Certifications and Discounts
The Purpose
At Microsoft, I work on a Learning Engineering Team that develops Microsoft learning content and validation methods for learners. One of our main products enables learners to earn Certifications on a variety of topics and technologies. As a part of this product, our goals were to
- Enable digital exam discounts for Microsoft learners (employees of partner companies, students, micrsoft employees, select event attendees, etc.)
- Enable learning and certification resources for people impacted by COVID-19
- Increase certification rates through simplified exam discounts
The Quest
Initially, this product was owned by another Microsoft team. After the product was transitioned to our team, I worked with
- 3 software engineers
- 1 user researcher
- 1 user designer
- 3 business program stakeholders
- Support Team
- Data Engineering Team
- Identified our learners (employees of partner companies, students, micrsoft employees, select event attendees) through user research
- Collaborated with the programs that marketed learning content to our learners to develop a strategic vision for the Exam Discount Experience
- Designed and implemented a unified discount experience for our learners
- Launched the experience to over a million active customers
The Solution
The inital discount experience has disparate processes for each "type of learner". Also, discounts were handed out manually through vouchers that did not provide an integrated user experience or data collection. We understood a learner might have multiple identities. For example, let's take a learner named Alex. Alex works for Contoso, a Microsoft partner. She also attends Microsoft Events and she is pursuing her graduate degree at Universtiy of Washington. Alex may be eligible for discounts thorugh her employer (Contoso), her school (University of Washington), or through attending Microsoft events. Alex may have multiple online identities (emails, authentication processes) for each aspect of her life. Yet, Alex is Alex and she should be able to receive ALL Microsoft learning discounts she is eligible for. Using, common mental models such as linking accounts, email verification (if authentication of identity is not possible), we were able to design and a simple three step process to accessing discounts digitally. This work is also the foundation that is enabling us to expand the reach of Microsoft learning content discount to multiple audiences beyond those supported today.
The Impact
- Increased redemption of discounts by learners by 247% in FY21 than in FY20.
- Reduced the need for exam vouchers saving Microsoft $40k-$80k per week.
- Ensured learners impacted by COVID-19 gained 13,000 certifications to acquire digital skills as part of Microsoft’s Global Skills Initiative.