I wanted to make a suggestion…I found it pretty difficult to navigate the website and find the weekly iterations. I totally get that you want to encourage customers to commit to an upgraded subscription.
The link labeled “Explore” really does convey anything specific about where I’ll end up. I sort of just guessed I might find what I was looking for there. Then I scrolled to the very bottom and finally found the current iteration. I decided I would provide some feedback in the forum area, and it took me a minute to realize I needed to log in a second time.
The content at Upcase is a very impressive variety of topics. You present difficult concepts clearly with a deliberate focus. I have watched content from your site countless times for guidance and retooling. I don’t think there is another source of reliable information that addresses intermediate to advanced topics like your classes and weekly iterations.
Still I don’t like the idea of having to Explore to find what I’m paying for. I kind of feel like a second class customer.
Thanks for your thoughts. We’re actively working on the Practice and Explore sections, trying to improve it in as iterative a way as possible. I think once we’re done with the changes we’re working on, it will be much more clear and organized for you.
If I’m wrong, then we’ll continue to revisit this
Thanks for your thoughts again, and your patience as we make some changes!
-Chad
saw a message saying I should upgrade my subscription if I wanted access to all this content
clicked a few places looking for the weekly iteration, did not find it within 30 seconds.
cancelled my subscription
came here to let you know.
To be honest, I wasn’t getting a lot of value from it anyway, and I’d tried the $30/mo plan and didn’t see a lot that I was interested in, so I’m not likely to resubscribe in the near future even if you ditched the tactic of hiding the content I actually wanted and trying to upsell me. UI design is important.
To clarify, the current organization is not intentionally trying to upsell, it’s just a side effect of some of the recent changes we’re iteratively making. We will continue to work on this to make it better for members on The Weekly Iteration plan, and I’m sorry for the trouble.
Had it been the case that a major focus of your new design was to upsell, I wouldn’t see anything wrong with that. I think enticing customers to buy more of what you have is perfectly fine. I hope your next release enables you to do that while providing the ease of navigation that will make your customers a little happier.
Further I don’t see the current design as nefarious or deceptive in anyway, just not balanced enough to user comfort. As a matter of fact I like seeing the new products you guys come up with. I’ve added a month’s subscription to my Christmas wish list due to my most recent visits to your site.
I hope you’ll take my feedback as supportive as I’m a big fan of thoughtbot and I’ve benefited and grown as a developer due to the quality of the content you produce.
We just deployed a change to the navigation that prioritizes going directly to the weekly iteration page for members at the $9/month level. It is now the home page for signed in members at that plan level.
Not sure if this is helpful but try navigating to Upcase with your phone and trying to log in. Not sure if it’s my phone or not but I wasn’t clear where to log in.
Seems to me that my user experience should be identical
Suggested user story:
As a user, visiting Upcase, having a canceled subscription, with remaining credit, for the weekly iteration I should arrive at the weekly iteration page directly after logging in.
Rationale:
If the user cancels and spends their remaining time with a less optimal experience, wouldn’t that reinforce their reluctance to reverse their cancellation in the future?
