The modern era has brought with it an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and with the rise of the internet, we’ve seen an exponential increase in the demand for online learning platforms. Whether it’s to acquire new skills, deepen existing ones, or simply to pursue an interest, e-learning platforms have come to the rescue. Amidst this burgeoning market, one platform that has garnered considerable attention is Teachable.
An Overview of Teachable
Teachable is a platform designed to allow anyone with a skill, knowledge, or passion they wish to share, to create and sell their own online courses. It gives you the tools to structure your lessons, engage with students, and manage your digital classroom with ease. The platform is favored for its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and its various marketing features designed to assist in the growth of your online school.
In this post, we will dissect every aspect of Teachable. We’ll delve into its features, pricing, pros and cons, and even guide you on setting up your account and creating your first course. By the end of this article, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of Teachable, and be able to make an informed decision as to whether this platform is the right choice for your e-learning aspirations.
Why a Teachable Review?
Choosing an online course platform can be an overwhelming task given the multitude of options available. However, Teachable’s surge in popularity, along with its promise to make online course creation simple and profitable, makes it a platform worth considering. Through this comprehensive Teachable review, we aim to equip you with the necessary insights about this platform’s capabilities, helping you to determine whether it aligns with your needs and goals.
Stay with us as we navigate through the world of Teachable, unraveling its offerings, one feature at a time.
Understanding Teachable: The New-age Platform for E-Learning
Teachable is an all-in-one online platform that lets anyone create and sell courses, coaching services, and membership sites under their own brand. Regardless of the size of your business, whether you’re an individual expert or a large corporation, Teachable offers you the tools to build immersive learning experiences and monetize your knowledge.
The Birth of Teachable
Founded in 2014 by Ankur Nagpal and Conrad Wadowski, Teachable’s primary aim was to democratize the process of sharing knowledge online. The founders believed that everyone has something to teach, and that the internet was the perfect platform to connect these teachers with students across the globe.
Fast-forward to today, Teachable has become a major player in the e-learning market, hosting over 100,000 active online courses, taught by more than 50,000 instructors, and reaching millions of students worldwide.
Teachable’s Core Philosophy
Teachable operates on the principle that anyone should be able to share and profit from their knowledge. Whether you’re an expert in cooking, coding, calligraphy, or coaching, Teachable is designed to let you share your expertise with the world. And it’s not just for traditional educational content; the platform is versatile enough to cater to a wide array of niches, including fitness, music, arts, business, and more.
What Makes Teachable Stand Out?
There are several unique selling points that give Teachable an edge over other e-learning platforms. These include:
- Customization: Teachable gives you complete control over your course’s appearance, allowing you to brand your online school with your own logos, images, and colors.
- Ownership: Unlike other platforms that retain certain rights over your content, Teachable allows you to maintain full ownership and control over your course materials, pricing, and student data.
- Ease of Use: Teachable has a user-friendly interface with a straightforward, intuitive design. You don’t need to be a tech whiz to create your own course.
- Marketing and Sales Features: With built-in marketing tools such as affiliate programs, email marketing integrations, and advanced pricing options, Teachable makes it easier to reach more students and increase your revenue.
The Teachable Community
Teachable has fostered a diverse and supportive community of course creators, who share insights, provide feedback, and encourage each other’s growth. It’s a thriving ecosystem that adds value beyond the platform’s technical features, fostering a sense of camaraderie and collective learning among users.
In essence, Teachable isn’t just a tool to create online courses; it’s a comprehensive platform that supports the entire lifecycle of online teaching and learning. From creating and hosting to marketing and selling your courses, Teachable has you covered.
In the following sections of this blog post, we’ll go into a detailed breakdown of Teachable’s features, pricing, and how to get started. So, whether you’re an experienced online instructor or just contemplating stepping into the realm of e-learning, read on to find out if Teachable is the right platform for you.
Discovering Teachable: A Closer Look at Its Features
Teachable brings a plethora of features to the table, designed to help course creators build, market, and sell their courses with ease. This section will delve into these key features, providing a more profound understanding of what you can expect when you opt for Teachable as your e-learning platform.
Course Creation
Teachable’s course creation toolkit is flexible and comprehensive, allowing you to design a learning experience that best suits your teaching style and your students’ learning preferences.
Content Variety: You can upload a wide range of content types including videos, images, text, audio, and PDF files. This variety caters to different learning styles and enhances the overall learning experience.
Quiz and Test Functionality: Assessing your students’ progress is made easy with quizzes and graded tests. You can create single or multiple-choice questions, providing instant feedback to keep your learners engaged.
Drip Content: This feature allows you to schedule content releases over time, maintaining a steady learning pace and keeping students engaged throughout the course duration.
Sales and Marketing Features
Teachable equips you with numerous sales and marketing tools to help promote your course and boost your revenue.
Pricing Options: You have the freedom to decide the cost of your course. Teachable supports one-time fees, subscription models, and payment plans.
Coupons and Promotions: Offering discounts can be a powerful marketing strategy. With Teachable, you can create custom coupons and promotional offers to attract more students.
Affiliate Program: You can set up your affiliate program, enabling your students or other promoters to earn a commission for referring new students to your course.
Sales Pages: Teachable provides templates for designing effective sales pages that can convert visitors into students. These pages can be customized to match your brand, giving you full control over your course’s public image.
Student Management
Teachable doesn’t just help you create and sell your courses; it also assists you in managing your students effectively.
Student Segmentation: You can segment your students based on their progress, completion, enrolment, and more. This helps in creating targeted communication and marketing campaigns.
Course Compliance: This feature ensures that students meet specific criteria before progressing. For example, you can make a lecture a prerequisite before a student moves to the next one.
Community Building: Teachable allows you to build a course community where students can interact with each other, encouraging peer-to-peer learning and fostering a sense of community.
Reporting and Analytics
Understanding your course performance is critical in improving it over time. Teachable provides detailed reports and analytics for this purpose.
Course Dashboard: The dashboard provides a snapshot of your course’s performance with metrics like total enrolments, completion rate, and revenue.
Student Insights: You can track each student’s progress, engagement, and quiz scores, helping you understand their learning journey and make necessary adjustments to improve their experience.
Transaction History: Keep a close eye on all your transactions, refunds, and chargebacks from within the platform.
These are just a few of the many features that Teachable offers. As we delve deeper into the platform, you’ll discover that Teachable is a well-rounded e-learning platform designed to help creators build and grow their online teaching business. It provides a balance of course creation, sales, and marketing tools that work together to offer an enhanced teaching and learning experience.
In the following sections, we will guide you through setting up your Teachable account and creating your first course. The step-by-step process will give you a practical understanding of how to leverage these features for your benefit. Stay tuned as we navigate through the realm of Teachable, unmasking its true potential one feature at a time.
Getting Started with Teachable: Setting Up Your Account
Embarking on your Teachable journey starts with setting up your account. This step-by-step guide aims to make the process as smooth as possible for you.
Step 1: Sign Up
Visit the Teachable website and click on the “Get Started” button. You’ll be asked to provide some basic information like your name, email address, and a password. You’ll also be asked if you’re planning to create, sell, or just take courses.
After filling in the required details, click on “Get Started” again. You’ll receive a confirmation email. Click the confirmation link to verify your account.
Step 2: Create Your School
Once your account is verified, you’ll be asked to create your online school. Your “school” is essentially your online teaching platform where all your courses will reside.
You will need to enter the name of your school (which can be changed later) and your school’s URL. Remember, the URL should be unique and represent your brand effectively. Once you’re done, click “Create Your School”.
Step 3: The Teachable Dashboard
Upon creating your school, you’ll be directed to your Teachable dashboard. This is your command center for everything related to your courses. From here, you can create courses, manage students, access reports, set up payments, and more.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with the dashboard. The left-hand menu is your navigation bar which allows you to access different areas of your school, such as courses, users, sales, etc.
Step 4: Customize Your School
Teachable provides a variety of customization options to help you design your school according to your preferences.
Site: Under the “Site” section, you can customize your school’s logo, favicon, typography, and colors. You can also set up pages like the homepage, about page, contact page, etc.
Domains: Under “Domains,” you can connect your own custom domain to your Teachable school, further enhancing your brand identity.
Navigation: The “Navigation” tab lets you control what appears in your school’s navigation bar and footer.
Make sure to click “Save” after making any changes.
Step 5: Set Up Your Payment Gateway
Next, set up your payment gateway. Go to “Settings” and select the “Payments” tab. Here, you can choose your payment gateway. Teachable offers two options: the Teachable Payments and the Monthly Payment Gateway.
If you are in a supported country, it’s recommended to use Teachable Payments, which offers daily payouts. If you’re not in a supported country, choose the Monthly Payment Gateway, which comes with monthly payouts.
Ensure your “BackOffice” settings are also correctly configured. BackOffice handles things like affiliate payouts and EU VAT for you.
Step 6: Create Your First Course
Now you’re ready to create your first course! Navigate to the “Courses” tab in your dashboard and click on “New Course”. Fill in the details and start building your course curriculum.
Setting up your Teachable account is the first step towards creating and selling your online courses. While it might seem overwhelming initially, once you’re familiar with the platform, it becomes straightforward. Remember, your Teachable school is a reflection of your brand, so invest time in customization and make it uniquely yours.
In the next section, we’ll guide you through the process of creating your first course on Teachable. This will provide you with practical insights into leveraging Teachable’s course creation features effectively.
Understanding Teachable’s Pricing: Choosing the Right Plan for You
After setting up your Teachable account, the next crucial step is choosing the right pricing plan. Teachable offers a range of plans to cater to different needs and budgets. In this section, we’ll delve into these pricing plans, to help you select the one that best aligns with your e-learning goals.
Free Plan
Teachable’s Free Plan is an excellent starting point for beginners who want to explore the platform without making an upfront investment. This plan includes unlimited courses and students, basic quizzes, and the ability to use the platform’s integrated payment processing. However, this plan comes with a high transaction fee of $1 + 10% on each sale, and doesn’t include advanced features such as certificates, advanced reports, or priority support.
Basic Plan
At $39 per month (if billed annually), the Basic Plan reduces the transaction fee to 5% and unlocks a host of additional features. These include course creator training, custom domain support, coupon codes, drip course content, and third-party integrations. This plan is a good choice for creators who are ready to invest a bit in their online course business but still want to keep costs low.
Professional Plan
Teachable’s most popular plan is the Professional Plan, costing $119 per month (if billed annually). It comes with no transaction fees and includes all the features of the Basic Plan. Additionally, it offers advanced features like graded quizzes, course completion certificates, and advanced reporting. You also get priority product support. This plan is well-suited for established course creators who want access to all of Teachable’s features and can justify the higher cost through their course sales.
Business Plan
At the top end is the Business Plan, costing $299 per month (if billed annually). This plan includes everything in the Professional Plan, plus the ability to have up to 20 admin-level users, manual student imports, and bulk student enrollments. It also includes custom user roles, making it ideal for larger businesses or institutions with multiple course administrators or teams.
In conclusion, Teachable offers a wide range of pricing plans to cater to different needs. As a course creator, it’s crucial to choose a plan that fits your budget, aligns with your business goals, and offers the features that you need to create and sell your courses effectively. Remember, the right investment can significantly enhance the success of your e-learning venture.
Weighing Your Options: The Pros and Cons of Teachable
Before committing to any e-learning platform, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. This section will present a balanced view of Teachable, discussing its pros and cons, to aid you in making an informed decision.
Pros of Teachable
User-friendly Interface: One of Teachable’s major strengths is its intuitive, user-friendly interface. Both the backend and frontend of the platform are designed to be easy to navigate, making it simple for instructors to create courses and for students to take them.
Robust Course Builder: Teachable offers a flexible and comprehensive course builder that allows you to create rich, interactive learning experiences. It supports a wide variety of content formats and provides features like quizzes, discussion forums, and course completion certificates.
Complete Ownership: Unlike many other e-learning platforms, Teachable allows you to have full ownership over your content, pricing, and student data. This control enables you to build your brand and run your online school as you see fit.
Powerful Sales and Marketing Tools: With in-built tools for affiliate marketing, email marketing, and advanced pricing options, Teachable provides a robust suite of features to promote your courses and boost your sales.
Customization: Teachable provides extensive customization options. You can change the look and feel of your online school to match your brand, making your courses stand out and creating a more immersive learning experience for your students.
Cons of Teachable
Transaction Fees on Basic Plan: While Teachable does offer a free plan, the transaction fees can take a significant chunk of your earnings, especially if you’re selling high-priced courses. The Basic Plan, while cheaper than the higher-tier plans, still has a 5% transaction fee. To eliminate transaction fees, you’ll need to upgrade to the Professional Plan or higher.
Limited Design Customization: While Teachable provides customization options, they are somewhat limited compared to other platforms that allow more granular control over course design. For example, you cannot customize the course player or certain parts of the course layout.
No Native Email Marketing Tool: Although Teachable integrates with several third-party email marketing tools, it doesn’t have a built-in email marketing platform. If you don’t already have an email marketing solution in place, this might add to your costs and complicate your setup.
Customer Support: While Teachable offers support via email and live chat, there is no phone support. Also, priority support is only available on the Professional Plan or higher. This could potentially leave users on the Free and Basic plans waiting longer for support responses.
In summary, Teachable’s pros significantly outweigh its cons, making it a reliable and robust platform for creating and selling online courses. However, like any platform, it’s not without its drawbacks. When making your decision, consider your specific needs, budget, and the aspects of the platform that are most important to you. Each e-learning venture is unique, and the right platform for one may not be the right platform for all.
Leveraging Discounts: How to Use a Teachable Coupon Code
Utilizing coupon codes is an effective way to encourage prospective students to enroll in your course. A well-timed discount can make your course more appealing and can be the deciding factor for those on the fence about enrolling. In this section, we’ll guide you through the process of creating and using coupon codes on Teachable.
Step 1: Navigate to the Coupons Page
From your Teachable dashboard, click on “Marketing” in the left-hand menu, and then select “Coupons”. This will take you to the coupons page, where you can see all your existing coupons and create new ones.
Step 2: Create a New Coupon
Click on the “+Add Coupon” button in the top right-hand corner of the page. This will open a new page where you can create your coupon.
Step 3: Select a Course
Use the “Select a Course” drop-down menu to choose the course for which you want to create a coupon. You can create a coupon for a single course or all courses.
Step 4: Set the Coupon Code
Enter the coupon code in the “Coupon Code” field. This code is what students will enter at checkout to apply the discount. It’s a good idea to make your code relevant and easy to remember.
Step 5: Choose the Discount
You can choose to offer a percentage discount or a dollar amount discount. Enter the amount of the discount in the “Discount Amount” field.
Step 6: Set the Quantity
You can choose how many times a coupon can be used before it expires. If you want to create a sense of urgency, you could limit the quantity to a small number.
Step 7: Set the Expiration Date
You can set an expiration date for your coupon. After this date, the coupon will no longer be valid. Setting an expiration date can encourage students to sign up sooner rather than later.
Step 8: Save and Distribute
Once you’ve set all the parameters for your coupon, click “Add Coupon” at the bottom of the page. Your new coupon will now appear in your list of coupons.
Now, it’s time to distribute your coupon code. You can do this through email marketing, social media, or any other marketing channels you use. Make sure to highlight the benefits of your course and explain how to use the coupon code.
Frequently Asked Questions about Teachable
As we dive further into understanding Teachable, there may be some lingering questions or points that require further clarification. This section aims to address some frequently asked questions regarding the platform.
1. How Do I Get Paid on Teachable?
Teachable provides two payment options – Teachable Payments and the Monthly Payment Gateway. With Teachable Payments, the payments are processed through Stripe and PayPal, and you can receive your funds daily, weekly, or monthly, based on your preference. The Monthly Payment Gateway involves monthly payouts and is used for schools not eligible for Teachable Payments. Your earnings are deposited into your bank account or PayPal.
2. Can I Use My Own Domain Name on Teachable?
Yes, Teachable allows you to use your own custom domain name. Having a custom domain enhances your brand’s visibility and makes your online school more professional. You can set this up in the “Domains” section of your Teachable dashboard.
3. Can I Offer Multiple Pricing Options for a Single Course?
Yes, you can offer various pricing options for a single course on Teachable. You could have one-time purchases, subscription plans, payment plans, and more. This flexibility allows you to cater to a broader range of students and can help to boost your course sales.
4. Does Teachable Provide Marketing Features?
Absolutely. Teachable comes with several integrated marketing tools. You can offer coupon codes, run an affiliate program, bundle courses, and more. While it doesn’t have a built-in email marketing tool, it does integrate with several popular email marketing platforms.
5. What Types of Content Can I Include in My Courses?
Teachable supports a wide range of content types. You can include video lectures, text-based lectures, quizzes, downloadable files, and more in your courses. You can also add a discussion forum to each lecture to facilitate student interaction.
6. Can I Migrate My Existing Courses to Teachable?
Yes, if you have existing courses on another platform, you can migrate them to Teachable. The process will largely depend on the platform you’re moving from, and it might involve exporting your course content and then importing it to Teachable.
7. How Does Teachable Handle Taxes?
With Teachable BackOffice, Teachable can handle US tax form collection and processing for you. For VAT (Value Added Tax) for EU customers, Teachable automatically adds the appropriate VAT rate on top of your course price and remits it to the proper authorities.
8. Can I Use Teachable If I Don’t Have a Business?
Yes, you can use Teachable even if you don’t have an official business. Many course creators start out as individuals and then transition into a business entity as they grow.
9. Can I Change My Pricing Plan Later?
Yes, you can upgrade or downgrade your Teachable pricing plan at any time. If you’re unsure about which plan to choose, you could start with a lower-tier plan and upgrade as your online school grows.
10. What Kind of Support Does Teachable Offer?
Teachable offers support via email and live chat. However, live chat is only available for Professional plans and above. Teachable also has a comprehensive knowledge base with articles and tutorials, and they offer free live training webinars for course creators.
The beauty of Teachable lies in its ease of use, and the platform’s commitment to providing a comprehensive solution for creators to share knowledge and generate income. However, like any tool, getting the most out of Teachable involves learning about its various features and understanding how best to utilize them. It is hoped that this FAQ section has resolved some of your queries and equipped you with a deeper understanding of Teachable’s capabilities.
Wrapping Up: Is Teachable Right for You?
In conclusion, Teachable offers a robust and user-friendly platform for creating and selling online courses. With its array of features, diverse pricing plans, and emphasis on course creator ownership, Teachable stands out as a compelling choice for e-learning. However, like any platform, it’s crucial to align its offerings with your unique needs and goals. Take advantage of Teachable’s free plan to explore the platform firsthand. Armed with the insights from this comprehensive review, you’re well-equipped to make an informed decision about whether Teachable is the right platform for your e-learning journey.
