Summary

The first step to finding course-market fit is to survey potential students and get their feedback on your initial course ideas.
Customize your course survey and send it to your network and audience before you've even built your landing page.

Benefits of a course interest survey

We are often asked "How can I make sure I've got course-market fit?"

A survey is the best way to:

Nail your course positioning.
Get your first leads on your waitlist.

Almost every successful instructor on Maven has done this step. Check out what Maven's CEO, Gagan Biyani, has to say about why you should survey your audience:

Customizing your survey

Maven has created a survey with questions that have been optimized for conversion. This survey is available to you as soon as you create your account.

To view or customize your survey:

Navigate to the Surveys tab
Click "Edit" to customize the questions
Hit "Publish" to save changes
Click "Share" to copy the URL

All survey questions are customizable except the first question (email capture). Here are the default questions:

What’s your first name? [Short answer]
What’s your last name? [Short answer]
If this course could help you accomplish one thing, what would it be? [Short answer]

Sharing your survey

To share the link with your network, just click "Share" to copy the URL.

Here are ways to amplify your course interest survey:

Email your personal network. Pro tip: export a list of your personal contacts from your email
Post it on every channel—social media, communities, email, newsletters
Ask your friends to comment and like your post on social media
Ask your personal connections to forward your blurb + survey to people who might be interested

📌 Use this template to share your survey with friends or on social media:

I'm thinking about building a live, [X-length] cohort-based course for [target student] on how to [course outcome]. You’ll learn [outcome 1, outcome 2, outcome 3]. I’ve taught/consulted on this topic for X years working at Y company [insert your credibility as a leader, operator, coach, consultant, and/or teacher]. Now I’d love to teach you. Fill out this survey to get on the waitlist & be the first to hear when enrollments open: [Maven form link]

Tips for posting on X (formerly Twitter)

Do 👍	Don't 👎
Write a thread summarizing your course: why you built it, who it’s for, key outcomes, what you’ll get, finally link to your page. Example: Brandon Zhang's Makers Mark	Don't use a lot of tags and hashtags
Ask your friends and network to boost it by replying, like, and retweeting
Link to your course in the last tweet of a thread
Include testimonials and social proof
Put the link to your course or survey in the body of the post.

Tips for posting on LinkedIn

Do 👍	Don't 👎
Write a strong hook (the first 5 lines). Here are examples of good hooks: "If you want to X, I have exciting news to share". Example: Wes Kao Share a framework. Example: Diego Granados Share a story about a friend or client. Example: Justin Welsh	Don't worry about adding an image or video. High-quality, value-add content matters much more than whether or not you include an image. It’s not make or break either way.
LinkedIn rewards longer posts that encourage readers to click “Show More”	Don't use a lot of tags and hashtags
Share your link in the body of your post as a PS (at the end of the post)
Ask your friends and network to boost it by replying, like, and retweeting
Post in the morning on a weekday
Include testimonials and social proof

Examples from other Maven instructors

Some of these announcements were made before we built the course interest survey tool for you. There's no need to use Google Forms or Typeform anymore. The course interest survey is integrated with your waitlist, so every lead is captured during in Maven.