Abwaab set out to create an online learning platform that would allow students to learn at their own pace, test themselves, and get ahead through access to useful learning tools, experts, and educational content. Their vision was to create an eLearning platform that broke down concepts into a series of engaging lessons. As progress is made, the platform would produce a personalized assessment for each student, which would be powered by strategic analytics behind the scenes. Future versions would deliver an equally impactful experience to tutors. The founder of Abwaab approached thoughtbot to further shape and validate the product vision with user research and expert product strategy.

In considering various partners, it was important to Abwaab to find a team that had a sound approach to product validation and user research and came equipped with modern design principles. To stand out from the competition, and deeply resonate with students, the final feature set and UI/UX needed to be highly usable and engaging at each touchpoint.

Abwaab and thoughtbot moved forward with a project focused on defining the most effective v1 product and the overall visual design direction for the online learning platform. To successfully deliver that final deliverable, thoughtbot would lead collaborative product thinking exercises, test hypotheses with target users, and test the effectiveness of the proposed experience using a clickable prototype. 

To grow the student audience, it was essential to convert visitors to Abwaab’s platform by successfully subscribing them and collecting payment. From a business perspective, the core product’s roadmap should demonstrate a response to user demand and a path to revenue generation. thoughtbot’s validation and research efforts worked to answer some of those questions and dig into highlighted assumptions.

The team kept in mind and documented future product considerations including a tutor experience, the curriculum available at launch, and the existing backend’s capabilities.

To craft the strongest research plan, thoughtbot ramped up on all work done to date including a SWOT analysis prepared by Abwaab, the existing brand strategy and ideas for target users, course content, and revenue model. Assumptions were captured and an interview guide was crafted as thoughtbot learned more and led activities with Abwaab to support prioritization. 

Abwaab set up a focus group of Tawjihi students and distributed a questionnaire prepared by thoughtbot. This questionnaire successfully captured the demographics of the students, their needs, and what existing solutions they used or wished they had access to (including associated costs). thoughtbot synthesized these results with a more thorough competitive analysis, results from stakeholder interviews, and insights collected via a user journey map. thoughtbot and Abwaab were able to pinpoint the features that would provide tremendous value to the target audience as well as differentiate Abwaab from competitors. 

thoughtbot began to capture the future experience first as a prototype, and information architecture diagram, highlighting high-quality video content as a leading element of the Abwaab value proposition, and the hypothesis for the strongest experience to drive conversion and payment. After refining with Abwaab stakeholders, the experience was tested with target users through a series of usability tests.

As feedback was collected, the prototype was iteratively refined, and all findings across the project were summarized for future reference. During the last week, thoughtbot delivered a final recommendation package for design and development equipping Abwaab with the guidelines and user interface they need to move their business and product forward.