We The Cooks
Online Private Cooking Classes
Things feel like they are starting to click in terms of process, content, growth, and we even made some money (finally)!
Looking forward to a continued focus on content while stepping up our efforts in creating a community and refocusing on SEO.
For SEO there is an opportunity to create short format content that breadcrumbs leads into a specific class.
The number one request from early users was surprisingly.... gift cards! They wanted the ability to buy a cooking class as a gift and we need a growth channel so it makes perfect sense!
Its not the perfect solution however we now offer gift cards on https://wethecooks.giftcardsuite.com and have linked the process in key places on our main page https://blog.wethecooks.com/redeem-your-we-the-cooks-gift-card/
Hoping the early excitement can help bring in a steady stream of referrals!
Through customer feedback we realize that there are a ton of moving parts in preparing for the class, mainly shopping for ingredients.
This week we launched We The Cooks recipes with Whisk integrated for easy one click shopping. These will be linked throughout the signup and preparation process and serve as reference for students before/during/after class.
A few Examples:
https://recipes.wethecooks.com/jalapeno-dona-tacodeli-salsa
https://recipes.wethecooks.com/sopa-de-ajo-spanish-garlic-soup
Things we accomplished:
- First Classes + Revenue
- SEO Improved drastically
- Product is refined thanks to many customer interviews
- Class process is much smoother now
- Reviews slowly coming in
Things we did not:
- Instructor recruitment continues to be a challenge
- Product work overshadowed outreach. Tradoff but still important to note
I write software everyday so I avoided writing a line of code for We The Cooks, instead opting to use no-code solutions to force myself into customer research and marketing.
I've had projects in the past and I wish I had taken this approach then. Once you remove yourself from the product trenches you can handle the business part of the business without distractions.
Also have a new piece of content: https://blog.wethecooks.com/cooking-skills-to-master-in-online-cooking-classes/
It took 15 days from the first customer to get a second (and third!). For reference, it took us a month and a half to get the first customer
I'm not expecting the pace to pick up drastically however it is incredibly encouraging to be picking up momentum, especially in SEO
Forgot to brag about this one but we got a nice placement a top 5 list here: https://thingsthatareawesome.com/reasons-take-online-cooking-classes/
We are taking an SEO approach and it's great to see these efforts pay off. Our reach is slowly growing to where it makes sense to start testing what numbers look like on retargeting
A real order with real money finally happened (and its more satisfying to see verified revenue than I expected)!
We haven't dedicated any time to paid marketing and the SEO for We The Cooks isn't yet pulling significant traffic so I attribute this win to our word of mouth which at this point is relentlessly taking about We The Cooks to anybody that will listen.
Looking forward to talking with our first customer, learning more about how we got the conversion/purchase, gathering feedback, and most importantly improving product based on that feedback :)
People are hard and recruiting them is even harder. Thankfully I don't have to go it alone anymore!
The great Samantha Helferich is joining up to help recruit chefs for online cooking classes and focus entirely on the demand side of the marketplace.
That leaves bandwidth for me to focus on user testing and attracting more visitors to the site.
I've realized through many conversations that I can be the supply to start. My focus is now getting 10 people I know to take a class on the platform.
The goal of this is to refine the process for both instructors and students while building a fanbase
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First of all, I love your product idea. As someones who loves to cook and believes in the power of cooking as well, I really appreciate what you're doing. Feel free to reach out if you need any help at some point.
I have some ideas to kickstart your marketplace.
Whenever you want to grow something, the key is to find the right channels. I think Airbnb Experiences and Craigslist are interesting channnels:-
for supply, look at Airbnb experiences and Craigslist. There are a ton of cooking classes there. Just advertise them on your website and when somebody buys them, reach out to the chef in question and ask if they can do it via webcam.
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For demand, do the exact opposite: post all of your classes on Craigslist and Airbnb experiences as well. There are a ton of people looking for classes there already.
This way you use existing channels to grow your product. Hope this helps
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4 Comments
Bravo! My website traffic has dropped half since last month, I think it is because people are less looking at "video meeting platforms" now. I define content as our main tactic, I want to ask you a question: how do you define where to "distribute" your content?
Looks good.
Maybe if you add in "100% Money Back Guarantee" and a "4 places left in this lesson" you'll notice some conversion rate improvement.
50% of something is always better than 100% of nothing
What a cool product! I reviewed a similar one in a past case study.
Maybe you can find some growth ideas there 🙂
This comment was deleted 5 years ago