Growing Community
As a Product Designer at Onramp
In the years I spent working at Onramp, our improved user experience saw the total number of users skyrocket from around 300 to over 50,000. As the company grew, new problems began to arise, including keeping the community active and engaged on the Onramp website. To do this, we had to better understand our users’ motivation for using our services.
Through surveys and user interviews, candidates mainly desired :
AMAs and tech talks from industry leaders
Mock interviews
Resume reviews
Planning for engagement
Created as a way to engage users, the Mentor Program was a way for industry leaders to give back, and a platform for job seekers to learn about their dream roles by participating in tech talks & AMA’s, mock interviews, and resume reviews.
The main obstacle was organizing all of the volunteers who wanted to participate. In order to do this, I designed a user flow that automatically funnels volunteers into their desired type of engagement. The preparation period for this project was very detailed, including:
Creating user personas for different volunteers and participants
Sketches, wireframes, and user flow diagrams
Scheduling, rescheduling, and messaging UIs
Touchpoints for calendar meeting invites and email notifications
Program outcomes
The Mentor Program was a success, running for multiple cohorts, and helping hundreds of Onramp users take part in the community. User interviews and surveys recorded a surprising 100% positive rating for candidates, with all participants agreeing the program helped them on their journey to job readiness.
This kind of engagement with the community allowed Onramp to build trust and loyalty, and was one of the ways the company was able to grow from 300 to 50,000 total users.
Hosting continuous community
While the Mentor Program successfully engaged the community for a fixed timeframe, for Onramp to capitalize on user engagement it needed a place users could return to.
Onramp zoom events hosted a vibrant community of leaders and learners who held conversations, asked questions, and grew together. A place where users could easily find, join, and watch past events, this page turned Onramp into an evergreen resource for knowledge and community.
