A GROWTH CASE STUDY

Growing Yandex's engagement from 25K to 350K views

KEY RESULT

Over 900% increase in content engagement

SOLUTION

Growth consulting, strategy, implementation, and management

CLIENT

https://yandex.com/

Client

Yandex

EDU SaaS

Global (Netherlands)

Yandex, registered in the Netherlands, is a technology company that builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. Since 1997, Yandex has delivered world-class, locally relevant search and navigation products, while also expanding into e-commerce, online entertainment, cloud computing and other markets to assist millions of consumers in Russia and a number of international markets.

Challenge

No go-to-market strategy

Yandex’s newest venture - Yandex Praktikum - was gearing up to take on the world of online English language training to compete with the likes of major, established schools in the Russian market like SkyEng. 


Yet unlike traditional online language platforms selling individual lessons, Yandex was preparing to launch a SaaS-style subscription-based service that gave students unlimited access to the platform’s learning materials and lessons.


Being completely new to the online education space, the Praktikum project needed to build an audience prior to launching to which we could market to and build up a strong base of initial paying users.

Solution

Viral growth content strategy

Having grown my own social media following to over 1 million subscribers in a short period of time, Yandex brought me to Moscow as the lead marketing consultant for Praktikum. 


Bring my experience growing social media channels to the team, I quickly devised a content strategy that focused heavily on challenging assumptions. We researched the opinions and beliefs that Russian-speakers held around learning English, travelling to English-speaking countries, and North American and British culture and used that research to layout our content plan.


By challenging assumptions and consistently A/B testing titles, descriptions, and thumbnails before launching, we were able to majorly increase click-through and share rates, which ultimately sparked social media algorithms into heavily promoting our content. 

Results

Over 9x increase in content engagement

Yandex’s content engagement grey from an average of 25K to over 350K views and engagements. Here’s one example of a video’s performance before and after my involvement:

From 22K to 340K views

By focusing on humans’ natural response to having their assumptions and opinions challenged, we were able to drive a major increase in growth to viewership and ultimately paid signups to Yandex’s new subscription-based platform.


Ready to grow your SaaS?

You’re not just getting an extra pair of hands to lead your growth, you’re getting a strategic partner who can help you design a more effective, full-customer-journey marketing program increase your sales and retention.