ACADEMIA.EDU

Academia.edu Profile Page

How might we turn new or underperforming users into a highly engaged and loyal audience by providing a compelling, intuitive, and feature-rich profile page experience?

The Academia.edu profile page was falling short of meeting user needs. While the platform aimed to foster networking among academics, the profile page wasn’t effectively supporting that goal.

I hypothesized that by designing a visually compelling, feature-rich, and highly functional profile experience, we could drive user engagement, create more opportunities for meaningful interactions, and collect valuable data to support business growth.

Our objective was to transform new or under-engaged users into a highly engaged and loyal audience by delivering a familiar yet powerful profile page experience.

1. Research and Analysis

I led a user research initiative and thorough landscape analysis to better understand the industry trends and best practices of user profile pages. I looked at competitors in the same space as Academia.edu as well as other tech companies with strong profile pages.

2. Feature Prioritization & Component Design

I knew that in order to increase engagement we had to help the user complete their profile, promote features and products, and allow them to begin engaging with the community. I decided to include the following key features on the new profile page design:

Enhance personalization
Stronger Onboarding
Analytics Snapshot
Community member suggestions
Stronger information architecture
More opportunities for users to promote themselves.

3. Prototyping and User Testing

We created an interactive prototype and tested it among a cohort of 16 power users.

"It would be great if my profile page felt more like a personal website where I could promote myself and my work."

1. Increased Profile Completion Rate

76% lift in profile completion from existing users
60% lift in profile completion from new users

2. Improved Profile Engagement

65% lift in Research interests added to profile
23% lift in journal and university affiliations added to profile
15% lift in new connections originating from the profile
9% lift in works uploaded to the profile

3. Increased Revenue

35% lift in upgrades to Premium from the profile (six-figure cash flow increase)

4. Increased Customer Satisfaction

94% of users interviewed said they preferred the new profile page to the old.

Academia.edu Profile Page

Project details

Role:

Timeline:

Deliverables:

Tools:

Process