Finding Focus for Language Immersion Events — Experiment #6

Adam McGarity
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

Introduction

My name is Adam McGarity and I am the CEO of The Language Finder (Twitter: @languagefinder). I am part of an experimental incubator that gives startups and entrepreneurs funding in exchange for testing and sharing Lean Startup hypotheses. Here is the link to my original Trello hypothesis card. adamberk helped me run this experiment with funding and mentorship; John Sechrest also helps me on a regular basis with mentorship.

This experiment was a follow up to the success of my last experiment (#5) , where I organized an ran a “Japanese Immersion Day” (JID) event in Seattle…a series of destinations and interactions that kept attendees using Japanese all day long. After JID, I wanted to know if a similar event in a different language (French) would be attractive to people who are learners at an intermediate or advanced proficiency level. My formal hypothesis was: “I believe that through a combination of Facebook ads (max $1 per day) and personal networking (cold-calls, emails, and follow-up meetings) I can get 10 people to sign up for email updates about an upcoming “French Immersion Day” in Seattle. I aim to complete this experiment by July 21.”

Logistics

Similarly to previous experiments, I set up a “Brand Awareness” Facebook ad at $1 per day with a 50 mile radius around the Seattle area, and ran it for 2 weeks. I also directly contacted 5 people with leading roles, or strong connections in French MeetUp groups and French schools in the Seattle area, asking them for their thoughts, and asking them to spread the word.

Results

In short, this experiment showed my hypothesis incorrect. Only one person signed up for updates about the event, and my CTR on the Facebook ad (1.3% ) was significantly lower than when I ran a similar experiment for Japanese (3.1% CTR).

Commentary

Based on the different outcomes in two similar experiments, it seems that different groups of adult language learners (segmented by language of study), they have different levels of interest in the immersion experiences that I’m offering.

And based on conversations with MeetUp group leaders, participants, and students, I’ve also learned how slowly building trust and a community really, really matter when you’re trying to do something new with language education.

So, now I’m thinking…Facebook ad tests are good for getting doing some discrete testing, and I’ll keep using them as needed. But it’s about time for me to dive deeper and really engage with adult language learners, understand their goals, assumptions, and develop my approach to immersion education through action.

Next Steps

It seems to me that each language category is a separate market. Trying to juggle a bunch of these is challenging, and ill-advised. So, to engage properly, I need to choose one language for a deeper focus. I’ve employed the FB ads one more time…my goal is to determine which language is the most interested and eager to participate in a big event, a “Language Immersion Retreat”. I’ve set up 8 parallel FB ad campaigns for 8 languages, prompting intermediate/advanced adult learners to go to the landing page for the Language Immersion Retreats and sign up for updates.

Here is my formal hypothesis: “I set up 8 parallel Facebook ad campaigns for each of eight languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish; max $1 per day for each. Combining these and some personal networking (cold-calls, emails, and follow-up meetings), I believe at least 1 language group will score higher than 50 points (FB click = 1 point, Landing page sign-up = 3 points; ), and I will be able to clearly identify the learner group most enthusiastic about language immersion experiences across three Pacific Northwest cities (Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Vancouver, BC). I aim to complete this experiment by August 22.”

Most important, however, will be follow-up…I’ll select the language group that performs best in this experiment, and I’ll commit my efforts to building and serving that specific community of learners. I’ll learn the language myself, I’ll find the people who want to participate in immersion events, and I’ll plan a series of events over the course of the next year, working towards the the bigger goal on the horizon: the Language Immersion Retreat next summer.

Thanks for reading, and if you have questions or comments, I’m happy to chat. Have a great day!

Adam McGarity

Wrangling language learning in the wild. CEO, langfinder.com

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade