MasterClass · Growth

Conversion upat every step.

I designed and tested changes on MasterClass's core acquisition surfaces, from the homepage hero to checkout. Each one lifted membership conversion in an A/B test.

RoleSenior Product Designer
Timeframe2022 – 2023
TeamsGrowth, Consumer, Innovation
SurfacesWeb, iOS, Android

MasterClass homepage on a laptop with a 'What brings you to MasterClass today?' question built into the hero

The complexity

Curious visitors,
premium price.

MasterClass sells a premium membership. Visitors arrive curious but uncommitted, and every page between the homepage and checkout loses some of them.

At that scale, a few points of conversion are worth millions in membership revenue.

VisitorsCurious, but not yet sold on a premium membership.
GrowthFast A/B tests, from single sections to whole pages.
BrandA premium look and a shared design system to stay true to.

How I untangled it

Instead of designing each test in isolation, I designed whole surfaces first, then tested against that plan: sometimes one section, sometimes the full page. Tests stayed fast, the pages stayed coherent, and the full designs became a ready backlog of what to test next.

Key decisions

Why these changes.

01
Start the conversation in the hero

We pulled one onboarding question into the homepage hero, so the first thing visitors do is tell us what they want to learn.
02
Let users order the page

On category pages, users stack-ranked sections in low-fidelity prototypes. We moved what resonated most to the top.
03
Keep testing checkout

The first checkout tests lost. We studied why, iterated over several rounds and found a winner that also raised lifetime value.

The tradeoff

What goes in the hero?

Option A

The standard hero

Headline, imagery and a sign-up button: the proven control.

Option B

An email capture

A format that had already seen success. A safe bet, but still a generic call to action.

Option C · Chosen

Start the quiz in the hero

Break the usual layout and bring the onboarding quiz's first question right onto the homepage.

Why

Our quiz flow was already one of our strongest converters, so instead of another generic call to action, I wanted to remove the friction of getting into it. Questions about a person and their interests are easy to answer, so I designed two framings to build conviction: motivational (pick your favorite interests) and aspirational (pick where you want to be).

It lifted homepage conversion 10%, and led to further tests of subcategory questions that added up to 11 more onboarding screens. They showed that more personalization meant more conversion.

Shipped

The work, up close.

A grid of homepage hero explorations testing different layouts and quiz treatments — Hero directions behind the homepage test.+10% homepage conversion

MasterClass Browse menu open over the homepage, listing categories, subcategories and instructors — Navigation: a new Browse menu, validated with interactive prototypes in user testing.+10% conversion

Redesigned MasterClass checkout on tablet and phone — The winning checkout, after several losing rounds.+12% conversion

Impact

What moved.

+10%Homepage
+10%Navigation
+10%Category page
+7%Class page
+12%Checkout, plus +12% LTV per visitor

Membership conversion lift from A/B tests on each surface. Lifts are per test and aren't additive. MasterClass won a 2023 Webby Award for education websites while I was on the team.