Webinar Replay: AMA w/ Udemy CMO Genefa Murphy

[ChrystieV]

Hello Instructors!

In the ever-evolving world of online education, staying ahead of the curve is paramount for both instructors and learners. That's why we're excited to bring you an exclusive opportunity to dive deep into the insights and strategies shaping the future of Udemy, directly from the source. Posted above is a special replay of our recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with Genefa Murphy, Udemy's Chief Marketing Officer.

In this one-hour session, Genefa fields a wide range of questions from our Udemy Instructor community. From the latest marketing strategies to enhancing course visibility, to the intricacies of course pricing in today's dynamic market, Genefa offers valuable insights that will empower instructors. 

Below is a summary of the types of questions that were asked during the live session. These questions reflect a wide range of interests and concerns from the Udemy community, including marketing strategies, instructor support, course quality and differentiation, pricing and promotional tactics, platform features, and partnerships.

1. Marketing Strategies and Plans for 2024: Questions about Udemy's marketing strategy, focusing on awareness, perception, and preference, and plans to address challenges and opportunities in 2024.
2. Customer Acquisition: Queries on reaching new customers amidst the declining effectiveness of email and social media marketing.
3. Marketing Differentiation: Discussion on different marketing approaches for Udemy Business and individual students.
4. Course Success Factors: Insight into what contributes to a course's success on Udemy.
5. Video Advertisements and Sponsored Content: Consideration of ramping up video ads and sponsored content.
6. Marketing Tactics for Instructors: Advice on the best marketing practices for instructors, including user-generated content and influencer marketing.
7. Course Inclusion in Udemy Business: Process for getting a course included in Udemy Business following demand from companies.
8. Course Pricing Adjustments: Plans regarding adjustments to course pricing in response to inflation.
9. AI Features for Instructors: Potential implementation of AI features to assist with course SEO.
10. Content Diversification: Efforts to diversify course content beyond technology and software.
11. Course Length Limitations: The possibility of removing the 30-minute course limit to align with micro-learning trends.
12. Shift in Marketing Focus: Transition from low-cost to value-based pricing strategies.
13. Marketing Options Improvements: Enhancements to marketing options on the Udemy platform.
14. Reaching Out to Udemy: Clarification on how to contact Udemy for various inquiries.
15. Cohort-based Learning and Community Features: Plans regarding cohort-based learning and community-building features.
16. Udemy and McLaren Partnership: Information on the partnership between Udemy and McLaren Racing.
17. Promotion of Competitive Topics: Strategies for promoting courses in highly competitive topics like Python.
18. Revenue Share for Instructors: Concerns about reduced revenue share for instructors on Udemy for Business.
19. User-Generated Content Promotion: Opportunities for instructors to create and have Udemy promote user-generated content.
20. Landing Page A/B Testing: Possibility of allowing instructors to A/B test landing pages to improve conversions.
21. Marketing Support for Instructors: Advice on how Udemy can support instructors feeling nervous about marketing their courses.
22. Future of Non-Business Courses: Future prospects for non-business courses on Udemy.
23. Feature to Tip Instructors: Recommendation to add a feature allowing students to tip instructors upon completing a course.
24. Impact of Free Courses: Query about the impact of offering free courses on the rankings of paid courses.

We'd love to know which part you found most insightful, leave us a comment below!

[SoyMarketer]

I appreciate this information, thank you for sharing.

Really curious about "declining effectiveness of email and social media marketing..." That makes no sense, neither is declining, and I don't see another option, that is the main reason I will watch...Out of curiosity for this outrageous statement.

[GenefaMurph976]

Hi SoyMarketer (Alex) - so this is context dependent e.g. per segment and also per country. In some countries as an example social is on the rise and that's why we are looking at new channels (for Udemy) like SMS and Whats' App and in other countries we see that social is good for engagement but not conversion. In the case of email - it remains one of the most cost-effective channels for B2B but in some cases, open rates or CTR on email are declining as prospects get bombarded with too many emails, one survey found I think it was ~60% of B2B felt overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive (add to that the ever-evolving GDPR and CCPA etc) so, we have to ensure we are creating a balance of channels that will both inform and yield an action like a click-through or further engagement. It also depends on how effectiveness is measured e.g. cost-effectiveness may be good in aggregate but direct conversion and contribution may be lower compared to other channels. 

[WilliamStewart]

Hi @GenefaMurph976 , I was the one that asked about the possibility of turning on a second landing page when we want to do A/B testing. 

The entire Udemy marketing funnel is optimized, except for the most important part of all, the landing page.  I just made some small changes to my landing pages, just blindly on instinct.  But for all I know I reduced conversion rates.  I make a change every couple months or so, because I have no data, so just kind of thrash about.  Could be making it worse and worse, I have no data to tell.

Can you imagine what would happen if instructors had the ability to test a second landing page?  The landing pages would get better, and better, and better.  Everybody would benefit from that.

[GenefaMurph976]

Thanks @WilliamStewart in discussions with the internal teams on feasibility

[GenefaMurph976]

Thanks @WilliamStewart im going to flag this to the PDE team and see what is isn't possible. 

[WilliamStewart]

Thanks @GenefaMurph976 .  Of course, it would need a good use case workflow.   Here is one idea of what it could look like.  In brief:

• Two pages, A is the main page, B is the alternate.
• B page is deactivated by default, can be activated by the instructor. 
• If B is activated, each of A and B are shown 50% of the time by Udemy.
• On the conversions statistics page, if B activated for a given course, two lines are shown with the conversion statistics for A and for B.

One could improve this easily, probably innovate for some time. 

Release V2: On each page, a copy button.  On the B page, "Copy A to B", for when the instructor wants to modify their usual A page on the B page.  And on the B page, "Copy B to A", for when the B page is found to work better and the instructor want to make that the default A page.

Release V3: Every time the B page is activated, or changed, Udemy resets conversion comparison statistics and starts measuring the difference in performance, and provides an email when appropriate to the instructor such as:

• "A meaningful number of visitors has been tested on both your A and B pages, and we thought you would want to know the A to B conversion comparison is 5.6% to 6.2%, so the B page is 10.7% doing better.  You may wish to copy your B page to your A page and deactivate B, or copy B to A and then modify B further to see if you can get an even better performing B page.  Since B is outperforming A by a significant percentage, if you do not make these modifications yourself within five days, we will swap the A and B pages and deactivate B for you, and notify you by email."

• Or the very similar, but if B is not doing better:  "A meaningful number of visitors has been tested on both your A and B pages, and we thought you would want to know the A to B conversion comparison is 5.8% to 4.9%, so the A page is doing 18% better.  You may wish to deactivate your B page or make further modifications to reset the conversion comparison.  Since B is under-performing A by a significant percentage, if you do not make further modifications to B to reset the test or deactivate B within 5 days, we will deactivate B for you and notify you by email."

Many of the instructors on Udemy are more than sophisticated enough to use this A/B test functionality to steadily improve their landing page.  This would result in steadily improving conversion statistics, and benefit both Udemy and instructors. 

If only we had data, we would no longer be blindly making updates to our landing page, with no idea if they are improving conversions, and perhaps half the time probably just making conversion worse.

Thanks,
Bill

[WilliamStewart]

Hi @GenefaMurph976 , I just noticed you replied to my first comment.  Just checking - did you see my second comment, directly above, with the draft workflow and automated email suggestions?  I think they really make it work for both instructors and Udemy...

Thanks,
Bill

[upkaizen]

Great opportunity to gain insights straight from the source!

Thank you for sharing the replay of the Ask Me Anything session.

It's fantastic to see marketing strategies, course pricing and beyond. I'm particularly intrigued by the discussions around marketing tactics for instructors and the potential implementation of AI features. Truly valuable information!

Thanks a lot! Best wishes,

@upkaizen 

[DiegoHernán333]

I found them extremely interesting the “Landing Page A/B Test” and "Feature for tipping instructors" items,

Thank you very much for sharing them Genefa,

A Hug and GOOD LIFE TO RESTLESS MINDS!