Coaching L'Oréal and helping them redesign a better e-learning experience
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Creating a global learning platform users want to use
“Sophie’s work is enriching. She gives us a point of view that we otherwise would not have. She questions things that need to be questioned. She awakens our understanding of what our users really want.”
Cyrielle Khayat, L’Oréal
L’Oréal’s My Learning platform is an e-learning space for upskilling employees. Operating across 62 countries, the system offers role-specific learning (e.g. on marketing, management or ops) and wider knowledge, with languages, cultural and inspirational topics also featured.
Yet just because something is required learning, it doesn’t automatically follow that the experience will be an enjoyable one, or that users will be able to find the information they need.
“A fluid, engaging experience”
This was the challenge for Cyrielle Khayat, Learning Manager, Corporate Digital at L’Oréal: “My specific ‘piece’ of the learning library is digital marketing. The content already existed on the platform but it wasn’t as user friendly as it could have been. We had feedback that the pages were not ‘sexy’ enough. Studying on the My Learning platform may be mandatory, but we wanted more users to choose our content, and we wanted them to enjoy a more rewarding experience when they did.”
Cyrielle contacted Baguette UX because she, “wanted to create a learning experience that is fluid and engaging. The My Learning platform has the same look and feel across all channels. We wanted to create something different and disruptive. And we needed to start by understanding how users progress through the pages and what works for them.”
Standing in the shoes of your users
For Baguette UX director Sophie Freiermuth, the first step to achieving that understanding was meeting with Cyrielle’s team to establish their objectives, before interviewing existing users (in Europe, Asia and the US) to explore the way they were using the platform.
Their feedback, and the identification of numerous pain points, enabled Sophie to create a series of personae representing the different flows through the site.
“I already had a clear idea of what I wanted on the pages,” explains Cyrielle, “but Sophie gave us a clear understanding of the step by step user journey and a framework for proceeding. For the first time, we were able to put ourselves in the shoes of our users, and that’s a process we can now repeat.
“I also appreciated the way Sophie coordinated meetings. She is adept at encouraging different points of view and, whilst she may offer her own opinion, she never imposed it.”
Working with what’s possible
Sophie, Cyrielle and the project team were working with the Learning Management System (LMS) team, and within the constraints of the existing LMS. “We started with big dreams,” explains Cyrielle, “but Sophie helped us see that the technical capabilities of the platform were directing us towards a certain solution. She was also able to translate our objectives and decisions in a way the LMS team could understand.”
Results
“Sophie helped us understand what our learners wanted,” says Cyrielle. “For example, they told us they wanted more best practice rather than theoretical content, and although that content always existed, the insights Sophie gave us enabled us to highlight this material and make it easier to find.
“Users are now more engaged. Pages have much greater visual appeal because of Sophie’s work and the design work that flowed from it.
“Since launch, 5,000 L’Oréal members of staff have connected and interacted with the information. We have lots more traffic – and we know people are enjoying it more.”