Case Study: Microsoft Corporation trains 25 million people and builds customer empathy with UserTesting

How Microsoft Learn helps 25 million people learn new skills and get better jobs

Microsoft Learn, part of Microsoft’s mission to help people and organizations achieve more, set out to train 25 million people through its Global Skilling Initiative. Faced with the challenge of organizing vast learning content and understanding how diverse users re‑engage with Docs and Learn, the Content and Learning team needed clear, behavior‑based insight (rather than endless demographic slices) to build a unified experience and prioritize customer outcomes.

UX researchers partnered with UserTesting to run qualitative studies focused on re‑engagement, synthesizing findings into five behavior‑based archetypes and sharing them in cross‑team workshops. The archetypes created empathy, aligned teams, sped decision‑making, reduced time spent hunting for evidence, and enabled faster, more consistent product and content changes at global scale — helping Microsoft act with the agility of a smaller organization while improving outcomes for millions of learners.

Microsoft Corporation

Rachel Price

Senior Information Architect