Udemy
Getting early reviews for new courses
Team:
Soumya Santhanakrishnan, Product Manager
Michael Blau, Analytics
Janel Faucher, UX Research
Role:
Product Designer - discovery, research, design
Problem
How might we help new instructors get more social proof for their courses?
When a course is published, it needs to show high engagement metrics to be featured in recommendations. But, new courses were being buried in the marketplace and instructors were becoming so frustrated that they were abandoning the platform.
Why is launching a course so hard?
As marketplaces grow, increasing competition makes it harder for new content creators to grow an audience. We did research to understand perspectives from instructors, students, and our own internal teams.
KEY INSIGHTS
70%
Percentage of instructors who expect Udemy to do the majority of their marketing. Many expressed that they were reluctant to share their course with their network.
90 days
The number of days in which a course needs to show momentum, or else be completely ignored by algorithms.
Misalignments between policies and algorithms
Instructors are encouraged to get their peers to write reviews for their course, but many of them end up being marked as spam and not showing up on the site. We were creating multiple dead-end experiences.
$12.99
The same price for newly published courses and Udemy’s bestsellers.
Students often mentioned there felt like no clear differentiation between many courses on the marketplace
“I wanted nobody to see it, but someone to buy it.”
-Judy R, Udemy instructor
SOLUTION
The Trusted Reviewer Program
An invite-only program in which top Udemy students enroll into new courses for free in exchange for writing a review.
New Course Homepage
All courses published within 90 days will be shown on a dedicated page. Courses with higher engagement will be featured.
Taking a Course
Students have 30 days to complete a review in order to receive credit. They can enroll in 2 courses at a time, but must watch a minimum amount of a course before leaving a review.
Feedback to Instructors
Students have quick access to their feedback so they can may engage with instructors more directly. Private feedback is structured in different categories most helpful for instructor
Highlighting Reviews
Reviews posted on the course’s marketing page have a badge by the student’s name and are featured at the top of all reviews
