CurioAI study buddy

4x higher retention by fixing the onboarding flow and the website.

01 — The problem

Sign up, then gone

Curio turns notes, slides and videos into summaries, flashcards and quizzes. Students signed up, but after 30 days only 0.5% were still using it.

02 — Research

Where students drop off

I interviewed students, defined the funnel and mapped every screen. The biggest leak: only 7.1% of new sign-ups ever reached their “oh wow” moment.

Funnel from visitor to power user with conversion rates, and the emotional journey of a student through Curio
The funnel, and how a student feels at each step.
Interview notes: major pain points and how the student studies
Sign-in and home screens of the old app, with the note: getting started needs to be a lot easier
Map of every screen in the old Curio app
Interview notes, and the old app mapped screen by screen. Names hidden.
  1. No place to startA blank chat. New users didn’t know what to do first.
  2. Plain-text answersNo visuals, and the chat felt slow.
  3. Limits before the wowFree users ran out before they saw what Curio can do.

03 — Onboarding

Adding more friction for a better experience

We added two extra steps to the flow, so we can personalize the home screen. It comes with starting templates that are more relevant, and the activation rate went up significantly.

Live prototype
Step
Try it: pick your goals. The quickstarts on the home screen change with them.

04 — Chat to learn

Talk to your files, with a chat box designed from the ground up

Drop in a worksheet, slides or a YouTube video and just ask. Curio reads it, sums it up and turns it into flashcards, all from the chat box.

Upload, ask, read, summarize, flashcards. On a loop.
  1. Start with a fileAttach notes, slides or a video right in the chat box.
  2. See it readCurio shows what it’s doing while it works through the file.
  3. Study, not just readSummaries turn into flashcards and quizzes in one ask.

05 — Design system

A powerful chat box that changes based on its needs

Files, limits, upload buttons, disabled and filled: one component covers every case, with every state documented for handoff.

Component states from the library. Flip through them.

06 — Brand & website

One brand, one promise

I cleaned up the brand to one green, Lexend for the product and Roca for headlines. The new website leads with one promise: ace your next test.

Curio brand sheet: logos, favicons, colors and typography
Logo, favicons, colors and type.
Curio — Ace your next test
The new website, top to bottom.

07 — Outcome

4x retention in a month

In one month I ran the research, rebuilt the onboarding, redesigned the website and cleaned up the brand. Four times as many students were still studying with Curio after 30 days.

30-day retention

0.5%Before
2%After
4x

Out of every 200 sign-ups, still studying after 30 days

Before
1
After
4

In one month: research, onboarding, website and brand.