Candidates are beginning to embark on a revitalized journey through the CFA Program! Starting with a new welcome and onboarding experience for those registered for the Level I February 2024 exams, we've introduced new ways for candidates to access resources and feel supported through the CFA Program.

Before registration opened for the February 2024 exams in May of this year, our Customer Experience team analyzed the candidate journey to find opportunities to better assist CFA Program candidates. The goal was not only to ensure candidates feel supported and prepared on exam day by engaging with available resources but also to help them take ownership of their journey, feel in control of their future, and become passionate advocates for the program.

After thorough research and review of customer insights uncovered earlier by BCG, we focused on candidates registered for the February 2024 Level I exam—those who would experience the immediate changes implemented from Evolve. We examined the entire experience, from registration to results release, to see how we could uphold our brand promise. We launched a new welcome and onboarding experience in May, adopting an agile and gradual approach that will put us closer to the ideal experience with each new cohort of candidates.

Our findings showed that we relied heavily on transactional emails, so we seized the opportunity to adopt a more relational and supportive approach across multiple channels in time for registration opening in May. We launched the Candidate Success Center, a one-stop hub on our website, where candidates can find all the necessary information in one place. Candidates are always interested in study tips, so the page prominently features the Learning Ecosystem and other study resources like Practice Packs. We also provide details on what candidates can expect from exam day to results release. A candidate “quick start guide” is available, helping orient candidates to resources they can access as they begin their journey.

We streamlined and revamped the Level I candidate email journey, infusing a more personal and supportive tone into the series while delivering vital exam preparation information. Through a more approachable social media campaign, we incorporated concrete resources and information to promote candidate success. And we have brought back a monthly candidate newsletter for Level I 2024 candidates, to help build awareness of the resources available to them throughout their journey. You can see samples of those assets here.

Finally, we also developed talking points for societies, staff, and the Global Contact Center to use, so candidates are receiving consistent information. (Log in to Society Center to access the document).

To measure our success with these improvements, we will examine a few metrics: engagement with the Learning Ecosystem, improved candidate persistence through the program, and engagement with our other learning products and content.

This is just the beginning of our efforts to enhance the candidate experience. As Level I candidates advance through the program, we'll introduce improvements across subsequent stages of the journey and exam levels. Ultimately, we are working toward building a more personalized and gamified journey.

We're also exploring avenues for societies to actively participate in developing this experience. For example, candidates are eager to make connections with fellow candidates and members, so we are considering how to better equip societies to further fill this gap. Until then, we anticipate enabling candidates to self-serve will lighten the administrative load on societies, who often serve as intermediaries between candidates and CFA Institute, so you can turn your attention to more impactful work.

Those attending our upcoming Society Leadership Conferences can expect to learn more about this work and give feedback about how you see this partnership coming to life.