Study app redesign leading to revenue growth and founder exit

Driven by user feedback and behavior data, an overhauled user experience spurred significant growth for this Navy study app.

Client | Bluejacketeer (Acquired by Kaplan)

Role | Sole strategist: User research/platform audit, UX design, brand strategy, copywriting, product manager

The Brief

The U.S. Navy is unique in determining its promotions through a combination of merit and proficiency exams. After personal experiences struggling to prepare for the NWAE, former sailors Allen Wood and Jonny Coreson founded Bluejacketeer, a Navy-specific study application. Using the scientifically-proven spaced repetition model, the app effectively prepares sailors for their exams and eliminates a great deal of stress along the way. But, after five years, the application and brand were stale and plateauing in growth.

Bluejacketeer’s founders approached ThreeSixtyEight with a big ask – rebrand and redesign their product from the ground up. The goal: convert more of the Navy’s latent audience to paid users of the app while increasing time spent in-app among its existing user base. To accomplish this, we focused on improving user experience and legitimizing their brand perception.

The Results

Upon re-launch, Bluejacketeer experienced positive testimony from existing users and 44% new customer growth in the first quarter. In the first year after introducing the free trial feature, 15,000 customers have redeemed a trial with over 80% converting to paid subscriptions. This translated into an 11.4% revenue increase from Q1 2019 to Q1 2020. In 2021, Bluejacketeer was acquired by Kaplan.

“Everything [TSE] suggested made sense and at times it was like they understood the business better than I did... I was always impressed with their level of detail in understanding the product … their willingness to dive deep into understanding our product was really important to us.”

– Allen Wood, Founder, Bluejacketeer