Designing for Trust: Lessons from Student Purchase Flows

Balancing Friction and Trust Through research, we uncovered the main issue: the verification process felt intrusive and vague. Students didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes, and long pauses in feedback created uncertainty. While SheerID (our verification partner) was powerful, the integration into our flow wasn’t communicating trust or clarity. What became obvious was that friction alone wasn’t the enemy—uncertainty was. If students understood why verification mattered, and if they could see clear progress, they were far more likely to complete the process.

Balancing Friction and Trust Through research, we uncovered the main issue: the verification process felt intrusive and vague. Students didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes, and long pauses in feedback created uncertainty. While SheerID (our verification partner) was powerful, the integration into our flow wasn’t communicating trust or clarity. What became obvious was that friction alone wasn’t the enemy—uncertainty was. If students understood why verification mattered, and if they could see clear progress, they were far more likely to complete the process.

Key Design Strategies

To solve this, we focused on three core principles:

  1. Transparency
    Students wanted to know what was happening. We introduced progress indicators and status updates so the system never felt like a black box.

  2. Brand-Consistent Trust Signals
    The verification experience had to feel like Maxon, not a third-party interruption. We aligned copy, visuals, and tone of voice with our brand guidelines, reducing confusion and building confidence.

  3. Streamlined Interaction
    We simplified input fields, reduced unnecessary steps, and grouped actions logically. This kept momentum high without compromising verification integrity.

Collaboration Beyond Design

This project wasn’t solved in isolation. It required close collaboration across teams:

  • Legal: ensuring student verification copy was accurate and compliant.

  • Development: integrating SheerID’s API in a seamless, real-time way.

  • Product: prioritizing which improvements would bring the biggest business impact.

As Lead UX Designer, my role was to mediate between these perspectives—pushing for user-centric clarity while balancing compliance and security needs.

The Results

The redesigned flow is now live, and the outcomes speak for themselves:

  • ↓ 27% reduction in cart abandonment at the student verification step.

  • ↑ 18% increase in successful student conversions, meaning more genuine students completed their purchases.

  • ↓ 40% fewer fraudulent account attempts, showing we improved UX without sacrificing security.

Lessons Learned

Designing for trust is about more than “removing steps.” It’s about clarity, transparency, and alignment with user expectations. By approaching verification not as a barrier but as a confidence-building moment, we turned a high-friction flow into a trust-driven experience.

For designers working on sensitive or high-stakes purchase journeys, this is the key takeaway: trust is a UX deliverable.