One of the things we are not embracing here is what is the risk of taking a contrarian view? Say as a marketer you spent $100k on building and designing a completely contrarian looking site - what if it bombs? Who’s the blame - your job on the line. The same thing goes for most industrial grade decisions.
As about likeability in consumers - asking preferences for consumers is never a binary thing, If you ask for what do you like most - more often than not it’s short term memory you are leaning into. What do you recall when someone asks you that question ?
If you have good activation -> conversion should be in single digits at least . Look for benchmarks from Lenny here. Of course edtech is a tough category - is it towards adult education or children’s ?
Do you have email follow ups setup for folks who clicked on checkout but didn’t complete?
Checkout -> paid (should be 25%+) unless you have something broken ATM. Share a screenshot of checkout in case you need detailed feedback on what could be amiss?