Miyoungka: Launching a Conversational English Program From Scratch

The Problem

Korean college students had limited accessible, structured opportunities to practice conversational English with native speakers. The existing options were expensive, formal academies (hagwons) or unreliable, unstructured language exchange meetups — leaving a real gap for an affordable, community-based program built specifically for students.

Goals

• Design a program aligned with student needs and drive initial sign-ups
• Launch and attract participants through multiple acquisition channels (Instagram ads, organic content, campus outreach)
• Use the first three cohorts to gather real signal on messaging, pricing, and retention before deciding on long-term viability

What I Did

• Conducted user research to identify target audience needs and inform positioning and messaging
• Designed the program structure and value proposition around specific student pain points
• Executed a multi-channel acquisition strategy — Instagram ads, organic social, and campus outreach
• Built and optimized the full conversion funnel: Instagram → Linktree → landing page → signup form → payment
• Iterated on messaging, pricing, and user experience based on real cohort performance and feedback
• Built supporting assets — a Notion onboarding hub and a landing page — to improve conversion and student experience

The Funnel

Instagram Post → Profile → Linktree → Landing Page → Google Form → Signup + Payment

Results

• Grew Instagram from 0 to 1,200 followers in 4 months; reels outperformed static posts by roughly 750%
• Cohort 1: 31 signups → Cohort 2: 63 signups — a 103% increase
• Acquired 94 total users across the first two cohorts, including 73 paid users, at a ~7.3% end-to-end conversion rate
• Improved paid conversion quality from 74% to 79% through targeting and messaging optimization
• Validated a ~$26 profit-per-user model
• ~50% of users attended 50%+ of sessions; 5 repeat users converted into Student Ambassadors, an early signal of real product-market fit

What I Learned

• Small, iterative changes to pricing and messaging moved conversion measurably — worth building a recurring test-and-learn cadence into any launch, not treating it as a one-time event
• Content format matters as much as content quality — reels vs. static posts was a 750% difference, not a marginal one
• Local context changes the persona: male student availability was shaped by mandatory military service in ways a generic college-student segment wouldn't have caught

Supporting Artifact

I also wrote a full Product Requirements Document for this program, laying out the plan, requirements, and go-to-market strategy — including a retrospective section comparing plan vs. actual results.