One of the biggest challenges my team worked on was to encourage users to use the app, to extend the life cycle of the app and increase general user retention.

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Additionally to these challenges, we worked on assisting users who were less familiar with new industries or their career direction (e.g. students).

To start working on the first problem I needed to understand the reason why users:

- Choose not to use the app regularly

- Lose motivation during job searches

- Are prevented from the application and job search processes.

A dedicated research team helped organize several user interviews and prepare UX surveys to collect quantitative and qualitative data. We also focused on analyzing Google Analytics and HotJar data, to find areas in the app where users abandon the application and search processes.

The second topic required having a few 1:1 interviews with users who were less familiar with novel industries and the application process, such as students. These meetings made me aware of the fears some might have that relate to a future employer, or being in an unfamiliar company culture and environment, and whether their personality would be compatible with their new workplace.

After these features were rolled out we were able to see big changes in KPIs. Interest in the app, the number of visits per user and new user registrations.

To find a way to increase user retention and regular engagement with the app, our team decided to work on a new feature. We provided a degree of gamification - Activity Score - that assists, motivates and supports the user in finding the their dream job. Rapid prototype tests were organized to verify our hypothesis. The positive feedback that we received after testing gave us a green light to improve the prototypes, implement and judge the results rolled out on a bigger user scale.

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To find a solution to help users to choose the right career path, the team decided to collaborate with the Good & Co app. This app connects candidates with job opportunities based on their skill set and work dynamics The Good & Co app was integrated with the Stepstone app. To establish awareness of users’ personal strengths and the company culture in which they fit best, users had to pass a quiz that determined the best match between their personality and work environment.

During the next three months we were testing the Activity score feature and the impact of the quiz. After this period of testing we found out that the Activity score helped to increase the time users spent in the app improving their score and carrying out different activities related to the application and job search process (about 7%).

Integration with the Good & Co app after three months also improved the performance results. We measured a 12% increase of application number among students and 46% of users who completed the quiz and could see companies and job offers that match them most. Of students, there was a 12% increase of job applications. Of all users, 46% completed the quiz and could consequently see tailored job opportunities and relevant company data.

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The mobile team is still working on new ideas on how to improve user experience and create a new way of helping users get the most out of Stepstone’s app.