The market for #AI products for teachers is noisy and crowded market (see Figure 1). Some tools focus on automating lesson plans and generating related content, such as quizzes and slide decks. Other products provide student-facing tutors and automated grading/feedback.
This got me thinking about the target audience and positioning of these products. The initial target audience is often teachers and the value proposition is “saving time”. The majority of companies will need to refine their target audience because of target audience will not ultimately be the same for all of these companies (see Figure 2). Notice how this group of companies had the same core features and used positioning to stake out their own turf. Positioning is the context whereby users understand what the product can do for them. Poor positioning will cause the messaging to fall flat and note inspirce some form of action by the target market.
Most product categories in EdTech are new and so the target market will likely be formed around an early customer persona (ECP). This can be teachers, but remember that ideal customer profile (ICP) will be the someone with BANT — the principal or superintendent. A mistake is settling for teachers as your ICP simply on the grounds that access to the premium buyer (principals and supers) is more challenging.
These premium buyers have a budget and experience with high-priced EdTech tools and have a higher “willingness to pay” (WTP). The larger budget and higher WTP will support a more sustainable business model but be prepared for 6 to 18-month sales cycles. This will require funding for a longer runway but it is better than targeting teachers and having to use pricing to drive conversions. What if you don’t have a handle on pricing from your initial user research? No problem, just experiment. Create a several price points (see Figure 3) and create several pricing tables that can be on different landing pages for different target markets.
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