experimenting with intakes
a growth & aquisition case study
Context
New users exploring Candid’s educational offerings often struggled to understand which courses were most relevant to their goals. The existing experience relied on self-directed browsing, which created friction and drop-off during early exploration.
I initiated discovery that showed a guided quiz would increase interaction and engagement.
Problem
Users needed guidance to identify the right courses without overwhelming them with choices. The challenge was to reduce cognitive load while maintaining clarity and trust within an existing ecosystem.
Hypothesis
If we guided users through a short, goal-oriented quiz during exploration, they would:
Feel more confident in their selections
Reach relevant content faster
Be more likely to register for a course
Role and approach
I led the end-to-end experience of a lightweight, quiz-based onboarding flow, partnering with marketing and our learning team to ensure feasibility and accurate measurement.
My focus areas included:
Prioritizing content based on historical data
Designing clear, progressive question flows
Creating multi-selection logic that adapted to user input
Writing UX copy that felt supportive (rather than promotional)
Ensuring the experience aligned with brand trust and accessibility standards
Solution
A guided quiz experience that asked users a small number of targeted questions and surfaced personalized course recommendations based on responses.
The design emphasized:
Progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load
Clear visual hierarchy for scannability
Flexible logic to support multiple user goals
Direct transition from quiz to registration
Results
The experiment demonstrated a 25% increase in course registrations compared to the previous discovery flow.
Additional outcomes included:
Faster path to relevant content
Higher confidence during selection
Clear validation of guided onboarding as an effective activation pattern
Key Takeaways
Guided experiences can significantly improve early-stage activation when users face complex choices.
Small, focused experiments can deliver meaningful impact without large platform changes.
Clear UX copy and adaptive logic are critical for maintaining trust in personalized flows.
Next Steps
Applying similar guided patterns to other high-friction entry points across the platform
A/B testing question order and depth to optimize completion rates
Personalizing recommendations further based on user role or organization type