Leadership without authority
Discover science-backed leadership strategies for L&D professionals that build influence without formal authority.
Skipping audience analysis and building courses solely based on assumptions instead of real learner needs leads to poor engagement, low completion rates, and unsuccessful learning outcomes. Successful Learning and Development (L&D) programs begin by understanding learners’ actual challenges, preferences, and contexts before creating any content. Today, let’s explore how we can leverage audience analysis to effectively deliver our learning solutions to the appropriate audience.
Picture this scenario: You’ve just hit publish on your course. The slides look amazing, the platform is perfectly set up, and you’re ready to change lives. But then — crickets. Or maybe people start but never finish.
Sound familiar?
If you’re nodding along, you’re not alone. Here’s the uncomfortable truth that keeps many course creators awake at night: launching a course without truly understanding your learners often leads to massive dropout. In fact, as many as 94% of MOOC participants never complete their courses, and overall e-learning dropout hovers around 70%
The problem isn’t your content quality or your teaching skills. It’s something much more fundamental: without proper audience analysis, creating a course is basically just expensive guessing.
In today’s crowded learning landscape, where the eLearning industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.27%, understanding your learners isn’t just important — it’s everything.
Think about this: Would you launch a new smartphone without talking to potential users first? Would you open a restaurant without understanding your neighborhood’s dining preferences?
Probably not. Yet countless course creators jump straight to content creation without understanding who they’re actually serving.
Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: As many as 94% of MOOC participants never complete their courses, and overall e-learning dropout hovers around 70%. That’s not just a statistic — it’s a wake-up call. If you guess at who your audience is and what they need, most of them will simply leave.
Learning isn’t just information — it’s transformation. And transformation requires deep understanding of three critical elements:
I learned this lesson the hard way. I once spent weeks creating what I thought was the perfect course, only to discover my audience was at a completely different skill level than I assumed. The course flopped, but the lesson was invaluable: assumptions are expensive mistakes.
“But I’ve been in this field for years. I know my people!”
That experience is valuable, but here’s where it gets tricky: your audience evolves constantly. The problems they face change. What worked last year might be irrelevant today.
Let me share a story about Carlos, a client who was absolutely certain his finance audience needed advanced investment strategies. He built an entire curriculum around complex portfolio management and market analysis.
The feedback when he launched? “This is great, but how do I get my spouse on board with budgeting basics?”
Carlos had the right audience but the wrong problem. His assumption created a complete disconnect between what he offered and what learners actually needed.
The lesson? One 15-minute conversation with real learners can save you months of wasted effort.
The pace of change makes assumptions even more dangerous. Research shows that 39% of employees will require reskilling by 2030, driven by AI, automation, and shifting roles. That’s nearly two-in-five professionals needing entirely new skills within five years.
Your audience’s needs from last year might be completely different today.
Let’s zoom out and look at the bigger picture. In 2024, the global e-learning market was valued at $314 billion and is projected to grow to $355 billion in 2025. That’s not just growth — that’s an explosion.
Everyone has a course now:
Your potential learners have seen it all:
Their expectations are higher than ever, and their time is more precious than gold.
The average completion rate for online courses hovers around 15%. The courses that beat those odds aren’t just prettier or more expensive — they’re the ones that solve real problems for real people.
In this crowded market, the only sustainable competitive advantage is relevance. And relevance comes from deep understanding of your specific learners' unique challenges, contexts, and goals.
Forget complex research methods. Five deep interviews will tell you more than 500 survey responses. Reach out to past customers, post in relevant communities, or ask your email subscribers who’d like to chat for 20 minutes.
The magic happens when you ask the right questions. Focus on understanding their world:
During these conversations, listen for emotional language, specific examples, and unexpected insights. Pay attention when someone says “Actually, the real problem isn’t X, it’s Y” — that’s gold.
After five to seven interviews, step back and ask what themes keep coming up. What assumptions were completely wrong? What surprised you most?
Take Abby, my client, whose leadership course was stuck at 20% completion rates. Through just five interviews, she discovered her audience wasn’t struggling with leadership theory — they were losing sleep over performance reviews and difficult conversations with their teams. One simple pivot from strategic thinking to practical scripts, and her completion rates jumped to nearly 80%.
Once you’ve identified patterns, test them with a wider group through quick email surveys or social media polls. Then here’s the crucial part most course creators miss: build community into your learning experience from day one.
Community-driven learning dramatically outperforms solo experiences. Create a private group, schedule regular check-ins, and encourage peer support. When learners help each other through challenges, completion rates soar.
Audience analysis isn’t a one-time activity. Your learners evolve, so schedule monthly check-ins with current students and exit interviews with completers. Stay active in communities where your learners gather.
Remember: you’re not trying to understand everyone, just your specific learners. Keep it simple, stay curious, and let their stories guide your course creation. The investment in understanding will pay dividends in engagement, completion rates, and learner success.
Audience research isn’t some corporate exercise — it’s the foundation of learning that actually sticks.
When you deeply understand the people you’re serving, you don’t just create content — you create transformation. And isn’t that why you got into this in the first place?
Whether you’re a solopreneur building your first course, a corporate trainer scaling programs, or somewhere in between, the principle remains the same: start with people, not PowerPoints.
The most powerful learning experiences aren’t built on assumptions. They’re built on understanding.
Listen first. Create second.
Discover science-backed leadership strategies for L&D professionals that build influence without formal authority.
Learn how to create courses that use audience analysis to boost success rates and transform your learners’ lives.