Student Purchase Experience
Redesigning Maxon’s student purchase flow with SheerID.
This live project simplified verification, reduced cart abandonment, and strengthened trust by balancing fraud prevention with a seamless student experience.
Bad Homburg, Duetschland
Lead UX designer
Led UX efforts alongside 2 UX designers, PM, Developers, Legal, and SheerID Partner
6 Months
Challenge
Maxon faced significant drop-off during student purchase flows due to a high friction verification process. At the same time, the platform was being targeted by fraudulent (fake) student accounts.
Challenge: Reduce abandoned purchases while preserving fraud prevention and brand integrity.
Results
The redesigned student purchase flow is now live and delivering strong outcomes. By simplifying the verification process, aligning messaging with Maxon’s brand voice, and building trust through transparency, we achieved measurable impact across key metrics:
27%
reduction in cart abandonment
18%
increase in successful student conversions
40%
decrease in fraudulent account attempts
Process
Research & Analysis:
I led a structured research effort to understand friction points and trust gaps during the student verification phase:
Quantitative drop-off analysis during checkout stages.
Stakeholder interviews with PM, Dev, Legal, and SheerID to understand requirements and constraints.
Competitive benchmarking of student verification approaches across platforms.
User interviews (targeted group of students) to uncover emotional hurdles, trust concerns, and usability pain points.
Key Findings:
Verification steps felt intrusive and halted momentum.
Messaging around “verification in progress” was vague, undermining trust.
Fake account risk required robust verification, but current flow was excessively complex.
Insights
Through synthesis, three critical insights emerged:
Balance needed between friction and trust — simple isn’t effective without credibility.
Transparency reduces abandonment — students want to know what’s happening during verification.
Brand-aligned communication builds confidence — verification must feel trusted and on-brand.
4. Solution
Design Principles
Minimal steps, maximum clarity.
Trust-building via progress cues and feedback.
Consistent brand tone and legal alignment through the flow.
Delivered Artifacts
Journey Map & Flow Diagram: Highlighted friction points in the “Verify Student” stage.
Wireframes & Iteration Screens:
Initial mockup with multi-step form and heavy legal disclaimers (caused abandonment).
Refined flow: Inline verification status, simplified fields, progress bar, discrete trust icons.
Final UI: Clean, branded screens guiding students through verification with real-time feedback from SheerID.
Proof Points: Legal-approved copy + visual trust signals (padlock icons, confirmation banners).
My Role & Decision-Making
Lead UX Strategy: Owned research scope, execution, and synthesis.
Cross-functional collaboration: Mediated between design, legal, and partner (SheerID) to ensure compliance and usability.
Iteration-driven design: Pivoted from complex to user-centric based on user feedback and testing.
Decision rationale: Prioritized trust visibility (e.g., progress bar, trust icons) based on observed risk behavior and analytics.
Use Cases:
We started to study SheerID workflows with other companies like (Adobe, Spotify, Amazon, SoundCloud) to build custom user flow that match our customer needs.
✍️ User Flows:
Pre-verification path: Student browses product, sees “Student” CTA.
Verification flow: Opens SheerID modal → inputs info → real-time validation or manual upload fallback.
Journey Map & Flow Diagram: Highlighted friction points in the “Verify Student” stage.
Hosted & Build by Maxon:
Choose Creative Suite and Verify Student Status. Student Purchase Flow Happy Path
Scanning Maxon code and start SheerID Mobile
Check 2 error: Does Email pass Maxon Eligibility Portal (salesforce commercial check)?
