Neomind Sharpens AI Tutor, Increases Student Satisfaction

Neomind was building an always-available, human-like AI tutor for students ages 12–18 but needed an honest read on how the product actually landed with real students before scaling. Key issues: whether students would trust and return to the tutor, where the experience helped or frustrated learners, and how to gather rigorous, compliant feedback from minors. The stakes were high — without trust and repeat use the product could fail to gain adoption, undermine go-to-market plans, and waste further development resources.

Touchstone designed a two-phase, iterative UX research program tailored to a product in active development and to research with minors. Phase 1 (full-service diagnostic): a 7-day branded online diary with ~100 students plus two follow-up focus groups (middle- and high-school), with Touchstone delivering recruitment and multi-stage screening, diary build and hosting, moderation, and full reporting/analysis. After Neomind implemented changes, Phase 2 (flex-service validation) ran a lean 3-day follow-up with 30 students (mix of returning participants and new recruits) where Touchstone provided recruitment, diary setup, hosting, and incentives while Neomind led final analysis. The design used the same core metrics across rounds and included compliant, in-house recruitment and parental consent processes appropriate for youth research.

The iterative loop (test → prioritize fixes → iterate → re-test) produced measurable improvements: student sentiment rose meaningfully between rounds, Net Promoter Score reached +31, and the median student rating was approximately 8 out of 10. The follow-up validation confirmed the product changes resonated with students, turning research insights into concrete product improvements and stronger early traction.