Background

Our client, the Customer Experience (CX) training department of a leading Malaysian telco, faced a significant hurdle: scalability. Traditional nationwide workshops were a logistical challenge, and their infrequent nature led to poor knowledge retention among trainees.

Furthermore, the existing internal e-Learning system proved inefficient due to a convoluted user experience and dense, overwhelming content. The client envisioned a mobile-first approach with bite-sized, accessible lessons. They had just one problem—they lacked the "hook" to ensure long-term daily engagement. And that's where we came in.

Process

I was the Lead UI/UX Designer for this project. I began studying other short-form learning platforms like Duolingo and Khan Academy, analysing from a user perspective what made me want to stay and keep learning, and what didn't work. At this point, we had decided that gamification was the way to go.

I then mapped the user flows and feature sets centered on a robust gamification loop:

• Incentivized Learning: We introduced a dual-reward system. Users earned coins through quizzes, which could be spent on Avatar Customization or redeemed for tangible rewards (merchandise and coupons) in the Coin Store. Users also earned XP that increased their Rank. This gave them some form of passive acknowledgement of their efforts.

• Friendly Competition: To drive consistent retention, I designed a Leaderboard system based on weekly XP earnings to drive regular engagement. This fostered healthy competition, which the CX team amplified by providing public recognition and shoutouts to top achievers.

• Social Learning: I also designed a discussion board—borrowing ideas from popular social and discussion platforms like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Reddit to foster a shared learning experience where users can ask questions, help each other with problems, and share knowledge with one another.

Impact

The launch transformed the CX learning culture. Beyond high engagement metrics, users specifically praised the avatar personalization and the competitive drive of the leaderboards, expressing their excitement to keep using the app.

Learners shifted from "one-off" training to regular, self-initiated interaction. This sustained retention was the initial goal for the project and it proved successful.

The app’s success had also captured the interest of other departments who expressed interest in having their own modules be integrated into the app. This steered the app toward evolving into a company-wide learning hub.