Coach Product Update: April 2026

Adding omnichannel options and proactive engagement

In February, we described Coach moving toward an ongoing system of career guidance: support that continues between advising touchpoints, not just during them. In March, we outlined the next wave of capabilities: proactive follow-ups, messaging through SMS and WhatsApp, a smoother way to get started on the web, and onboarding emails for new learners. This month, those pieces are being phased in.

The common thread: Coach can reach learners through the channels they already use, follow up with them between sessions, and meet them with a lower-friction entry point when they do return.

Coach beyond the web app

Proactive Coach is now live in a phased rollout. A subset of independent learners can now receive personalized follow-ups from Coach between sessions: prompts tied to what they worked on recently, reminders to come back, or suggested next steps based on their goals. This is the capability we previewed in February: a career coach that keeps in touch between sessions rather than waiting to be visited.

SMS and WhatsApp bring Coach to the channels learners already use. Users in the US can now have full two-way conversations with Coach over SMS; users outside the US can do the same over WhatsApp. A learner can ask a question about a job posting while on the bus, get a response on the way home, and pick up the thread again the next morning, all without ever opening the app. For the current phase, omnichannel access is limited to the cohort participating in Proactive Coach.

The first cohort of users can now chat with Coach via SMS or WhatsApp

We've also made a set of refinements to how learners manage and trust proactive messages. Opt-out is now easier, including for users who are logged out or use SSO. Learners can send QUIET via SMS or WhatsApp to switch delivery back to email, with a confirmation message so they know the change took effect. Each learner receives a one-time introduction from Coach before their first proactive follow-up, explaining what to expect. And we've built out the tracking infrastructure so that preferences (opt-ins, opt-outs, channel choice) are recorded reliably.

Proactive messages face a higher bar for quality. When Coach reaches out first, it needs to do so carefully. Building on the regression testing framework we described in March, we now run a set of nightly evaluations specifically on Proactive Coach messages, designed to catch quality regressions before they reach learners.

An easier start for new users

General chat on the homepage. Learners can now start a conversation with Coach directly from the homepage, without first choosing an activity. This lowers the friction of getting into Coach, especially for first-time visitors who haven't yet decided what they want to work on. Early signs suggest learners are using general chat the way we hoped: as a starting point for open-ended career exploration, especially for those who haven't yet settled on a specific goal. We shipped this in late March and followed up with visual polish and friendlier error handling.

General chat functionality is now available

Onboarding bumper emails. New learners who sign up receive a short sequence of emails that introduces what Coach can do and helps them build a habit of coming back. Learners can opt out by topic rather than all-or-nothing, so turning off one type of message doesn't silence the others. Many new users sign up, try Coach briefly, and don't return. These emails are designed to address that.

Coming next

In the coming months, we'll be building on what shipped in April:

• Expanding Proactive Coach beyond the initial cohort. The next phases focus on broader rollout and continued refinement of message quality, scheduling, and relevance.

• Non-authenticated Coach chat over SMS. Learners will be able to start a conversation with Coach via SMS before creating an account, then claim the conversation once they sign up.

• Agentic opportunity finding. Proactive outreach that actively surfaces relevant opportunities–jobs, scholarships, programs–rather than waiting for learners to search.

• Dynamic context in the widget. When Coach is embedded on a partner site, it will pick up context from the page the learner is on with each message, rather than being fixed at the moment the conversation started.

• URL upload in chat. Learners will be able to share links in conversation for Coach to read and work with, like job postings, a program description, and personal career docs.

If you'd like to see these updates in action or talk about how Coach could support your learners, we'd be glad to connect.