Phase I - Explore registered user motivations, needs, frustrations

Background & Objectives

Chegg has millions of registered users, defined as created accounts but are not subscribers. 

There is limited information on motivations and considerations of registered users, but our business analysts identified registered users as significant potential for Chegg.

Research Objectives

Member

• Discover the mindset of registered users who haven’t converted

• Explore user intentions for creating accounts and the barriers for adoption

Potential resubscriber

• Understand how past subscribers continue their educational careers

• Learn what motivates a past subscriber to resubscribe

Business Goals

• Improve the conversion rate (CVR) of website from Registered Users

• Generate incremental revenue from our subscription services

My Contributions

I led all project planning phases including: Designing the methodology; drafting the study plan and schedule; securing and managing participant recruitment; independently drafting the discussion guides; coordinating prototyping efforts. I also managed another UX researcher that assisted with the logistics of the diary study. 

Method

Diary study allowed me to gain insights within the seasonality of 6 different cohorts of users over a 3 month period.

Each week, participants were asked to keep track of their tasks during the week. Specifically, any time they went to the internet to search for help in school, any interactions with Chegg through their daily life. Participants were asked to submit their entries at the end of each week. 

Every other week, participants had follow up interviews that allowed me to dive deeper into their entries and have a chance to explain

Participants

Undergraduate students in the United States considered 1st - 3rd years who: 

• Group 1

  • Previously subscribed to Chegg in Fall 2022 but not active

• Group 2: 

  • Signed up for an account but never subscribed to Chegg

• Utilized traditional internal recruiting processes 

Outcomes

Key findings

Value

• Users don’t know what Chegg can do for their educational experience

• Users need to be certain that Chegg will be applicable and useful

Moment of Need

• Users would resubscribe if there was a need for Chegg 

• Even though users have already used Chegg, users are still unaware of the additional features

Worth

• More likely to subscribe with a discount

• Price is extremely important when deciding to pay for subscription

Impact

• For potential resubscribers, we should pinpoint our moment to re-educate users on the whole suite of tools

• Evaluate and improve the value props

• Explore providing coupons or discount for users

# phase 1 end #

Phase II - Concept testing

Background & Objectives

Based on a diary study I conducted, we learned that students purchase Chegg in a moment of need. Users are "in a rush to get unstuck" from a homework problem or school-related challenge and they're looking for minimal amount of information. When they’re shopping, they’re not looking at additional information but they have tunnel vision for their needs. At the time of purchase, students aren’t interested in additional features that Chegg offers. 

It’s very common for students to cancel their subscription during the summer time (no classes) and resubscribe to Chegg when their courses resume. We identified that resubscription is the appropriate time to re-introduce and educate additional features to build on their knowledge of Chegg's tools. 

Research Objectives

• What do users think about upgrading from basic to premium? 

• What do users understand about each upgrade resub flow?

• Which flow do users prefer? Why? 

Business Goals

• Increase premium take rate

My Contributions

I led all project planning phases including: Drafting the study plan; securing stakeholder buy-in; led cross-functional brainstorming discussions that resulted in alignment; packaged actionable insights into clear deliverable that was communicated to all stakeholders

Method

I interviewed 10 undergraduate students that had previously subscribed to Chegg in the prior school year. Students explored one design, and then experienced the second design to compare and contrast. Half of the participants saw Design A first, while the other half saw Design B first.

Participants

Recruited for undergraduate students in the United States who: 

• Previously subscribed to Chegg in Fall 2022 but are not active 

• Considered freshmen to juniors in Fall 2022

Utilized traditional internal recruiting processes 

Outcomes

Key findings

• One-page resubscribe upgrade is streamlined and quick

• Users prefer the radio buttons to decide on their selection

• Radio button allows clicking back and forth like making a decision 

• Comparing plans is easier with fewer check marks but there is no difference between plans in version B

• Having two CTAs can be overwhelming for users

The research resulted in a one-click design that clearly displayed value props for returning customers and increased conversion. 

Impact

My research findings directly impacted our business goals:

• Basic to Premium Upgrade modal 

  • Increased 50% increase from basic to premium upgrades

  • Generated millions of dollars in annual incremental revenue from subscription services