gather insights •  Personalized experience •  Improve the entire context of the student experience

•  Support ability to logon via their social account •  Engage socially to increase student and parent interest •  Create a mobile friendly experience

Improve user experience

Infrastructure

•  Provide easier access to information •  Provide high degree of context specific to the student •  Demonstrate the 30+ years of value and depth of experience

•  Re-architect the web infrastructure to allow for more rapid addition of features •  Provide an integrated view of the student’s total interaction with TPR

A multi-faceted approach was required to engage users Overall Strategy

Content

•  Provide program guidance and recommendations for courses •  Provide online access to detailed score reports and commentary •  Establish new programs for MCAT and other tests

Social media & mobility

Analytics


To improve the overall user experience and increase engagement User Goals

Design to be useful & usable 1

2

3

Simplify the user experience

Enhance engagement


Registration & Profile Pages •  Registration - Users sign in or register for full access to

princetonreview.com •  Profile – User’s information can be viewed and updated at any time Dashboard Page •  Summary of course information at a glance -- this includes test scores, drill

scores and access to online content

Interactive and Printable Score Reports •  Interactive and printable reports show a user’s exam performance •  Provide insights on how users can improve test scores •  Content includes overall scores, score breakdowns, customized comments,

and access to question information

User Experience Improvements

Three key site areas for parents & students

REGISTRATION & PROFILE


Registration & Profile Registration Page before Redesign


Registration & Profile Registration Page after Redesign

Lightbox Approach – Allows users to quickly exit and return to previous page

Prominent log in link – Helps users find the correct page if they’re lost

Larger Text – Increases readability on phones & tablets

Larger Entry Fields – Allows users to easily tap fields without making a mistake on mobile devices

Personalized Experience – Only asks users questions that pertain to them, making the process shorter

Prominent Call to Action – Tells the user exactly what you want them to do


Registration & Profile Registration Page after Redesign

Save & Finish Later – Allows user to stop process at any time while still saving important information

Progress Bar – Shows user’s progress & how many steps in process Sections vs. Long Page –

Breaks up process for user so it feels shorter


Registration & Profile Profile Page before Redesign

Registration & Profile Profile Page after Redesign

Prominent Navigation – Gives users easy access to other pages

Personalized Title – Includes user’s name for a more personal experience

Prominent Save Button – Tells the user exactly what you want them to do

Tabs Break Up Content – Makes content more digestible for user

Check Marks Show Where User has Filled Out Information – Alerts user to where they have information missing

Larger Text – Increases readability on phones & tablets

School, Course & Event Search – Gives users easy access to search functionality

DASHBOARD


Dashboard Dashboard before Redesign

Dashboard after Redesign

Dashboard

Personalized Title – Includes user’s name & course title for a more personal experience

Test/Drill Scores – User can see test/drill scores & score breakdowns

Switch course dropdown – Allows users with more than one course to quickly change their course

Test Date Calendar Countdown – Keeps user aware of test date

Access to Online/Printable Score Report – User can launch report with more detailed test performance information

Online Content Access – Gives users access to content to help them improve their scores

Shows progress on most recent online content completed/started – User can easily see what they were last working on

Consistent Page Header – on Profile, Dashboard & Score reports

Dashboard after Redesign

Online Content Sections – User can easily see and access all online content sections

Visually shows content that has been completed, is in progress or is not yet started

Dashboard

SCORE REPORTS

Score Reports before Redesign

Score Reports

Score Report after Redesign

Personalized Title – Includes user’s name & course title for a more personal experience

Shows users what schools they would qualify for with a higher score – School titles link to pages with more information

Print-friendly Version – Generates on click

Users performance on sections out of score range

Expands to show question by question performance

Shows users overall score & performance compared to other students – User can launch report with more detailed test performance information

New Score Reports


Personalized Comments – Display based on user’s performance

Questions marked Correct, Incorrect or Skipped – On click, user can view full question and all potential answers

Filter by Correct, Incorrect or Skipped – Personalized view allows for easier exam review

New Score Reports


Consistent experience – Includes features of prospect report with additional insights and details

Progress Over Time – Shows user performance over several tests

Section Scores – Shows progress over time in sections. User can click to get additional score breakdown

Strengths / Areas of Focus – Gives users insights on what areas they excel in and what areas they need to improve

New Score Reports

Section Performance Breakdown – Includes number of questions answered correctly, incorrectly and skipped

Performance breakdown by category and question type – Gives students specific areas within sections to improve

New Score Reports Score Report after Redesign

SAT & ACT Prospect Reports give users a consistent user experience New Score Reports

Printed reports provide similar experience but designed for printing New Score Reports

TECHNOLOGY & ARCHITECTURE


Leverage Social, Mobile, Analytics, & Cloud (SMAC) Technologies Technology Goals

Modular, maintainable, robust Service-Oriented Architecture 1

2

3

A streamlined infrastructure for peak performance, high-scalability, & high availability

Re-orchestrate existing systems for an on-demand student portal experience

A multi-tiered architecture creating a standardized platform for growth TechnologyStack

Integration across multiple internal (traditional) and external cloud-based (SaaS) systems

Architecture

IN CONCLUSION

“ Two of our most-difficult-to-please instructors have already sent positive feedback about the NSRs. Job well done!”

“Amazing”

“Your recent project had the best outcome of any in the last 10 years.”

“OUTSTANDING WORK! You guys Rock!”

“ We’re ge'ng some great feedback from teachers already. Love it! !”

“ I literally got teary eyed when the bulk report link worked. This is awesome.”

“ BRILLIANT. We’ve been wai=ng for this for 5 years.”

Positive Reception What people are saying about the new user experience


A top 10 checklist for you Key Takeaways

Start here: Define SMAC user personas 1

2

3

Review current analytics & usage patterns

Define primary user flows by persona



Conduct an SMAC architecture & platform review 4

5

6

Be Agile: Think it à Build it à Ship it à Tweak it

Go beyond responsive, be adaptive



Set up a core program team for decision making 7

8

9

Institute a Customer Advisory Board

Build a strong vendor-partner network

#10: Register for a SMAC Assessment The SMAC Stack

Register: www.ayantek.com/smac-assessment Learn More: www.theSMACstack.com

Q & A

Education

How to Redesign for Student Success Like the Princeton Review