Challenge
Bartleby, an online academic help platform, had a Q&A feature where students could ask questions and subject matter experts (SMEs) provided answers. However, the system was not effectively handling situations where students had follow-up questions related to their original queries. Around 80% of Bartleby's users reported having follow-up questions after their initial query. Users would either submit a new question, often a duplicate, or seek answers outside Bartleby's platform. The challenge was to optimize the platform to improve engagement and retain users who had follow-up questions.
Solution
The solution to enhance user engagement on Bartleby's Q&A platform involved several features. Firstly, the ability was introduced for users to ask follow-up questions linked to their original question, which could then be answered by the subject matter experts (SMEs). This solution also incorporated existing patterns from conversational tools.
For better page readability, an expand and collapse function was added. Also, users were given a unique identifier for their own questions, and an indentation was introduced for threading. A certified badge was also added to highlight the credibility of the respondents.
The logged-in and logged-out experiences were differentiated; users who were not logged in could see questions but not the answers to the original question.
After the first iteration, an MVP of the tool was launched. It was observed that some users were providing feedback instead of asking a new question, this feedback often were thanks for the helpful response. This led to the decision to add an especific tab to give feedback
Depending on their urgency and needs, users were given the opportunity to switch to a live chat feature to get immediate help . Finally, a 'like' feature was added where users could 'send love' to their preferred responses and also ask a follow up question over a part of a paragraph.
