모멘텀 에피소드 23:
Morgan Ziontz와 함께하는 제품 교육

Have you ever looked into a new product or service but were deterred because you couldn't quite figure it out? It sounds basic but for any business to be successful customers have to know how their product works. That's where product education can often be the overlooked ingredient that makes or breaks a business. Today we'll be learning all about it by speaking with someone who does product education for a living, Jform's very own Morgan Zions. Welcome to Momentum, a podcast by Jform where we talk about technology, productivity tips, insights, and best practices that help us move forward in business and in life. Let's get started.

All right, we are live and here with Morgan Zions. Morgan, welcome to the show.

Thank you, thanks for having me.

Yeah, it's great to have you. So let's dive right into the topic for today which is product education. Now that's a very broad term and can encompass a lot of things depending on the industry, of course, but what does it entail at a company like Jform?

That's a good way to preface that question. It can be anything, a lot of different things at a lot of different companies. At Jform specifically, it means taking a holistic look at how we talk about our products and features and developing a program that speaks to that. Largely, we're doing webinars currently and we do webinars anytime there is a new major product or feature release. Those webinars are meant to give demos and provide a technical overview of that product or feature. Another piece is providing use cases, letting people know how they might use that feature, why it might be important to them, and why they might care. We're largely doing that through webinars currently but are looking at other ways to expand, with more coming later this year. So yeah, making that big picture overview.

How did you get here? How does one get into product education? And if you could summarize, why is it so important?

I got into product education pretty incidentally. I don't have a career path to recommend for others interested; there's no degree in it. I majored in Psychology and then was in accounting before getting into marketing somehow. I started at my last job in a support role for a team called Outreach, which was customer marketing doing basically the same thing: checking in with customers, learning about how they were using a product, and figuring out how to better show them how to use it. It wasn't quite as much technical training as use studies or use cases. The company was growing quickly and needed people to step up and do more of that, so I moved from supporting the team to actually doing some of that work. My role was very similar to what I'm doing here at Jform: webinars, in-person trainings, and helping develop what we called the University for the company, an intensive couple-day training where people would come to us. I found that I really loved it, despite being a back-end person before. I really loved working directly with customers and helping people get to that light bulb moment when they finally realize how or why they should care about something. That was really significant and I decided to pursue my career in that.

Did you find that transition from being more of a back-end person to taking more of a product education focus natural or organic?

It eventually became natural for me. I have public speaking experience and background which helped. I felt pretty well prepared to step into that but had a lot of anxiety about being more visible and front-facing. I did step into it hesitantly but came on at Jform to manage webinars and have been doing that for the past two years. As soon as I could get over the anxiety or get it to a manageable place, it has been a pretty natural thing for me and something I really enjoy.

People might not realize being the face of product education means you are kind of the face of the company for many people who come to Jform and are trying to learn more about it through webinars or other videos. You really have to put yourself out there, so overcoming that is extremely commendable.

Let's talk about how product education and marketing intersect. Even in my MBA, we've talked about whether product education is marketing or a different category. Do you consider what you do marketing and what's the difference?

I absolutely see it as marketing, especially with SaaS companies. You're not just making a one-time sale but an annual sale, so you have to continue to prove value to your users year over year. If you raise prices, you need to show a reason for that. So it's absolutely a function of marketing, supporting the sale of the product year over year. It also intersects with other departments like product and customer support. Product education is a more holistic overview and proactive approach to showing people how to use a product or service, whereas customer support is more reactive to questions and concerns. It's two sides of the same coin. In terms of the marketing funnel, marketing might be the flashy billboard that attracts customers, but it also includes keeping customers engaged and functional once onboarded. Product education is part of that later stage in the funnel.

Let's dive deeper into webinars. The average user might see a webinar or watch a recording but have no idea of the effort that goes into creating them. You've been doing this for a couple of years. Can you talk about what goes into making a product webinar at Jform?

A 35 to 45 minute session, which is what we're aiming for, can mean over 80 hours of work on my end for bigger webinars. The biggest piece is thoroughly understanding the product myself, which involves a lot of education. Then I translate that into a script. I don't always know who I'm talking to; we get registrations but the audience can range from brand new users to experienced ones. For bigger webinars, we might have five or six hundred people on the line, so I have to make the content understandable for beginners but engaging for advanced users. I also create a demo that balances being introductory and engaging for experts. Besides content creation, there's a lot of scheduling involved. I'm not the only one doing webinars but I handle the majority and manage scheduling, which includes timing emails so they don't conflict with other communications and ensuring follow-ups happen on time. After sessions, a huge chunk of time goes into going through hundreds of questions from attendees. I sort through these before the webinar to inform content and after to share with the product and development teams to help improve the product. This year, I'm focusing on back to basics webinars due to many introductory questions. So yes, a lot goes into webinars.

There are many layers of complexity, from becoming a product expert to coordinating logistics like promotional materials and scheduling. I also communicate with the development team afterwards to provide real-time feedback from customers about how they perceive the product and what improvements they want. This feedback helps improve the product and is why having a product education manager is crucial.

Have you ever had anything go wrong during a live webinar? That must be a nightmare.

That's part of the anxiety. Almost every webinar has something go wrong, but part of my job is to smooth it over so it's not noticeable. Usually, it's small things like advancing slides too quickly or the product not loading as fast as I'd like, which I have to buffer with commentary. I have to think on my feet. At my last company, the internet went out during a session, which affected the whole office and city. We had to scramble to decide whether to resume or reschedule. Thankfully, that hasn't happened here, but live events always have surprises.

Did you have any live speaking experience before doing webinars?

Not off the cuff like webinars require, but I spent a lot of time doing public speaking, especially in high school where I was on the speech team for four years. I dedicated many weekends to tournaments. I wanted to quit after my first year but my mom wouldn't let me, so I stuck with it. That experience has definitely helped me.

That's amazing and has clearly paid off because webinars require comfort with the unpredictable. Moving on, Jform has many products like tables, apps, and approvals. Are some products harder to present in webinars than others?

It's a bit of both. Despite being in SaaS for almost 15 years, I'm not very tech-minded. My background is psychology and accounting, so I start from scratch with each product. There's always a moment where I think I won't understand it, then a light bulb moment where it clicks. Bigger products like approvals take more time to learn because they're very different from the form builder. I add buffer time to make sure I understand everything before presenting. The goal is to get customers to that light bulb moment as soon as possible, though it doesn't always happen right away.

What are some unique challenges people might not expect in your role or with webinars in general?

The biggest challenge is juggling all the moving pieces and how long it takes to do any webinar. I usually write two or three at a time, all in different stages, aligned with different product release schedules. I also help with others' webinars and scheduling. I work cross-functionally with designers for slides, growth teams for messaging, product teams for questions and approvals, and marketing writers to ensure messaging is consistent. Managing all that for multiple webinars simultaneously is a big challenge. For tech companies, the product is the company, so this role spans everything and bridges the product to customers, acting as a first line of defense.

Flexibility is crucial in tech where things constantly change, like needing to improve a product, push back releases, or launch sooner than expected. Being adaptable is really important.

Earlier you mentioned the most time-consuming part of webinars. What takes the most time: figuring out the demo or coordination?

All parts are time-consuming, but the biggest part for me is coming up with the demo. Demos aren't scripted; I write outlines for what I want to show and say, but the demo is done off the cuff using the actual product, so it varies each time. I do many run-throughs to ensure clarity and confidence. The entire process of creating webinar content is time-consuming, but the demo is probably the most because I want to find examples that speak to as many use cases as possible. Also, balancing the audience's experience levels is a challenge since some attendees are experts and others are new.

You mentioned earlier about customer entry points. Some attendees might have used Jform for years and want info on one part, while others are brand new. Balancing that in webinars must be a hurdle.

Yes, most attendees are customers, but there are always new users or people who just heard about Jform and want to start from scratch. So I include introductory information as well. Finding the right balance is very important in product education.

To summarize, what is the secret to good product education for startups or companies establishing product education departments?

The biggest key is to not overlook product education. New companies often focus on sales and growth but will reach a point, especially SaaS companies, where they need to continue selling to existing customers. You don't have to dedicate an entire role to it, but having resources set aside is crucial. Product education is a holistic approach, not just reactive question answering, but educating people as the company and product grow. Also, know your audience and how to reach them. Not everyone tunes into webinars, so consider other formats like short videos or social media. Knowing where your audience wants to hear from you is key.

That's great advice and it all works in tandem. Ultimately, good product education keeps customers loyal and convinced to stay year after year, benefiting both the company and customers. You want customers to fully utilize and get value from the product, which also helps improve it through feedback.

What do you like most about your role as product education manager at Jform?

I love working with customers. I'm in a unique position as a recognizable face people trust. People follow up with me after webinars, sometimes months later, because I was able to help them. If I can't help, I direct them to support who handle technical issues better. Having those interactions and being someone customers trust makes me feel good, which ties back to my psychology background. Also, being a liaison providing valuable feedback to the product team is something I really value. They show me how they use that feedback to develop the product, and knowing I contribute to that is rewarding.

You've done an awesome job and we're grateful to have you. Anything else you want to add that we missed?

I think we covered the basics of product education, how webinars work, and how I approach my job. It's been really informative. We do webinars almost every other week, so tune in. You can check out Jotform.com/webinars for upcoming sessions and stay tuned for more later this year.

Thank you so much for your time. It was awesome to have you. I've learned a lot and hope our listeners have too. We'll see you on the next webinar.

Thanks for having me.