In this article, we’ll look at how to employ and sell online courses on Shopify platform to build and sell courses online.
With conventional teaching costs rising, e-learning has become more common as a means of growing one’s skill set, advancing career success, and enhancing their everyday life.
However, pricing is not the sole determinant driving the huge increase in the use of e-learning.
With so many of us being employed from and residing in remote locations, online classes make it simple to expand our knowledge and level up our career guidance
So, keep reading below to see why and how to sell courses on shopify- no matter where you live on this planet!
Why Develop An Online Course?
Online course platform has reduced the selling access challenges for individuals who wish to offer their expertise to others.
When you have the appropriate course and proper promotional strategy, you can get a big audience, and assist them in learning from you.
Because of their popular appeal, selling online courses with Shopify apps can be very profitable. The potential for wanting to sell online classes is virtually limitless.
This is because they typically only necessitate a small financial and/or time commitment up front, with minimal or no expenses for reselling the course as many times as you want.
Methods For Selling Courses On Shopify
There seem to be two primary methods for when you want to sell your courses on Shopify App:
- Selling direct access to your online course content
- Using a third-party system for managing courses
Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and the best option for you is going to be determined by your particular case and objectives. Let’s take a closer look at both of these options below:
Sell With Direct Access To Your Course
If you choose to sell access to your site’s course content, that will be the simplest method for monetizing your online courses with Shopify.
This can be accomplished by developing web pages and blog postings, both of which could include visual and audio clips. You could then sell memberships to users who would want to gain access to your content.
Even though this process has restricted features and functions, you can supplement it with external resources to produce a much more coherent course experience.
You could, for instance, employ Video chat services like Zoom or Microsoft Teams for one-on-one meetings, or platforms like SurveyMonkey to allow learners to complete assessments and quizzes.
This method has the following advantages:
- It’s simple to make and fairly inexpensive.
- It is a simple method for determining the popular appeal of your course prior to making a heavier investment in its content.
- It will be easy to modify and update.
The following are some disadvantages of this method:
- You are restrained in terms of functionality.
- You will continue to be the only person accountable for driving visitors and advertising the course.
- Selling several courses to a variety of users is more challenging.
- Third-party platforms will be needed to promote course material.
It is easy to create courses with this method:
- “Open” your Shopify store (unless you’ve already done that)
- Develop your course material and then publish it on your site’s pages and blog.
- Put the teaching material in a members-only area.
- Add a charge for users who wish to become members and gain access to your content.
Collaborate With Third-Party Service Platforms That Manage Courses
Third-party platforms managing courses provide innovative and creative methods for selling your courses on Shopify.
Several of them are on the Shopify App Store, but some may be found elsewhere and plugged straight into your Shopify store.
Listed below are a few widely known third-party course management systems (also known as Learning Management Systems, or LMS) for selling courses on Shopify offers:
Such platforms usually serve as a ‘server’ for your course, offering enhanced features and functions like an automated system for transcribing your videos, the potential to include interactive features to your clips, your videos, and actionable insights on the way your customers engage with your courses.
These platforms will also ensure that all your courses are delivered smoothly across a variety of devices, such as notebooks, smartphones, and iPads.
After you have developed your course with your preferred online Learning Management System, you can typically link it to your Shopify store as a good or service.
That kind of connection, admittedly, provides a much more seamless experience for your prospective students than the paid access option.
Using the example of LearnWords as a third-party platform, let’s see how you can integrate Shopify.
Step 1: Sign Up For A Shopify Account
Sign up for a Shopify account if you don’t already have one. The procedure is straightforward. To start with your 90-day trial, all you have to do is add an email address, a password, and a name for your Shopify store.
Then you’ll be prompted to provide additional details about you and your business, such as your address.
After you’ve logged in, you’ll be provided with your Shopify store URL, such as mystore.myshopify.com, and you will be taken to your store’s dashboard, where you can edit and build your store.
In case you require any assistance with setting up your Shopify store and selling courses, feel free to reach out to Shopify’s support team.
Step 2: Head To The LearnWorlds Dashboard
Afterward, sign in to your LearnWorlds profile and navigate to your dashboard. Select ‘Financial’ and then ‘Main Payment Gateway.’
Step 3: Select Shopify As Your Payment Processor
Choose Shopify as your primary payment processor when you are on that landing page. Add your Shopify Shop URL on the right side and select the “Install” option.
You will then be guided to your Shopify profile, for which you must enter your login details while reading the step-by-step guide. Once you’ve done that, you will be able to install Shopify.
Step 4: Integrate Your Course
A different button would then appear, allowing you to ‘sync’ your accounts and add digital products or you can sell physical products aswell. Click the ‘sync’ button to do that.
Once the syncing task is completed, you will receive an email informing you that your Shopify products/course has been incorporated into your Shopify store.
The next thing you should do is click on the “Save” option at the top of the screen. That’s it!
Whenever you make adjustments for any of your LearnWorlds courses, you must link your accounts once more to ensure that the courses are successfully renewed in your Shopify store.
In addition to that, make sure that the ‘Accounts are required’ setting in your Shopify store is activated.
To do so, head to your Shopify admin, click on ‘Settings’, and then click on ‘Checkout Page’ Select the third option in the Customer accounts segment.
Alternative Ways To Sell Courses Online
Concerning developing and trying to sell courses online, you have several other alternatives.
For instance, you’ll find a plethora of sites that specialize in hosting courses, like Udemy and Coursera, that can be employed separately from an online store platform like Shopify.
You should also look into other eCommerce platforms, such as WordPress or Wix since each one of them provides its optimal option for people who want to sell their courses online.
You could even distribute digital copies of your course on websites like Etsy.
We’ve highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of employing Shopify below to help you decide whether this is the preferred place to sell your course:
The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Selling Courses On Shopify
Benefits Of Using Shopify Online Store:
- Based on your objectives, you have several alternatives for creating and selling courses.
- Provides an inexpensive method for assessing different concepts.
- Allows for a significant reduction in the expenses of selling a course.
- Allows you to publish your course on a reliable selling platform.
- Provides numerous built-in solutions to assist you in marketing efforts of your course.
- Supports the creation of a brand around your course, which you will entirely own.
- Make use of expert assistance to keep improving your website.
- Website analytics assist in determining the popular appeal of your course and the pages that comprise it.
Drawbacks Of Using Shopify:
- It will continue to be your sole responsibility to promote and sell your course.
- Unless you have already created a website, you will need to create and fill an entire website with things about your course.
- You might be required to pay recurring fees to an outside Learning Management System (LMS) provider.
- If you build your course on Shopify, you will not have the powerful functions of an LMS.
- A course that’s built on Shopify doesn’t offer the advanced analytics of an LMS
- The recurring expenses of hosting your shop on Shopify can be prohibitively expensive.
7 Shopify Apps For Selling Your Course
When you use Shopify to sell your online course, there are a few applications you should learn about that will streamline the process for both you and your customers.
We have already mentioned LearnWorlds earlier as an LMS, but here are more apps that will help you with getting more insight and promoting your course:
1. LearnWorlds
Learnworlds is the industry’s leading online course channel, with Shopify transaction integration.
It includes everything you require to generate, advertise, and sell your online course and can be easily integrated with your Shopify store or web page.
LearnWorlds outperforms any Shopify course tool by providing a superior educational opportunity for users.
2. Tawk To
Tawk To is an online chat app that allows you to communicate with prospective clients and site visitors.
It has the potential to improve the online user engagement experience by offering meaningful assistance and technical support to your customers via a ticket booking process that connects to your Shopify store.
3. HubSpot
HubSpot is a marketing system that allows you to carry out, monitor, and assess all of your online advertising efforts.
This tool, when integrated into Shopify, can merge your web store info with the premier mid-market CRM, marketing automation, and customer support external tools.
4. Google Analytics
You can use Google Analytics to see how your promotional campaign is performing and to benefit from an overview and a detailed analysis of user trends.
It offers reports and real-time store statistical data to help you figure out the location of your visitors and their user journey on your site.
Remember that Google Analytics is a powerful resource for tracking and optimizing your SEO performance and can provide you with a finer insight into your viewers, for instance, by informing you on what keywords they are googling.
This way, it helps you tailor your messages to every single one of them, which ultimately leads to more online course sales.
5. Active Campaign
When linked to your Shopify store, the Active Campaign interface can assist you in sending out personalized advertising to your students at the correct moment.
It does so by leveraging marketing automation, email campaigns, enhanced categorization, and tailored email automation, thereby enhancing user experience automation.
6. Fomo
You can boost conversion rates and generate immediate social validation with Fomo.
It accomplishes this by showcasing the latest orders, customer reviews on your course, as well as other consumer insight on your Shopify shop front.
This way it makes it possible for people visiting your online store to check out which users take your courses and endorse your brand, thus making sure that they won’t regret doing the same.
7. Referral Candy
You can create a referral program with ReferralCandy to capitalize on your users’ networks and advertise your course or brand to their friends and relatives.
ReferralCandy helps in automating this operation, which can assist you in boosting sales, and trustworthiness, and in retaining customers.
Shopify has a plethora of apps that you can link to your online marketplace.
Choose smartly the one that will help you with improving your store’s features and functions, allow you to make money from selling your course, and render the eCommerce platform experience into a simple and fun one.
The Bottom Line
Shopify is great for promoting and selling your online course and there are two ways you can go about it. So, choose the one that sounds best for you, and good luck with selling your course!
