Language Learning & Curated Study Courses
Client
Babbel – Lesson Nine GmbH
Location
Berlin, Germany
Collaborators
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4 Heads of Product
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3 Product Managers
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1 User Researcher
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2 Product Designers
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5 Engineers
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1 UX Writer
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2 Content Managers
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1 Product Marketing Manager
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1 Product Strategist
Year
2019 - 2020
Babbel products are the most effective way to learn a foreign language. Whether you're studying on-the-go, in your home or in a classroom abroad, Babbel is the guide for your learning needs.
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Per the 2019 commercial strategy, Babbel embarked on introducing new marketing channels, products and features but needed clarity on how each of these fit into their customer life cycle.
Strategy objective
The goal was to identify which personas to focus acquisition efforts on and where cross-selling opportunities exist in the Babbel eco-system so Digital Marketing can effectively target the right audiences for each product.
Native apps
As a user, I want relevant recommendations on my lesson path so that I feel challenged and rewarded.
Tutor platform
As a user, I want private or small-group, online classes that fit my schedule so that I can learn a language in a community who have the same level.
Travel & study marketplace
As a user, I want a booking platform to guide me in finding a school abroad so that I can experience the culture while learning.
My Role
Design Lead
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
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Create an artefact that communicates how product features in the commercial strategy relates to each target audience
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Visualize how the product offerings integrate with the organization's personalization efforts
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Raise awareness to internal stakeholders about Babbel Live and Babbel Travel – so we can support each other's initiatives better
What we did
Market research showed that Babbel Live struggled to get users to commit to tutor sessions due to a lack of confidence in their language skills so I collaborated with the language app designers since they were working on creating a learning path that would recommend new lesson materials based on level completion.
By defining the needs of the app users, I was able to isolate each product's target audience and start tackling challenges with virtual, private tutoring and study abroad classes.
What we learned
While the app teams were working on building a recommendation engine and user data collection, I created prototypes of the new Babbel Live and Babbel Travel experience to gauge market fit and paywall opportunities.
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In Q3 of 2019, we learned that Babbel Travel had more traffic and monthly active users than Babbel Live. After the product owner did a cost-benefit analysis, we also discovered that the cost of Live outweighed its revenue so Babbel Live was put on hold.
The results
After doing fake-door tests and gathering persona data from Sales teams, I created a product eco-system that outlined which product offering was most relevant to each user persona or target audience. Additionally, the strategy visually highlighted which marketing channels and Babbel value propositions aligned to each product offering and had the best user fit.
After communicating it more widely within the organization by facilitating workshops with various teams, it helped digital marketers allocate ad spend to the right target audiences and enabled Babbel Live and Travel to gain more traffic for their experiments. My collaboration efforts also helped personalization teams in Engineering and Data to understand how the data they're collecting will be used on all product offerings.
