Next on the show is Claire Smith who is the Senior Community Manager at the world’s largest online learning platform for higher education, Coursera. She previously led community experience at e-Commerce platform, Storenvy, but she started building her first community - a World of Warcraft Guild - back in 2006. We discuss why Coursera has been focusing on retention over acquisition in light of COVID-19, how she pivoted when an initial program launch didn’t work out as planned, and how community works in tandem with customer success when it comes to an education product. Take a listen!

Who is this episode great for?

Virtual community managers, early-stage community leaders, educational communities

What’s the biggest takeaway?

Claire Smith returned to her role at Coursera from maternity leave to find a very different world. In light of the pandemic, while demand for educational content has risen, Claire and her team are continuing to double down on the retention of their users to ensure that their community is growing. Coursera utilizes the strategy of allowing marketing to focus on acquiring new users so the community team can put all energies toward making sure all users and superusers are happy with the product, engaged with each other, and meeting their educational goals.