For 10 months, I worked full-time with an edtech startup in Vietnam called
Virtual Internships ↗
While I was there, Virtual Internships went from a seed stage to a Series A startup and at least doubled the amount of intern users on our platform.
In the midst of this, I spent much of my time leading design for a complete rebuild of the core platform and internal tools. (The old platform was based on external software and not easy to scale as the company started to embrace product-led growth).
Virtual Internships matches students with remote internships around the world and then coaches them throughout the internship.
Here's an example of a form being sent back and forth using the old CRM:
Version 1 of our platform had heavily relied on external software (CRMs) for user workflows. This was not scalable in terms of technology, workflows, and company growth.
User acquisition and retention rates had stagnated.
Narrowed down to three:
→ Retention & future considerations
→ Bonus: Designing nudges for a dual-sided marketplace
Not satisfied with just three? Hear more from Michael.
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User acquisition and conversion were both sitting below target rates.
I worked with two PMs and Analysts (on different squads) to identify data collection points throughout user journey to establish baseline.
Tools: Mixpanel and Customer.io
I reviewed the user journey of sign up and applying for an internship in order to identify where we could insert nudges and funnel users intentionally.
Below is the onboarding experience for our intern users when they come from our landing page or certain email campaigns.
There were different versions of these designs based on which funnel we
acquired the users.
I continued to test these new paths for task completion rates.
Based on user research, I independently generated a list of FAQs that users would want answered before feeling confident enough to sign up and convert.
I myself sourced more FAQs through a workshop I conducted with the Product org.
1. What’s the ideal type of student who should participate in this internship program? (segmented marketing)
2. When did the last intern from my university sign up? (social proof)
3. Does it cost money for me to participate in the
internship program? **
4. What if I’m not happy? Is there a refund process?
5. Do interns get paid?
**Drop-off was significantly high after students found out they had to pay all or part of the internship fee to Virtual Internships. This fact needed clarification in the designs.
Humans like seeing humans, especially real ones : )
I additionally redesigned our B2B and B2C email campaigns to help the marketing team increase click-through rates. I formatted the visual design of the emails and adjusted the copy/text to be cater more for international audiences and accessibility standards.
Current interns tend to be late or miss filling out their weekly internship checkpoints and absentee rates (i.e. bounce rates) were high 📈, while NPS scores were low.
This meant that our internal team had less feedback and data to utilize for future platform improvements.
I looked at many comparative examples of Productivity apps, LMS platforms, and other B2B products with B2C user flows.
Typically, I would also narrate these videos like a Loom for async efficiency with my cross-functional colleagues.
While designing the above flows, I was brainstorming how I could make the experience could be so satisfying that it could also encourage product growth through viral channels.
1. Paths to share on social media, especially LinkedIn. Interns share learnings and tips for future interns and receive likes (validation) and more shares.
2. Provide incentives for referrals, such as recommending classmates that would be a good fit as the next intern at the company.
3. Add a button for interns to recommend certain coaches or request certain companies for future internships.
After completing the internship, awarding the certificate provided a shareable trophy.
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When and how do you think was the best way to surface this certificate to the intern?
And which sharing options were most relevant?
I am a career coach on the side, so I had fun designing the part of the user flow where the career coach takes notes on the intern’s weekly progress.
I realized that designing a platform from the ground up would naturally have multiple users with overlapping user journeys.
For example, all the following user types want visibility into the student's weekly progress on their internship:
The intern
The intern's coach
The intern's "boss"
The intern's university
There were certain touchpoints that needed extra "nudges" in order to meet business and user metrics.
One example was ensuring a tight loop around scheduling the interview between the intern and the company's hiring manager:
① When the student tried to join the Zoom interview, they often encountered access issues. They had to wait for the hiring manager to allow them in to the video call.
② The listed interviewer will receive an email reminder 2 hours before the start time.
③ I provided a template of instructions that can be used to best prepare the student for the interview.
This helped to increase interview attendance rate, which meant a quicker placement and onboarding as well.
And throughout the intern's experience on the platform, there were other reminders that encouraged action that would benefit both the intern and the hiring company.
This is feedback I gathered from my team and manager.
Working in a remotely distributed culture means proactively making time for synchronous, real-time meetings
...Otherwise, clear written communication and storytelling are so crucial.
Host design critique sessions more frequently than working in an in-office environment. But also know when to converge to a decision point and move on. Design can truly drag on foreverrrrrr.
Aside from all the flows mentioned above, here are other visual examples of my work at Virtual Internships:
Above: how much we nudge hiring companies to start accepting interns asap?
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Above: an example of a hiring company with 5 internship opportunities created
Above: the hiring company should only have "just enough" options to quickly create an internship and start accepting intern applicants
Above: final iterations of the information architecture for creating an internship at a hiring compay
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Above: internal tools for our academic team to manage internship classes (batches)
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