About Chessable
Chessable is an online platform dedicated to chess learning.
It offers a variety of courses and training materials for chess players of all skill levels.
The platform utilizes a unique approach to learning chess, incorporating principles of spaced repetition and interactive training.
The visual representation below captures a tactical puzzle scenario. Upon successfully solving the puzzle, the user witnesses a boost in their XP points.
Leveraging positive reinforcement loops, users are motivated to revisit the platform, reinforcing their learned lessons.
The overarching goal is to foster continuous engagement, encouraging users to refine and enhance their pattern recognition skills over time.
Chessable is a 2-sided platform where chess learners can consume premium chess content and chess authors can create chess courses. Creating a course on Chessable was a painful and time consuming process.
My role
As a Product Manager at Chessable, I spearheaded a transformative initiative to overhaul the course creation process on our platform, collaborating closely with the head of design and cross-functional teams.
Recognizing the crucial role of user feedback, together with the head of design, I conducted extensive interviews with content creators, editors, quality assurance teams, and coaches involved in crafting chess courses.
Our approach involved categorizing existing tools into Export, Editing Variations, and Import tools.
We listed needs and expectations, pain points, opportunities and potential improvements for each of the internal tools.
The interviews provided an abundance of insights which were subsequently prioritised in Product Board based on the RICE framework.
The image below shows the evolution of the evaluation of those content creation tools from June 2020 to September 2020.
To gauge the effectiveness of these tools, we implemented an evaluation score by the content team, which we administered twice—first in June 2020 and then in September 2020. The results were staggering; we witnessed a substantial increase in the evaluation score for the content creation team, soaring from 3.5 to an impressive 6.8 within a span of just four months.
Once the content creation process was optimised, we looked into international expansion of our course content. Recognizing a lucrative but untapped market within the chess-loving community in Spain, we identified an opportunity to cater specifically to the Spanish audience. Despite Spain's rich chess tradition and a proven market for chess products, our platform lacked Spanish content.
The goal was to enable Spanish content on our platform, encompassing both original content crafted in Spanish and translated content from English. This also extended to ensuring video content was tailored for Spanish consumption. Initiating the process, I engaged with Spanish content creators, our team of translators, and the Spanish publishing manager. A well-defined workflow was established to seamlessly integrate web UI and course content into a translation queue. External tools such as Lokalize and Crowdin were strategically employed to manage translations for the web UI and courses, respectively. Additionally, I meticulously groomed various stories to enhance the discoverability of Spanish content for our users. Aligning the release with marketing efforts, I orchestrated the presentation of our Spanish launch on the shop page, incorporating a sales banner for added visibility.
Outcomes
This improvement in content creation tools had a cascading impact on Chessable's performance metrics. The enhanced tools not only facilitated an accelerated publishing schedule but also contributed to an extraordinary 132% year-over-year growth in revenue. The content creation team, once comprised of 7 individuals, burgeoned to 32 members, a testament to the efficacy of our improvements.
Furthermore, the number of courses published surged, reflecting the growing confidence of users in utilizing the revamped content creation tools. Notably, even top-tier chess grandmasters embraced these tools, elevating the professionalism of the platform.
The visual below illustrates the impact of Chessable's course expansion on the Play Magnus Group's overall revenue. The blue and grey bars represent the revenue generated from chessable course sales and subscription sales, respectively. As depicted, both revenue streams witnessed substantial growth during the final quarter of 2020 and the initial quarter of 2021. A noteworthy contributor to this expansion stems from enhancements in course creation and the successful international expansion initiatives.
Spanish users now have access to dedicated Spanish content, resulting in an additional revenue stream of approximately €20,000 per month. Furthermore, with the established infrastructure, we are well-equipped to replicate this success in other languages, with German being a potential target for future translations. This not only expanded our market reach but also fortified our platform's global appeal.
Conclusion
This project showcases my ability to drive positive change through strategic product management, collaboration, and a user-centric approach. It exemplifies how a thoughtful redesign of tools can not only enhance user satisfaction but also translate into substantial business growth and international expansion.
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