How might we grow engagement and number of users on Booster’s Discord community?
Booster is an open-source framework from The Agile Monkeys that enables developers to create event-sourced services with minimal code.
Methodology:
Stakeholder interview
Survey on Google forms
Moderated user interviews (30 minute, 1:1 sessions)
Competitor analysis of similar products’ features + community channels
My role: UX researcher helping to build a better product and community
Have used Booster
Location
How often check Discord
Participants were gathered from the screener survey, which asked a series of questions about themselves, their familiarity with Booster’s framework, and experience using Booster’s Discord channel.
Key insights
Key insights
After conducting the user interviews, I synthesized the data to uncover key insights. The following themes emerged:
Discovery of Booster: The way that participants discovered Booster tells us about the popularity and discoverability of the product, including willingness to join the Discord
Discord channel as a platform: The different ways Discord is used and perceived
Public relations for Booster: The ideas that participants had about choosing a tech product and how marketing/PR could boost discoverability
Discovery of Booster
Key insight 1: Users only found Booster after searching for this type of framework specifically or stumbling upon it
Recommendation: Increase Booster’s # of mentions in blogs and forums
Key insight 2: Interactions with Booster team are very positive
Recommendation: Decrease barriers to access (to Booster team) by requiring users to introduce themselves in Discord and implementing a welcoming Rules section
Key insight 3: Booster is doing well in SEO and marketing, the problem is finding out about Booster in the first place. Participants enjoyed the “Create your own Booster app in 10 minutes.”
Recommendation: Continue to improve website with blog updates, use cases, and walk-throughs, then apply SEO strategy for discoverability
Discord channel as a platform
Key insight 1: Users did not consider Discord a strong platform for community
Recommendation: Consider conducting a poll to determine whether Discord delivers functionality for community building
Key insight 2: Users will only use Booster’s Discord if they have a specific question or issue
Recommendation: Experiment with creating more targeted engagement on Discord by creating channels for jobs, resources, and “just for fun” – for two week sprints
Key insight 3: Users are mostly interested in product/version updates
Recommendation: Create a strategic pipeline for quick email updates that feeds from Booster’s blog once a month
“Making a technology choice is a risk, there’s no going back. A company needs to build [a potential user’s] trust.”
— User interview participant
Public relations for Booster
Key insight 1: Choosing a tech framework and product can be a big decision for a company/developer
Recommendation: Provide examples and use cases on the Booster blog of previous successful product roll-outs
Key insight 2: Trust and reputation are important when choosing a product
Recommendation: Start doing more intentional, targeted promotion of Booster by updating blog and then getting featured on Y Combinator’s Hacker News, etc.
Key insight 3: Growing the use and knowledge of Booster will naturally increase engagement on Discord
Recommendation: Draft a public relations plan that includes this pipeline to help people discover Booster
Recommendations 💡
To grow community engagement on Discord…
Create a public relations plan for Booster to increase visibility and gain clout, which is needed for developers to “trust” a product. Team can start by implementing a strategy where updates to the framework are written about on the blog, and then disseminating it on social media and Hacker News
Improve usability on Discord channel so when people do join, they tap an emoji to access the “rules” and know exactly what is expected of them and what they’re gaining from the community (resources, connections, and opportunities) rather than just a place to ask questions