Program Quiz

PROJECT #1

Share a Little Bit About Yourself and Let This 10-Question Quiz Help Find the Best Bachelor’s Degree for You!

An Exploration of How Potential Undergraduate Students Focus Their Future Program Research Process

Choosing the right bachelor’s degree is a challenging process for many young prospective students. At a young age, they often don’t know what they want to study and lack a clear understanding of which programs might be suitable for them. Making such a complex choice can have a significant impact on their professional future and career path.

This is a real problem faced by potential candidates at IE University. To address this issue, we developed a solution after identifying this major pain point in our customer journey. Following an agile approach, we created the IE University Program Quiz, which helps potential IE University students find the right bachelor’s degree program based on their motivations and preferences through 10 easy questions.

Here’s a Summary of What We Did:

1. PERSONAS & PROBLEMS SCENARIOS

Drafted interview guide and focus groups guide.
Conducted 10 interviews and 2 focus groups.
Drafted personas and problems scenarios.

2. PROPOSITION DESIGN & TESTING

Drafted pivotal hypotheses.
Developed assumptions.
Drafted quiz MVP structure.
Defined metrics for measurement and success.
Experiment design.

3. SOFTWARE DESIGN
& PROTOTYPING

Storyboarded key customer journeys.
Drafted user stories and story map.
Developed preliminary prototype for review and testing.
Recommendation algorithm design.

4. USABILITY TESTING & INTERFACE ITERATION

Designed and validated usability test plan.
Created interactive prototype.
Conducted usability test.
Validated prototype after tests.
Quiz development and deployment.

Personas and Problem Scenarios:

Our focus was on studying last year’s high school students (potential undergraduate candidates) who needed to choose a Bachelor’s Degree program without much context or professional experience. Selecting the right program created anxiety and concern. After conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups, we identified the following pain points:

“I am not sure which undergraduate program is the right one for me.”
“I don’t know what professional career path I want to follow after graduation.”
“I know that I want to study at this university, but I don’t know which program is the right one for me.”
“There are so many programs and options and I have to choose one.”
“I need to know that I am making the right decision, I need reassurance.”

Interview Questions Examples:

Because our objective and area of inquiry were broad, we kept initial questions general, and then began narrowing them down as we progressed both with the interviews and focus groups:

Why do you want to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree?
Do you know at which university you want to study?
What types of programs/areas of knowledge attract you the most?
Do you know which undergraduate program you want to study?
If you need more information about a specific program/area, what would you do?
Do you find it hard to choose one undergraduate program? Why?
…
..
.

PROBLEM SCENARIO	ALTERNATIVE	VALUE PROPOSITION
Harold the High School student doesn’t know which is the right program for him.	He could search online on many university websites until he finds a program that seems like a good match.	IE University’s Program Quiz offers a straightforward and accurate recommendation based on 10 questions.
Harold the High School student is worried about making the right choice.	He can ask his school counselor for a recommendation or he can take an aptitude career test.	IE University’s Program Quiz offers three program options based on motivations and preferences quickly.

Given its importance and impact on the application process, the Program Quiz was prominently featured on IE University’s website. It served as an initial step in the application process for individuals who were unsure of which program to choose. Additionally, the quiz was distributed via email (marketing automation) to potential candidates who hadn’t selected a program yet. It also became an asset for remarketing campaigns, targeting candidates who expressed their desire to study at IE University but hadn’t chosen a program.

User Stories:

We anchored our work on user stories like this:

EPIC STORY:

As Harold the High School student, I want to know which undergraduate degree at IE University is right for me so I can start my online application

CHILD STORIES:

As a high school student, Harold wants to know which IE University program would be the right one for him.
As a high school student, Harold wants help in understanding which undergraduate degree matches his motivations and preferences so that he doesn’t have to research so thoroughly.
As a high school student, Harold wants to know if the program he likes is the right choice for him so that he doesn’t make the wrong choice.
As a high school student, Harlod wants an easy way to understand the program portfolio so that he can explore more in-depth only the options that he likes.

What We Built:

After completing UX/UI research and prototyping, we developed the first minimum viable product (MVP) of IE University’s program quiz. Over time, we iterated and improved the product by adding new features and ensuring a better user experience across different screen sizes (responsiveness).

Demo:

VISIT THE PROGRAM QUIZ

Results Summary:

More than 126K pageviews in 2022 (until JAN – NOV).
An average time on page of 4:14 minutes.
Due to the tremendous success of the undergraduate quiz, it has been replicated for IE University’s master’s degree programs and knowledge areas.
The quizzes have been completed more than 350,000 times as of November 2022.
Data shows that potential candidates who complete the quiz are 4 times more likely to start the online application process.