Kaplan Test Prep

Kaplan Test Prep Redesign

Transforming a legacy e-commerce site.

Overview

Kaplan Test Prep’s website is a major revenue engine, with thousands of students visiting daily to purchase courses, quizzes, and other prep products. When I joined, the site was in urgent need of a revamp: most pages were hard-coded without a proper CMS, design consistency was lacking, and the overall user experience was subpar. As project lead, I partnered with two other designers to redesign the e-commerce site—focusing on making it mobile-friendly, implementing consistency across pages, and delivering a smoother, more user-centric experience.

Old State

The legacy site was riddled with problems: competing CTAs fought for attention, design inconsistencies undermined trust, user flows were convoluted, and launching new pages demanded excessive time and engineering effort.

Approach

Our approach was multifaceted: we conducted an inventory of UI elements, analyzed core funnels and flows using Google Analytics, performed a heuristic evaluation, and ran user tests on the existing site. From there, we kicked off the design process with multiple rounds of user validation. Partnering closely with engineering, we developed a modular component framework that empowered content creators to build new pages independently—eliminating the need for ongoing engineering support.

Highlights

New Homepage

The redesigned homepage was structured to guide users quickly to the right test page while highlighting Kaplan’s value props.

  • Predictive search with a single CTA

  • Secondary navigation to top pages

  • Clear headline about Kaplan

  • High-level value props

  • Lead capture

Improved Navigation

We simplified navigation by removing long dropdowns and bulky mega-menus.

  • Predictive search with a single CTA

  • Secondary links to top pages

  • SEO-friendly mega-menu, hidden for most users

Easier Product Comparison

Rather than flooding users with choices, the new design enables clear, side-by-side product comparison.

Improved Consistency

A modular framework streamlines development and enforces cohesive design standards.

Outcome

The new website was rolled out incrementally, running A/B tests against the legacy version. Results showed up to a 25% lift in conversion rates (depending on the test page) along with increased traffic. The modular infrastructure also cut page-creation time to a fraction of what it had been, freeing engineering resources to focus on higher-priority initiatives.