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Online courses are increasing in popularity. More and more people are turning to the internet to garner new skills.
Research and Markets predicts the online education space will increase to more than $350 billion by 2025. That’s a lot of people searching for a course teaching them a topic on which you are the expert.
First, you need to know if it is the right time to create a course and then find the people interested in learning your topic. But, even more difficult than that is determining which platform to use, of which there are many options.
Don’t buy another course or book to learn about blogging until you read this!
How many times do you buy a course or an eBook just to be let down? There are ten (10) questions you need to ask yourself before you make that next purchase!
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How do you know how to make a course?
Courses can be an excellent way to increase your revenue and teach your readers what they want to learn. But knowing what to do (or even if you should) can be overwhelming.
Before you decide to make your course, you need to determine if there is a need, what you need to teach, and how to price it.
If you need help knowing if you should create a course or even how to get started, check out Course by Number. She makes thousands selling her courses every single month.
The most popular online course creator platforms
If you want to create a course, you’ve likely turned to Google and searched “online course creator” or asked for help in your favorite Facebook group. You will see many options (along with several opinions) to know what course software you should use.
The most commonly mentioned include Teachable, Podia, Thinkific, and Memberpress. And there’s another one that is also recommended – Thrivecart Learn.
You could sign up with any of these partners and create a course that is easy for your students to sign up for and to follow.
How do you know which course platform is the best?
It’s confusing as you will find varying opinions, some of which are based on links that make the author money.
The truth is that no one platform is perfect. Each system has its benefits and flaws, so you must read through everything the platform offers.
Common questions to ask (or research) include:
- What is the monthly fee?
- Do you take a % from each payment (which will be on top of my monthly fee)? Does the platform host videos for me?
- Can I customize the look of my course?
- Can I allow affiliates to promote my course and get paid
- Is the system each for me to use?
The reviews you read will have varying results, as some people prefer a specific platform over another.
One of the most important factors to consider is the cost. Since fees are paid monthly (sometimes annually), you need to know how much your course will cost you to host each month. Not only that, but what is the transaction fee? Yep, you have to pay the monthly service fee, and you may need to pay transaction fees for each purchase.
And then, there is the ease of use for not only you but more for your students. You must ensure it is simple enough for them to log into and navigate (or you will receive countless emails, complaints, or refund requests).
One of the most well-known online course platforms is Teachable. Creators love it as it is easy to use. But, they often hate the cost and bugs that can come with it.
There’s a system that the owners of ThriveCart called Learn. They have a basic plan called Learn, included with your purchase of ThriveCart. You can upgrade to Learn+ and get some additional features that you may need.
Let’s compare the two, so you can make an informed (and budget-wise) decision to ensure you use the platform that meets your needs.
Quick Teachable vs. Learn+ Overview
Features | Teachable | Learn |
---|---|---|
Unlimited Courses | ✓ | ✓ |
Hosts video lessons/lectures | ✓ | – |
Hosts document/PDF downloads | ✓ | – |
Quizzes / Assessments | ✓ | –* |
Completion certificate(s) | ✓ | – |
Custom course design | ✓ | ✓ |
Custom branding | ✓ | ✓ |
Email campaigns | ✓ | – |
Affiliate program | ✓ | ✓ |
Integrations | ✓ | ✓ |
Live customer support | ✓ | – |
Transaction fees | 0 – 10% (depends on plan) | Stripe fees – 2.9% + $0.30 |
Monthly fee | Limited free plan; $39+/month | One time fee of $495 for cart |
*Coming soon |
Learn vs. Teachable Detailed Comparison
The above chart provides a quick overview of the two platforms to allow you to review the differences quickly. Now, we’ll dig into more detail on each issue so you can determine which system will work best for your needs.
Unlimited Courses
Many times, you will create a single course for your readers. However, there are many instances where you must create multiple courses to ensure your students get the details and education they need.
Both Teachable and Learn by Thrivecart have this capability. You can create one, five, ten, or even thirty different courses!
“Is there a fee for multiple courses?” Nope! The fee is the same and includes the ability to create as many courses as you desire.
Video Lessons/Lectures
One popular feature many course creators use is offering video lessons. While they are often less time-consuming to create vs. written text, you should not provide video only.
The reason has to do with your students. You may have deaf students who need to read closed captioning (which requires more work to create). And you will also have students who do not learn well through video.
Therefore, if you want video in your course, ensure you have written transcripts that are easy to follow (not a massive block of text) or accompanying text lessons.
Where does one create the videos? You can use Loom or Camtasia to create and edit videos.
Once it is ready, you can upload the MP4 format directly to Teachable (along with your closed captions). Just click to upload a file and then choose your video!! They will host the video on their platform.
Video hosting is one thing Learn does not offer (nor do they intend to). That means you must choose the video element and then embed the video code. It is not difficult to do, but you may have to cover the monthly video fee.
You can use something like Loom or Vimeo if you need to host videos. Copy the embed code and add the video to your course.
The video hosting gives Teachable a bit of a leg up at this point, as there is one less step to add a video to your course. However, embedding videos in Learn is not a valid enough reason not to use it.
Document/PDF Downloads
You often offer PDF downloads of guides, checklists, or other printable materials. Offering them is a perk for your student.
Teachable can upload the PDF directly inside each lesson module. Then, you can enable the download feature so your student can access and download the sheet with a single click.
Unfortunately, Learn does not have this built into the platform. You can include links to files, but Learn does not host them. (Again, not a reason enough not to use it.)
Create the PDF and add it to your site. Link the image or text within the course to your PDF, and it should download with a single click.
If you do not want it hosted on your site, you can upload it to Dropbox and get a shareable link. Or, add it to Google Drive, and get a sharable link to allow them to make a copy. These options require an additional click to download the file.
Quizzes / Assessments
You might have lessons that require an assessment or quiz to be completed before unlocking the next lesson.
Teachable offers quizzes at this time, and it is coming soon to Learn!
Create a quiz for your lesson, and your students will need to complete it before proceeding, so you know they have learned what is required.
Completion Certificate
If you want your students to receive a certificate verifying they complete the course, you’ll want to use Teachable. Learn does not have this ability at this time.
Learn has a feature to allow actions to happen. For example, an email can be sent automatically when a student completes a lesson or course. You can include the certificate in the lesson, so they get what they need without manual work on your part.
Custom Design & Branding
Both Learn and Teachable allow you to use custom colors, fonts, images, and styling to ensure your course has the feel you want.
Custom branding and design are critical for connecting your product to your site or business.
Email Campaigns
You may have reason to email the students of your course with updates, notices, or other reasons.
Teachable has email integration built into the platform. However, it is not connected to your regular email service provider. That means you use Teachable formatting and need to know CSS to get a custom look.
When you use Learn, the platform integrates directly with your email provider upon purchase (you will need to code it this way in setup). The student will get the tag you want to be assigned added to their account. Then, you can easily send a segmented email to only your students.
Affiliate Program
It is here that we find our first issue. While Teachable allows you to enroll affiliates to program your course, you can only do so if you are on the $119 per month plan, and it is not available on either the free or $39 monthly plans.
Learn+ is integrated into ThriveCart, which allows you to connect the course to any affiliate you would like to (and lets new members sign up).
Integrations
Both Teachable and Learn integrate with different services and email providers. And, if they do not, you can employ a Zapier to make the connection happen (note there is an additional fee).
Customer Support
Teachable has incredible customer support for those who are on higher-paid plans. You can jump onto chat and get the help you need. If you are on either the free or first-tier plan, you will need to send emails and wait for a response.
Thrivecart does not have live support, but you can email them to get the help you need. They also have an incredibly active and helpful Facebook group you gain access to as a paying customer. Sometimes, other uses have suggestions and recommendations you didn’t even think of!
Transaction Fees
There may be transaction fees even if you pay a fee to use Teachable or buy ThriveCart.
For example, the $39/month Teachable plan assesses a 5% transaction fee, whereas the $119/month plan takes no fees.
If you use ThriveCart, you will have Stripe fees of 2.9% + $0.30. And, if you use Paypal, you will have to pay the price they charge (up to 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction).
The only way to avoid any transaction fee is to opt for one of the higher-end Teachable plans. But, if you do not sell many courses each month, it could be more cost-effective to sign up for a lower-end plan and eat higher fees than pay more to access the platform.
Program Fees
The fees are another big issue that makes Learn more appealing than Teachable.
You must be on the $119/month Teachable plan if you want to add affiliates to promote your course. There is no other way to get affiliates and pay less through them. The total cost for one year is $99 a month (you get a discount if you pay annually) or $1188.
Thrivecart, which includes the simple version of Learn, is a one-time fee of $495. If you opt for ThriveCart, you will start seeing savings once you hit month six of using the platform compared to Teachable.
When you sign up, you can opt into Learn+ for only $195 (one-time fee) and get access to more course bells and whistles.
If you pay for 5 months of Teachable at $99 a month, that is $495. You will continue paying $99 per month to use their platform, whereas if you paid for ThrivCart, you would pay the same amount, and then it stops. It costs more to remain on Teachable’s plan.
What do you get with Learn?
Choosing a course platform or leaving the one you have used for years can be overwhelming. You’ve seen the comparison to Teachable above. You get all that PLUS a few other nifty features when you purchase ThriveCart and gain access to Learn.
Drip Course Content
Learn allows you to grant access to the content in the course in one of five methods:
- Drip by time. Grant access to various modules by day and/or time. For example, if you offer a course and do not want someone to rush through and instead take each lesson one day at a time, you can set it up, so the content is dripped out daily.
- Day of the month. If you offer a monthly service plan, you may want users to access the content on a specific day of the month. You can set that up through Learn.
- Specific calendar date. Use this feature, and the next lesson will only be available to your students on the date selected.
- After trial or rebill. You may want to give students trial access to some of the lessons in your school, and once they pay, they can get complete access.
- Full access upon enrollment. If you don’t want to drip or slowly release the content, you can grant 100% access the minute your student enrolls.
The way you release the content is entirely customizable based on what you need to do to ensure your students gain access to the lessons they need.
Clone Courses or Lessons
Sometimes, you love the format and configuration of a lesson you created. Rather than re-create it from scratch, you can clone a lesson and get a duplicate added to your course. Then, make the necessary modifications to the content.
What is included in Learn+?
We’ve compared Teachable to Learn but let’s dig into Learn+ a bit more to understand what you get with your purchase. Of course, you get all that is included with the free version of Learn, but the upgrade has a few more bells and whistles.
Custom Domain
Using a custom domain is one way to give your course the professional look you desire. Rather than see “thrivecart” in the URL, your students see the name of your course that better connects to your brand.
Import Students
If you currently use another platform for your courses and are considering moving to Learn, you want to move the students from one system to another. Learn+ allows you to import students and enroll them in the course(s) they need to access.
Course Bundles
You may have multiple courses you’d love to offer your students simultaneously. You can easily create a bundle for customers to purchase, and your students will automatically be enrolled in every course.
Team Members
If you have a team of people running your course or an assistant to help monitor activity, you can allow each to have access to your course (rather than handing out your login credentials).
Add Student Tags
When customers enroll in a course, you can assign a student tag to them. You can easily filter through all students to find those with a specific tag, such as enrollment on a particular date, through an event, or more.
Review of Learn
I’ve been using Learn+ for a while and can’t imagine going back to Teachable. For me, the best thing was the fees. I dropped Teachable and am already ahead as the savings for the one-time fee vs. the monthly fee have been amazing!
I’ll be honest and say that I was not impressed that I could not host videos or files through the platform at first, but now I get why. Doing that requires a LOT of memory, which means the fee goes up. Having to copy a link or a line of code to add these to my courses isn’t a deal-breaker.
I love that all my images are easy to find. I have been able to close lessons to have the same color and formatting; all I have to do is edit some text and swap the video code. It took a little time to figure out how to set up and navigate, but now it is easy to know what to do.
Moving from Teachable was easy. I accessed each lesson inside their platform. An easy copy and paste, and I added it to my course on Learn+. Some minor formatting, and the lesson was ready to go! I wish I could export and import from Teachable, but that’s not an option.
I also am thrilled with the way the cart functions. I can do upsells and downsells for my products that connect to my courses – without stress. That is increasing my income as I get more sales and conversions as each of these products is right in front of my new customer’s eyes.
Having a powerful, all-in-one cart, affiliate program, and course integration through a single tool has been great. And adding in my upsells and bump offers has increased my income with minimal effort.
Online courses are a smart move for many business owners. But don’t rush out and sign up with just any platform. Do your homework and understand what you get before you buy – so you don’t end up with buyer’s remorse or, worse – have a platform that doesn’t live up to your expectations.
Don’t buy another course or book to learn about blogging until you read this!
How many times do you buy a course or an eBook just to be let down? There are ten (10) questions you need to ask yourself before you make that next purchase!
But, if you want something that won’t drain your bank account month after month, ThriveCart Learn is the wise investment to make today.