AMA: Udemy Product & Instructor Marketing, Director, Dee Dee Wolverton on Market Research

The language of love at Udemy is Data. As such, we're always looking for more, and consumer insights are a constant. Research is conducted on an ongoing basis by our incredible User Research group. This includes longitudinal research where we would like to track progress over time such as for upper-funnel brand metrics like recall and awareness, as well as campaign specific research related to things like message testing and feature promotion. We use a combination of survey tools like SurveyMonk ...Read More

We think about this as a layered approach, of which time is an important consideration. Here are some ways to think about the differences: Jobs To Be Done (JTBD): Essentially, what is the 'job' someone is 'hiring' your product to do? What is the outcome they're looking for? This is extreme helpful when you need something actionable, fast. In fact, it's good to consider this as a preliminary research step so that you have a clearer picture of your audience when developing a Segmentation RFP Perso ...Read More

Tactically, you can apply the learnings in pretty much any way - from sourcing to targeting. However, in many case, you'll want to make sure other teams are aware of this information so that they can use it even if you personally aren't involved. With that in mind, think about how you can socialize important information that you collect broadly. Some tactical ideas: Make the doc easily accessible - keep the doc on 'open' view access to everyone in the company Post it on your internal wiki, if on ...Read More

Ideally, in everything :) Product Marketers should aim to approach our work from the perspective of the consumer, and frequently bring that view into internal conversations. This is why we closely evaluate their options (via competitive tracking), their experience (product and userflow), and their motivations (quant / qual surveys). At the most tactical level, we leverage those insights to inform positioning, messaging, and GTM execution. On a broader level, consumer insights fuel broader strate ...Read More

Always assume best intent. Start there. Often times people want to help, but there are other things going on; there may be nuances you have not yet considered which your stakeholder is weighing carefully. It's important to dig in to see where the resistance may be coming from and get your stakeholders support against the goal itself - even if the means to achieve that goal may change. Listen carefully to your stakeholder and treat them as a subject matter expert when it comes to their clients. T ...Read More

A market analysis is complex: there are many (many) different things that make up a market, and it can easily become a sociological discussion - especially as you see similar trends across multiple markets, driven by divergent factors. Ultimately, you are seeking to understand a) headwinds b) tailwinds c) market accelerants and d) what your competitors may be doing to influence this.  At a very basic level, the tools that will help you evaluate that are: Offsite trends: search tools like Similar ...Read More