Overview
When subscription licensing rolled out for Cisco Meraki enterprise customers, the features were more complex compared to the legacy model. Documentation wasn’t engaging users to understand licensing concepts to inform their renewal decisions.
My scope included:
scoping and pitching overall initiative
identifying use cases
design (prototyping, content)
Discovery
Pitching in-product learning as an initiative
Based on previous research, customers are often network engineers actively looking for learning that:
Shows general best practices
New or foundational content to ensure they're making the most of the dashboard
Informs active decisions
Administrative, troubleshooting, or operational-related needs
Opportunity
Growing subscription licensing as test pilot
I identified a gap in how enablement could support product adoption and pitched that in-product learning as an effective way to show business impact to leadership, surfacing subscription licensing renewals as the strongest first test case.
Since subscription licensing was new, users needed to understand its benefits compared to the legacy model before switching. We focused on:
Relevance
Target customers within 30 days of renewal, when choice impacts adoption.
Upfront value
Show benefits first, emphasizing simplicity and flexibility for networks.
Fast comprehension
Create concise guidance to support a time-sensitive decision.
Constraints
Prioritizing technical feasibility and minimal dependencies
We opted for a page embedded in the dashboard. This gave us flexibility to build quickly and iterate, only needing the engineering to implement the page link.
Process
Surfacing opportunities while building pilot
Leadership wanted confirmation that in-app learning could scale across multiple use cases, so my teammate and I sourced multiple opportunities in parallel with building.
Design
Reducing complexity of subscriptions
Narrowing down essential concepts based on familiarity
Content modalities were determined by the type and amount of information. We organized concepts from high-level to details, so users could scan and skip to details if they were already familiar with the basics.
Simulations for actual user flows, not conceptual understanding
I prototyped a conceptual walk-through to show compliance worked, but it ended up being confusing because it confused the relationship between terms, networks, and licenses.
Creating separate interactive examples within FAQ
To simplify complexity, I separated each concept into focused interactions paired with relevant questions, matching how users naturally sought to understand the concept visually.
Adding optional simulation showing user flow
For users who wanted a dashboard-specific walkthrough, we linked a simulation that prompts them through the steps to add and remove subscriptions to networks in the dashboard. I added confetti at the end to celebrate completion after learning a bit of JavaScript!
Impact
Proven business impact established department initiative
9.8%
increase in subscriptions growth
4,000
additional monthly active users
The pilot established in-product learning as a viable adoption lever and expanded this approach as a department initiative. The additional opportunities we identified were prioritized, completing four more use cases within that year.
Reflection
Iterate quickly to build buy-in
We had ambitions to work closely with product teams to literally embed videos in panels and drawers, or add tooltips in specific moments for anticipated troubleshooting. However, I realized that we needed to align with product team goals and minimize engineering dependencies if we wanted to ship quickly.
Advocating for simpler approaches for the pilot allowed us to iterate content more quickly, leading to more internal support throughout the build. Once there was proven success, it could then provide more opportunities for our teams to design more holistic experiences.
