The document discusses how The Princeton Review redesigned its website and online offerings to improve the student experience based on emerging technologies. It analyzed user personas and goals to guide a multi-faceted redesign of key areas like registration, profiles, dashboards, and score reports. The redesign simplified processes, enhanced personalization and engagement through mobile optimization, social integration, and analytics. Feedback was very positive about the new user-centered design and experience. The document advocates applying a similar approach using SMAC technologies to define user journeys and conduct an architecture review to create an adaptive, agile platform.

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HOW TO REDESIGN FOR
STUDENT SUCCESS LIKE
THE PRINCETON REVIEW

2. Praveen Ramanathan
President & CEO, Ayantek LLC
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Founded Ayantek in 2008
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18 years of experience in delivering strategic eBusiness solutions
Email: praveen@ayantek.com
Engineer by trade
Specialties: Customer Experience ▪ Technology ▪ Content Management
Profitable since inception
Average Y2Y growth of ~200%
Our vision: Enrich the Digital Experience for all users
Skype: Praveen.Ramanathan
Twitter: #Ayantek
Phone: 857-928-5406
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3. About Ayantek
We are a Digital Strategy & Solutions firm
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Using Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud (SMAC) technologies to
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Drive Business Innovation & Productivity
Increase Customer Loyalty
Generate Market Opportunities for our customers
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4. INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

5. State of Test Prep
Industry
Market has grown to $4B worldwide, $1B in US
Lots of innovation & new
entrants
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6. Landscape Shift
Technology innovations have introduced a new dimension
Social Media
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Ability to share experiences
Feedback and commentary
Mobility
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Use of tablets and smartphones
Students can be anywhere taking courses
Virtual Tutoring
Interactive Experiences
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Videos
Gamification
Real-time
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7. The Princeton Review
A leader in helping college and graduate school–bound students
achieve their higher-education goals.
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Online courses, resources, and books (both electronic and
printed)
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Operating through a network of 5,000 tutors and teachers
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United States, Canada and International franchises
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Offer test preparation, tutoring and admissions services
Prep for all major admissions tests, including the SAT®,
ACT®, SAT Subject Tests™, AP® Exams, MCAT®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, GRE®, DAT® and OAR®.
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8. OVERALL STRATEGY

9. List of Personas
Each persona has unique needs
Students
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Junior High School Students
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Parent of Junior High School Students
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Working Professionals with all levels of education
Parents
Others
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High School Students
College Students
Graduate Students
Parent of High School Students
Parent of College Students
Parent of Graduate Students
Educators
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10. Overall Strategy
Improve user experience
Infrastructure
Content
Social media & mobility
Analytics
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A multi-faceted approach was required to engage users
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Provide easier access to information
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Re-architect the web infrastructure to allow for more rapid addition of features
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Provide program guidance and recommendations for courses
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Support ability to logon via their social account
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Leverage analytics to gather insights
Provide high degree of context specific to the student
Demonstrate the 30+ years of value and depth of experience
Provide an integrated view of the student’s total interaction with TPR
Provide online access to detailed score reports and commentary
Establish new programs for MCAT and other tests
Engage socially to increase student and parent interest
Create a mobile friendly experience
Personalized experience
Improve the entire context of the student experience
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11. User Goals
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To improve the overall user experience and increase engagement
Design to be useful & usable
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Simplify the user experience
Enhance engagement
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12. User Experience
Improvements
Three key site areas for parents & students
Registration & Profile Pages
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Registration - Users sign in or register for full access to
princetonreview.com
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Profile – User’s information can be viewed and updated at any time
Dashboard Page
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Summary of course information at a glance -- this includes test scores, drill
scores and access to online content
Interactive and Printable Score Reports
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Interactive and printable reports show a user’s exam performance
Provide insights on how users can improve test scores
Content includes overall scores, score breakdowns, customized comments,
and access to question information
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13. REGISTRATION &
PROFILE

14. Registration & Profile
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Registration Page before Redesign
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15. Registration & Profile
Registration Page after Redesign
Prominent log in link – Helps users find the
correct page if they’re lost
Lightbox Approach – Allows users to quickly
exit and return to previous page
Larger Entry Fields –
Allows users to easily tap fields without
making a mistake on mobile devices
Larger Text –
Increases readability on phones & tablets
Personalized Experience –
Only asks users questions that pertain to
them, making the process shorter
Prominent Call to Action –
Tells the user exactly what you want them to
do
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16. Registration & Profile
Progress Bar – Shows user’s
progress & how many steps in
process
Registration Page after Redesign
Sections vs. Long Page –
Breaks up process for user so it
feels shorter
Save & Finish Later –
Allows user to stop process at any
time while still saving important
information
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17. Registration & Profile
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Profile Page before Redesign
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18. Registration & Profile
Profile Page after Redesign
Prominent Navigation – Gives
users easy access to other pages
Personalized Title –
Includes user’s name for a more
personal experience
Check Marks Show Where User
has Filled Out Information –
Alerts user to where they have
information missing
School, Course & Event Search
– Gives users easy access to
search functionality
Larger Text –
Increases readability on phones &
tablets
Tabs Break Up Content –
Makes content more digestible for
user
Prominent Save Button –
Tells the user exactly what you
want them to do

19. DASHBOARD

20. Dashboard
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Dashboard before Redesign
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21. Dashboard
Personalized Title –
Includes user’s name & course
title for a more personal
experience
Switch course dropdown –
Allows users with more than one
course to quickly change their
course
Test/Drill Scores –
User can see test/drill scores &
score breakdowns
Dashboard after Redesign
Consistent Page
Header –
on Profile, Dashboard &
Score reports
Test Date Calendar
Countdown –
Keeps user aware of
test date
Access to Online/
Printable Score Report
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User can launch report
with more detailed test
performance information
Online Content Access –
Gives users access to content to
help them improve their scores
Shows progress on
most recent online
content completed/
started –
User can easily see
what they were last
working on

22. Dashboard
Online Content Sections –
User can easily see and access all
online content sections
Dashboard after Redesign
Visually shows content
that has been
completed, is in
progress or is not yet
started

23. SCORE REPORTS

24. Score Reports
Score Reports before Redesign

25. New Score Reports
Personalized Title –
Includes user’s name & course
title for a more personal
experience
Score Report after Redesign
Print-friendly Version –
Generates on click
Shows users overall
score & performance
compared to other
students –
User can launch report
with more detailed test
performance information
Shows users what schools they
would qualify for with a higher
score –
School titles link to pages with
more information
Users performance on sections
out of score range
Expands to show
question by question
performance

26. New Score Reports
Personalized Comments –
Display based on user’s
performance
Questions marked Correct,
Incorrect or Skipped –
On click, user can view full question
and all potential answers
Score Report after Redesign
Filter by Correct,
Incorrect or Skipped –
Personalized view allows
for easier exam review

27. New Score Reports
Score Report after Redesign
Consistent experience –
Includes features of prospect report with
additional insights and details
Progress Over Time –
Shows user performance over several
tests
Section Scores –
Shows progress over time in sections.
User can click to get additional score
breakdown
Strengths /
Areas of Focus –
Gives users insights on what areas they
excel in and what areas they need to
improve

28. New Score Reports
Score Report after Redesign
Section Performance Breakdown –
Includes number of questions answered
correctly, incorrectly and skipped
Performance breakdown by category and
question type –
Gives students specific areas within sections
to improve

29. New Score Reports
SAT & ACT Prospect Reports give users a consistent user experience

30. New Score Reports
Printed reports provide similar experience but designed for printing

31. TECHNOLOGY &
ARCHITECTURE

32. Technology Goals
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Leverage Social, Mobile, Analytics, & Cloud (SMAC) Technologies
Modular, maintainable, robust Service-Oriented
Architecture
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A streamlined infrastructure for peak performance, highscalability, & high availability
Re-orchestrate existing systems for an on-demand
student portal experience
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33. TechnologyStack
A multi-tiered architecture creating a standardized platform for growth

34. Architecture
Integration across multiple internal (traditional) and external cloudbased (SaaS) systems

35. IN CONCLUSION

36. Positive Reception
What people are saying about the new user experience
“Amazing”
“ Two of our most-difficult-to-please
instructors have already sent positive
feedback about the NSRs. Job well done!”
“Your recent project
had the best outcome
of any in the last
10 years.”
“OUTSTANDING
WORK! You guys
Rock!”
“
I
literally
got
teary
eyed
when
the
bulk
report
link
worked.
This
is
awesome.”
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We’re
ge'ng
some
great
feedback
from
teachers
already.
Love
it!
!”
“
BRILLIANT.
We’ve
been
wai=ng
for
this
for
5
years.”

37. Key Takeaways
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A top 10 checklist for you
Start here: Define SMAC user personas
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Review current analytics & usage patterns
Define primary user flows by persona
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38. Key Takeaways
A top 10 checklist for you
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Be Agile: Think it à Build it à Ship it à Tweak it
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Conduct an SMAC architecture & platform review
Go beyond responsive, be adaptive
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39. Key Takeaways
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A top 10 checklist for you
Set up a core program team for decision making
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Institute a Customer Advisory Board
Build a strong vendor-partner network
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40. The SMAC Stack
#10: Register for a SMAC Assessment
Register: www.ayantek.com/smac-assessment
Learn More: www.theSMACstack.com

41. Q & A