Bonus Books Upsell
Hooked on Phonics is a monthly subscription reading program for children between 3–8 years old. For $16.98 per month, users get digital app access and are shipped companion physical materials. Add-ons are available for purchase at an additional cost, Bonus Books being one of them at $5.98 per month. Bonus Books make a huge impact to the bottom line as it is the only add-on that is a monthly subscription and brings in recurring revenue.
The Objective
Redesign the post-order Bundle Book Upsell. Increase take rates meaningfully, resulting in an increase in LTV (customer lifetime value) and monthly ARPU (average revenue per user).
The Challenge
Communicate Bonus Books’ incremental benefits and value while decreasing cognitive load on the user. Also, to build a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
Previous State
Overall, the page is very noisy—there are too many focal points that compete for attention.
There is a lack of relatability due to the use of only graphic art. In user testing, some parents expressed “seeing” their child reading these books.
The content mentions skills learned but does not specify exactly how.
The Look Inside functionality gets lost due to competing elements and when opened, is hard to read due to displaying a spread instead of single pages.
The look and feel of this page is jarring and incongruent to the preceding steps. This page was out of scope in the recent Checkout redesign project.
Known Knowns
New Customer Hesitancy
Users want to go through the trial period and evaluate the program as a whole first before taking any add-ons.
Price Sensitivity
Some users are price sensitive and cognizant of the additional $5.98 monthly cost.
Opt-In Later
Users assume they can opt into Bonus Books at a later date and many forgo taking it initially.
Considerations
Upsell Suppression
The Bonus Book Upsell page should be suppressed for Bundle takers due to the mismatch in upfront vs. monthly program preferences.
Bonus Book Photography
Are there lifestyle photographs of actual Bonus Books? Can regular Storybooks be used as representational books?
CURRENT STATE USER TESTING
I would say No, Thank You at this point. I need to get into the details of the program first. Hopefully this is an option that I could add later.
— Deirdre, user testing participant
Success Metrics
Take Rate
Improve over the existing take rate of 8%. Does an increase here affect take rates in the subsequent upsell page?
Engagement
Are users engaging with the slideshow and preview modal?
Retention Rate
How long are takers subscribed to the Bonus Books compared to the control?
The Process
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After a concept is generated, key questions and known unknowns are formulated. Existing data is identified and scoured to help answer those key questions. These may come in the form of:
Traffic logs
User surveys
Customer service requests
Previous user research
Previous and relevant A/B tests
Marketing analytics
From there, any gaps and relevant research methods are identified before crafting a research plan.
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Informed by A/B testing results, clickstream analysis, session recordings, and moderated user testing, new UI concepts are created to help mitigate any monetary and UX performance shortcomings.
From there, new concepts are user tested before moving anything into development.
User research methods used:
Qualitative attitudinal methods: User interviews
Qualitative behavioral methods: Moderated user testing, session recordings, heat maps
Quantitative attitudinal methods: User surveys
Quantitative behavioral methods: A/B testing, clickstream analysis
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Experiment designs are crafted in close collaboration with product management and marketing.
Testing plans include:
Success metrics
Number of variants
Testing inventory needed
Traffic allocation
Experiments are then slotted into the experimentation roadmap.
Test Results
Round 1 of the Google Search channel test is ongoing (as of August 2025). Here is what we see so far:
Take rate +19% 📚
Tracking retention (too early to draw conclusions) 🔎
Future Tests
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Quantity Options
Give users the option to also take 1 book for $3.99 a month or an upfront bundle of 9 books for $29.99.
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Consolidate Upsells
Combine the Bonus Book Upsell and Offer Wall Upsell page while being mindful of combined take rates and upsell AOV.
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Expand Modal Preview
Currently, only a 3-page excerpt is shown out of a 24-page book. Add more pages and see how it affects take rates.
