PW Offline Admission Journey
This case study outlines my role in developing the offline center admission process on the PW App/Website as a Product Designer. This was the first product of its kind in the PW App, aimed at increasing the visibility of Vidyapeeth centers. The flow received a 4/5 NPS rating for assisting students in deciding on offline courses.
My Role
Research, Ideation, Strategy, Visual Design, Prototyping
Tools/Methods
Figma, User Interviews, Competitor Analysis, UX Audit
Team
2 Product Managers, 8+ Engineers, 3 QAs & well, ME!
In a world where education was the key to dreams, students wanted to join PW Offline Learning centres(Vidyapeeth). But there was a problem. They could only view centres near them on the app. The conversion rate from the app at the point was only a mere 0.27%
Once upon a time
Why we did it in phases?
We implemented the product in 3 different phases. First in January 2023, the MVP. Second phase in May 2023 with enhancements and some added features and a fresh look finally in January 2024.
We see a spike of admissions for JEE/NEET Preparations during specific months, first in January and then in May/June. This is why we divided the whole project in phases so we could release quickly.
We asked students what mattered to them most while choosing a learning centre to identify what we were missing in the product. Their responses led us to a few prominent personas:
Understanding Student Needs
“I would prefer a learning centre that is near my residence. Saves time in commute and leaves more for self study!”
““I’ve heard so much about Kota being a hub for competitive exam preparation. I feel that studying in a popular city like Kota would give me an edge and better opportunities.”
“The fees are a big factor for me. I need to make sure that the center I choose is affordable. My family has a budget, and I need to find an option that fits within it.”
“I prefer a hybrid mode of study. I think having the flexibility to attend some classes online and some in person will help me manage my time better”
We as a team took some time together to digest these insights from students and got to brainstorming. We explored every possibility from map view to personalised recommendations to advanced search.
Brainstorming the path forwards
Map view for nearby centre locations
Exam & category selection to simplify choice of centre
Advanced search using city names and/or pin codes
Book a visit to the centre
Multistep form to allow students to checkout quickly
Personalised page based on location
Visibility of running discounts on specific centres
Allowing student to select city/centre before checkout
The first big challenge the team faced was the student’s journey should be centred around. We had the following options:
What should the journey be centred around?
❌ Around the location of the student
❌ Around the student’s exam or learning goal
✅ Let the student control their own journey
We as a team decided to go with 3. The reasons are as listed below.
Is distance the most important factor?
Additionally, students prioritised other factors like
Affordable Fees
Study Mode Preference
Reputable Location
By doing this, we allowed the students to explore options based on their personal preferences, whether it be distance, fee, mode or city reputation and enhance their decision making.
Our approach to designing the admission journey was based on a guiding philosophy of starting with broad, task-negative exploration and gradually narrowing down to direct, intent-driven actions.
Our Guiding Philosophy
Since this project is very vast, I have added the mockups for some major flows only.
Product Mockups
To provide a rich, immersive experience, we introduced a showreel and a photo album to showcase our centres. This visual tour is designed to help students get a true feel of the environment and facilities.
A Visual Tour of the Centres
We designed this along PW Theme Guidelines, which essentially meant that the whole feature could be translated to dark mode without a single additional line of code.
And, Lights Off
Till date, we have successfully achieved 200,000 admissions in PW Offline centres, with this product playing a significant role in this milestone.
The product’s navigation has earned a Net Promoter Score (NPS) rating of approximately 4 out of 5, indicating its effectiveness in facilitating the decision-making process for enrolling in offline courses.
Additionally, the product has enhanced visibility for other offerings such as Scholarships, Webinars, Offline events, and various additional opportunities.
Here are a few metrics to evaluate the performance of centre page:
Impact
📲 Counsellor Leads
🏫 Direct Admissions
📋 Scholarship Test Registrations
➗ Lead to Admission ratio
🚸 Daily Traffic
This project was huge and one of my first end to end projects at PW. I got to learn so much.
Stakeholder meetings were a crucial part of this, whether it be students, product managers, engineers, our CXOs, business leads and design leadership. Their feedback played a crucial role in shaping the outcomes.
I learnt about the business and operational aspect of the working of offline centres.
Being the first of it’s kind at PW, it shaped and gave platform to other products within the offline universe (scholarship tests, webinars, events etc.) & also helped in internal expansion to more exam categories. That helped me learn and implement modular designs.