Empathy with the user creates a better Day 0 experience

 

GOAL

Improve the Day 0 experience to increase Week 1 engagement, which triggers the North Star metric.

 
 

STRATEGY

Empathize with the user. Understanding users’ career goals will allow us to serve users valuable content.

 
 

TEAM

A large group of cross-functional partners working in a flexible and collaborative environment.

 
 

How I collaborated

I strategized with the team and wrote text. I brought up issues, responded to concerns, and balanced priorities. Four specific ways that played out in this project:

  • Incorporating the principles of Trust design with privacy messaging

  • Crafting effective Error messages

  • Keeping the tone on point

  • Employing the behavioral science principle of the Peak-end rule

 
 

PRIVACY Messages

Transparency about privacy is a pillar of Trust Design. The team knew users cared about privacy; my work reflected that concern. This screenshot is a window into my process—just three of the dozens of variations I wrote.

 
 

Error messages

By asking questions and understanding the user, we realized the problem was that the user wasn’t invested yet. They don’t fully understand that providing their job title will trigger valuable personal recommendations. So, I used that insight and reworked this error message.

 
 

Tone

This is the entry screen. At the top, you’ll notice there isn’t an exclamation mark after “Welcome, Bianca” — A lot of thought about tone went into leaving it off.

This copy involved thoughtful and deliberate work and went through countless iterations; it is doing a lot. From a user’s perspective, while it’s nice to be welcomed, the excitement of being on LinkedIn Learning isn’t apparent yet. The tone does not support an exclamation point.

 
 
 
 

Behavioral Science

This is the last screen in the flow. I like this endplate, but whether something is good or bad is not about whether I like it. It's about its effectiveness at meeting the users' needs and reaching the project's goals.

So, we developed an endplate emphasizing the importance of a good ending for a lasting positive impression. This isn't an indicator that something is over. It's opening the door to what's next.

 
 

RESULTS

By one measure, this project was a tremendous success! it increased career goal-setting by more than 200%.

There is a lot more to this story. Shoot me an email and I’ll explain all about it.