Creating a Clear Path for Growth

A Case Study in Simplifying and Consolidating Motley Fool’s Product Offerings into a Cohesive Membership Experience

Overview

The Motley Fool offers a diverse suite of financial and investing products aimed at empowering individual investors. In an effort to simplify its offerings and enhance customer engagement, the company launched the Levels Project. This initiative was designed to consolidate products into a cohesive five-tier structure, streamlining the customer experience, improving retention, and creating clearer upsell pathways across the platform.

Problem Statement

Motley Fool's ecosystem had grown overly complex, with more than 40 distinct—and sometimes overlapping—product offerings. This complexity led to several issues:

• Customer confusion and increased churn
• Difficulty for users to fully explore and engage with additional services
• Limited upsell opportunities
• Reduced customer lifetime value

The Levels Project aimed to address these challenges by consolidating offerings into a simplified tier structure. This restructuring was designed to:

• Clarify Motley Fool's value proposition
• Enhance user experiences by providing a logical and engaging progression through products
• Boost customer retention
• Drive engagement
• Increase revenue potential

By simplifying the product ecosystem, the project sought to reduce customer confusion, facilitate easier navigation through service offerings, and create clearer pathways for users to discover and engage with additional products. This streamlined approach was expected to not only improve the overall user experience but also positively impact Motley Fool's bottom line through increased retention rates and higher customer lifetime value.

Users & Audience

The Levels Project targeted both new and existing Motley Fool customers. Newcomers often found the vast array of products daunting, while current subscribers sought clearer paths to understand the value of upgraded services. Internally, the project demanded active participation from product managers, marketing teams, and customer support staff. Their insights were crucial in ensuring the new tier structure would be easy to market, simple to support, and effective in meeting the diverse needs of Motley Fool's customer base.

Roles & Responsibilities

As Design Director, I spearheaded the initial design and strategy phases, crafting the user experience framework in close collaboration with product managers and tech leads to develop the core architecture. My team of UX/UI designers and researchers meticulously mapped user journeys and pinpointed the optimal tier structure. Working remotely with cross-functional teams, I orchestrated the design, prototyping, and testing of key elements. Although I transitioned off the project before final implementation, my work established the foundational design that guided the project to launch.

Scope & Constraints

The Levels Project impacted multiple departments and required senior leadership buy-in from the outset. The initial design and testing phase spanned roughly six months, with a tight timeline driven by the need to streamline the product suite for upcoming releases. Budget constraints necessitated an efficient balance between in-depth user testing and rapid iteration cycles to meet deadlines. Additionally, the project operated as a pilot for a new demo system, which enabled more direct C-level involvement. This brought invaluable executive insights but also occasionally introduced scope expansions, challenging our initial parameters. The phased rollout plan was crucial in minimizing disruption, allowing us to validate the new tier structure incrementally without compromising user experience.

Process

• Research & Discovery: Research & Discovery: Conducted in-depth research, including competitive analysis across 27 financial publication services, to identify industry best practices and differentiation opportunities. Gathered customer feedback and usage data to understand major pain points within the existing product suite. Leveraged behavioral archetypes to segment users and tailor the tier structure to different investor profiles. This comprehensive approach guided the creation of a customer-centered tier structure that aligned with both user expectations and Motley Fool's business goals, emphasizing clear progressions between products and addressing the needs of various investor types.
• User Journey Mapping: User Journey Mapping: Leveraged the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) methodology to define user priorities and map detailed journeys for key customer segments. This approach ensured tier placements offered a natural progression for both new and returning users, aligning with their core motivations and desired outcomes. By focusing on the jobs users were trying to accomplish, we refined each tier's value proposition and anticipated customer experience, directly supporting our objectives of retention and upsell potential.
• Collaborative Architecture Design: Led the detailed reorganization of 40 products into a single 5-tier application structure. Partnered closely with product and technical leads to craft the architecture, ensuring alignment with technical constraints and product strategy. Conducted extensive brainstorming sessions with leaders across departments including Product, Tech, Editorial, Investing, Business Intelligence, Marketing, Commerce, and Legal to gather comprehensive business requirements. This cross-functional approach ensured that the new tier structure not only streamlined the product offering but also met broader organizational goals and departmental needs. By incorporating insights from various stakeholders, we developed a scalable and adaptable system that could accommodate future product enhancements while meeting diverse business objectives.
• Wireframing & Prototyping: Wireframing & Prototyping: Developed comprehensive wireframes and prototypes across mobile, tablet, and desktop platforms. Conducted UX flow testing and A/B experiments on key elements to optimize navigation, usability, and responsiveness. This multi-device approach ensured a cohesive user experience while addressing platform-specific challenges in design, interaction, and performance.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Actively engaged senior stakeholders through design presentations and feedback sessions, refining components, pages, and entire style guides based on executive input. Collaborated closely with project management, tech, product, and marketing peers to communicate changes and ensure alignment across all departments. This process ensured that each design iteration was reviewed with business goals in mind, keeping the project on track to meet defined metrics and enabling agile responses to evolving business needs.
• User Testing & Iteration: User Testing & Iteration: Orchestrated and conducted user testing sessions to validate the proposed tier structure, identifying potential friction points and areas of confusion. We then refined the design based on these insights, implementing key adjustments to enhance the overall customer experience and optimize the success of the phased rollout.

Outcomes

While I transitioned off the project before its full implementation, my team’s foundational design work established a strategic structure that guided the Levels Project forward, with a simplified tier system projected to boost retention and engagement by offering a clear, navigable path through Motley Fool’s product offerings.

Lessons Learned

Throughout this project, biweekly retrospectives helped us uncover key areas for improvement. This reflective practice surfaced three primary lessons:

1. Stakeholder Alignment: Collaborating with C-level stakeholders required agility, especially as they viewed the project through the lens of evolving business needs. Working closely with executives provided invaluable insights but also underscored the importance of translating strategic shifts into actionable design changes.
2. Investing in the Right Tools: Shifting to Figma transformed our workflows, reducing friction and enabling rapid prototyping, which elevated the team’s productivity and output quality.
3. Achieving Large-Scale Change: Although large organizations can feel slow to change, our Head of Product’s belief in the vision inspired confidence and focus, proving that ambitious transformations are achievable.

Disclaimer: Confidential details have been omitted or modified in this case study to protect proprietary information. All insights and analysis are my own and reflect my personal experience on this project.