Online Learning & Community

Speak Norsk CEO & Founder Huzan Raad and her business partner Nicoleta Stratan nearly went bankrupt when COVID-19 forced them to close their thriving in-person Norwegian language school.

Just two years earlier, they’d built something special. Founded in 2018 by Huzan, a former immigrant from Iraq who grew up in Norway and learned Norwegian through conversation rather than textbooks, Speak Norsk had become one of Norway’s fastest-growing Norwegian language schools.

Their innovative conversational teaching method attracted students so quickly they moved locations seven times in three years due to rapid growth. Each move was to accommodate more students who wanted to learn Norwegian the Speak Norsk way: Through real conversations, not dry grammar books.

Related: How to make money selling courses right now

Speak Norsk’s Teachable journey at a glance

When COVID hit Speak Norsk’s biggest location sat empty. Revenue dropped to zero overnight. With most of their team laid off, just Nicoleta and Huzan remained, facing a choice: shut down or find a completely new way to teach.

“At one point, we thought this might be the end for the company. But then we observed a shift — many competitors were moving their classes online and offering live lessons on Zoom..” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

But Speak Norsk chose a different path.

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The turning point

While competitors rushed to replicate their in-person classes on Zoom, Nicoleta and Huzan realized they needed something more scalable. With just two people left, they couldn’t teach live classes and run the entire business.

“We realized that we couldn’t do everything on our own — teaching, managing operations, and handling course delivery all at once. That’s when Teachable came into the picture. We knew we needed a platform that would allow us to easily create and deliver our courses.” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

They chose Teachable because it let them focus on what they did best: creating engaging, conversation-focused Norwegian lessons. The platform’s user-friendly interface meant their teachers could create and manage courses without needing technical expertise.

The decision proved transformational. Within their first year on Teachable, they earned the platform’s 1M Sales Award, and their online student count soon surpassed what they’d achieved with their physical locations.

“Learning a language should be an exciting journey for adult learners. Unlike traditional methods, we combine entertainment with proficiency—bringing modern, practical topics, engaging illustrations, and simple, clear grammar explanations. With us, learning becomes as enjoyable as reading a novel.” -Huzan Raad, CEO & Founder of Speak Norsk. 

Speak Norsk’s secret sauce to success on Teachable

Instead of simply adapting their in-person classes into an online format, Speak Norsk reimagined language learning by combining visual storytelling, personal guidance, and strategic course packaging. A prime example is the Viking Course, an all-in-one program that takes students from complete beginner to confident communicator by bundling multiple levels into one seamless learning journey serving Norwegian learners worldwide.

Here’s how they turned a near-bankruptcy into a business that exceeds their pre-COVID revenue.

Strategy 1: Use a free course as your main lead magnet

Speak Norsk’s growth engine starts with a comprehensive free Norwegian course hosted directly on Teachable. This isn’t a basic teaser, it’s substantial content that gets people familiar with both their teaching style and the platform.

“Our pre-recorded videos are created by the same highly skilled Norwegian teachers who contributed to our own-produced book series from A1 to C1. Praised by our classroom students, they make learning feel smooth and easy, keeping you motivated with clear, encouraging, and easy-to-understand explanations.”-Huzan Raad, CEO & Founder of Speak Norsk.

They promote this free course heavily on social media while keeping their paid course promotions exclusively within Teachable. This creates a natural progression: social media followers become Teachable users, then Teachable users become paying students.

“We offer a free course on Teachable to give students a chance to explore the platform and get comfortable with how it works before starting their paid courses.”– Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

The strategy works because it removes friction. Instead of asking people to pay immediately, they let the quality of their teaching do the selling.

Take action: Create a substantial free course that showcases your teaching style and gets people comfortable with your platform before asking them to buy.

Strategy 2: Add personal consultations to self-paced courses

While most online course creators focus purely on scalable, hands-off models, Speak Norsk adds a personal touch that sets them apart: free language consultations.

“We strive to make the learning experience as personal as possible and provide students with added value they wouldn’t find anywhere else.”– Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

These 15-30 minute consultations help students choose the right courses based on their specific goals. Whether someone wants to pass a citizenship test, learn business Norwegian, or prepare for immigration, Nicoleta and her team provide personalized recommendations.

The consultations serve multiple purposes: they increase conversion rates, collect valuable data about student needs, and often lead to higher-value course purchases. Students feel guided rather than abandoned to figure things out alone.

Take action: Consider adding a personal consultation layer to your self-paced courses to increase perceived value and conversion rates, even if it doesn’t scale infinitely.

Strategy 3: Create seasonal and certification-specific courses

Speak Norsk doesn’t just teach general Norwegian. They’ve built courses around specific student needs and seasonal patterns, particularly immigration and certification cycles.

Their Norwegian citizenship test preparation courses come with a bold promise: 100% pass guarantee with unlimited retakes until students succeed.

“If a student takes the course and, for any reason, doesn’t pass the test, they can retake it as many times as needed—with unlimited access until they succeed.” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

They also time their marketing around seasonal patterns. When Norwegian language tests approach, they promote test preparation courses. When companies are hiring, they push their business Norwegian content.

This targeted approach allows them to charge premium prices for specialized content while serving students exactly when they need help most.

Take action: Identify seasonal peaks or certification cycles in your industry and create targeted courses around those specific needs and timing.

Strategy 4: Build around company brand, not personal brand

Unlike most online educators who build around personal brands, Speak Norsk deliberately chose a company-focused approach with multiple teachers.

“We ensured a unified structure and provided the same training to all our teachers, so lessons are easy to follow even if the teacher changes. This keeps students focused and progressing at the same steady pace, as if guided by one teacher from beginning to end, while saving time, money, and making life easier by learning fast and efficiently” – Huzan Raad, CEO & Founder of Speak Norsk.

This strategy eliminates “key person risk.” If one teacher leaves, the business continues. Students trust the Speak Norsk methodology and brand rather than depending on a single instructor’s availability or personality.

The approach also allows them to scale more effectively. Different teachers can specialize in different levels and topics, creating a more comprehensive educational experience.

“It was a deliberate choice not to rely on a single central teacher. Instead, we wanted multiple instructors teaching across different levels, so that students would build trust in the brand as a whole rather than in just one individual.”–Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

Take action: If possible, build your brand around your methodology or company rather than just yourself to create a more scalable, sellable business model.

Strategy 5: Focus on visual, interactive content over traditional methods

Speak Norsk’s biggest competitive advantage comes from rejecting traditional language learning methods. Founder Huzan experienced the frustration of “open your books to page 82” teaching and was determined to create something better.

Their courses emphasize visual elements, real conversations, and interactive exercises over text-heavy traditional approaches. This methodology proved so effective that competitors have started copying their methods.

“Around 95% of our courses are self-paced, but we’ve invested so much time and effort into developing them that we know it would be difficult for competitors to match the same level of work and quality.” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

The extra effort creates a competitive moat. While competitors can try to copy their approach, few are willing to invest the time and resources needed to match Speak Norsk’s production quality.

Take action: Audit your course content for text-heavy sections and find ways to make them more visual, interactive, and engaging than your competitors.

Speak Norsk’s results

Speak Norsk’s transformation from near-bankruptcy to online success demonstrates the power of choosing the right platform and methodology for your audience.

Their numbers tell the story: over 14,000 students enrolled on Teachable, earning them Teachable’s 1M Sales Award in their first year. Their online student base now surpasses what they’d achieved from their multiple physical locations before COVID.

The reach extends far beyond course sales. With over 10 million Instagram reach, 100,000+ followers, and millions of TikTok views, they’ve built a global community around Norwegian language learning.

More importantly, they’ve maintained quality while scaling. Their courses consistently receive positive reviews, with students successfully passing citizenship tests, securing job offers in Norway, and achieving family reunification through their language progress.

Expert corner: How the Speak Norsk team thinks about education

Speak Norsk serves a unique and important mission: helping people achieve their dreams of living in Norway. Their students include future immigrants, professionals seeking Norwegian job opportunities, and people working toward citizenship or family reunification.

“We had a few students that actually came from the US to Norway. They knew they were going to move and they started learning with us ahead of time. And by the time they came, they already had an intermediate level and could integrate easily, apply for different jobs and so on.” – Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

The impact goes beyond language skills. Students learn from native Norwegian speakers, understanding cultural nuances and dialects that traditional methods miss. Many report feeling prepared not just for language tests, but for real conversations with Norwegian colleagues, friends, and neighbors.

The ripple effect extends to Norwegian society as well, helping immigrants integrate more successfully and contributing to more welcoming communities for newcomers.

Looking ahead

Speak Norsk’s immediate plans include launching specialized courses for healthcare vocabulary and C1-level Norwegian test preparation. Both are already built on Teachable and awaiting final design elements.

“Our vision for Speak Norsk is globally oriented, expanding our methodology to more languages and making it accessible to learners worldwide. We plan to launch a groundbreaking language app, supported by our own book series in multiple languages and e-courses across the globe. In addition, we are planning to open in-person schools in London, New York, and Dubai.” – Huzan Raad, CEO & Founder of Speak Norsk.

“We have two upcoming courses. One focuses on healthcare in Norway, covering medical vocabulary and terminology. The other, called Norskprøve C1, is a preparation course designed for the Norwegian language test at the C1 level.” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

Their bigger vision involves expanding beyond Norwegian through their new Speak More platform. English courses are already live, Spanish is launching soon, and Arabic is in production. They’re also developing books for all languages using the same conversation-focused methodology.

“We just want to bring a new type of learning to the market, something that’s very fun and interactive.” –Nicoleta Stratan, Managing Director & Partner at Speak Norsk

The goal is creating a comprehensive language learning ecosystem that applies Speak Norsk’s proven methods to multiple languages, always with native teachers and real-world conversation focus.

What to do next

Check out Speak Norsk’s Norwegian language courses on Teachable, including their free introductory course that has helped thousands of students start their Norwegian language journey. Whether you’re planning to visit Norway, immigrate permanently, or advance your career, their conversation-focused approach will prepare you for real-world success.

Learn more about Speak Norsk: Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn | Website

Try Teachable yourself: Ready to turn your teaching expertise into a scalable online business like SpeakNorsk? Start your free Teachable trial today and discover why educators worldwide choose Teachable to build and grow their online schools. With features designed for course creators, student engagement tools, and business growth capabilities, Teachable provides everything you need to create educational impact at scale.

For someone who has never worked in sales, marketing your online course and trying to get people to buy can be an intimidating process. Luckily, the first sale is the hardest. Once you’ve gotten over that hurdle, you’ll get into the selling “groove” and you should have an easier time making your next sales. But that brings us back to square one: making that very first sale.

Luckily, there are tried and true methods for selling your online course, and the important part for you is to figure out which ones will work best for you. Here are our favorite ways to make your first online course sale. We’ve ranked them from most successful to least.

In no way do you need to try and execute all of these strategies or even half of them. Choose the one or two that stand out to you and go from there.

In this blog post we’re going to go over:

• The most common and successful ways to make your first sale on Teachable
• Tips on how to get started with each method even if you’re a total beginner
• How exactly to make the first sale using each method

Make your first sale with an email list

If you’ve spent any time here on the Teachable blog, you might be sick of hearing us talk about the power of a targeted and warm email list.

In short, your email list is comprised of people who opted to follow you in exchange for the value you provide. Whether they sign up during a webinar you host, to get a free piece of content, or to get access to your valuable emails, these are your highest converting audience members.

How to grow your email list

People sign up for your email list in exchange for value. The quickest way to entice people to join is by creating a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a free download, worksheet, PDF, report, video, or whatever you choose that is informative and helpful to your audience. It should be valuable enough that your audience will be excited to sign up and glad they did even after they receive the freebie.

At Teachable we recommend that course creators use a free mini course as their lead magnet. It can be very short, but it needs to provide real value. Cassidy from Succulents and Sunshine has a great example of a mini course here.

How to keep your email list warm

One of the most important things your can do to have a high-converting email list is to keep it warm. You can’t expect people to sign up in August and not hear from you again until May and still be interested in your course. In fact, people will likely forget about who you are and what you do by then.

To keep your email list warm, send regular updates and newsletters. Now, you don’t have to be emailing 3x a week, but weekly or bi-weekly emails will keep you on your audience’s radar. Just be sure it’s consistent so your followers know when to expect to hear from you.

Make sure that you’re sending high-quality, targeted content that will help establish you as an authority and someone to turn to in your niche. When you’re deciding when to send your newsletter, consider these factors:

• When is your audience active? Are they stay-at-home moms checking their inboxes at the 3pm pick-up line or are they businesswomen not getting home from work until 6pm?
• When do you usually check your inbox? Nobody will have more in common with your audience than you do, so check your habits. Your audience likely has similar ones.
• When is your audience spending the most time online? Maybe they’re checking their emails at 3pm, but not actually spending any real time online until after their kids sleep at 9pm.

What if my list has gone cold?

Don’t fear, you can re-warm your list and turn it into a conversion machine. The first thing you should do is send an introduction email. Segment out anyone who has signed up in the last month, and send everyone else a re-introduction.

Let them know who you are, what you’ve been up to, and what your greatest resources are—and send them something that’s incredibly high value so that they stick around. From there, send regular emails so they don’t forget you.

How to sell to your email list

Selling to your email list can be a lot of fun if they’re warm, because they’ll be more engaged and excited about what you have to sell. We recommend selling in two different phases. Pre-sales and actual sales.

Pre-sales

Your pre-sale phase will come in a one-two punch.

Day 1 is the course teaser

This is when you tell your subscribers that you’ll have an exciting announcement coming out soon, and that you’ll be opening an online course. This is where you start building anticipation, which will keep readers engaged and coming back for more.

Day 2 covers the course details

In this email, you answer, “What’s in the course?” and you explain in detail what your milestones and lessons are for the entire course. You’ll end by telling them that the course is going to become available tomorrow, but you won’t share the sales page yet.

Sales

On Day 3, you’ll announce that your course is open

This email is your big moment, when you finally get to share that your course is available. You’ll link to your sales page, and you might consider including a few testimonials in your email. You’ll also need to make it clear that this is a limited-time offer.

Day 4 is your FAQ email

Using an FAQ email is the perfect opportunity for you to appeal to your subscribers’ logical side and squash any concerns they might have about your course. Tell them about your 30-day guarantee, and reassure them that they’ll have lifetime access.

Share what the course includes, and see if you can anticipate their questions. You’ll provide the questions and answers right in the body of your email. Again, the CTA for this email will be to click on your sales page link, and you’ll want to reiterate that this offer ends on X date at Y time.

Day 5 is the surprise bonus email

This is a fun opportunity for you to tell you subscribers that you’re giving them a new surprise that you haven’t mentioned on the sales page if they buy now. This should either be bonus content or an even steeper discount.

Day 6 is the thank-you & social proof email

At this point, you want to thank everyone for reading your emails and being part of your launch. Hopefully by now you may have gotten excited emails or social media posts from new customers, so you can include some anonymized screenshots where new customers are raving about your content.

By now you’re nearing the end of your launch, so now Day 7

The day before your launch ends—is the logical argument. You’ll tell everyone that your course will be closing, and you’ll build a logical argument convincing them why they need to buy right now. Remind them about your bonus, and remind them how soon the sales window closes.

Then finally you’ll arrive at Day 8, the final day in your launch

On this last day, you’ll be sending not one but two emails. It seems like a lot, but trust us on this one! It’s worked for our most successful instructors here at Teachable.

The morning email goes out at 11 AM

You’ll announce that today is the absolute last day to get the course, and that sales end at midnight.

Then the afternoon email should go out around 3 or 4 PM

This is their last chance email, when you’ll reiterate that sales close at midnight, and that they won’t want to miss out on this opportunity. Congratulations! Chances are you’ve made your first (and probably second, fifth, and tenth) sale by launching to your email list!

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Make your first sale with a YouTube channel

YouTube is a great platform for making a connection with your audience and really showing off who you are and what you’re capable of. If you can establish a high-quality YouTube channel with engaged followers, converting some of them to your paid course is pretty basic.

Making your first sale on YouTube is as simple as:

1. Making high quality content
2. Proving you have something to offer
3. Selling a product that will solve your audience’s problems

If you think that YouTube is the right platform for you, keep in mind that YouTube favors a few things:

• Regular uploads
• HD quality
• SEO optimized description boxes

If you can accomplish all three, you’ll likely find more success on the platform than someone who is sporadically uploading and not optimizing anything. Now, you don’t need any of those things to be successful on YouTube, but they will certainly help.

How to make your first sale on YouTube

Theoretically, all it takes is for one video to go viral, but you can never count on a video going viral—it’s largely up to chance. So, instead, you will need to go in with a solid strategy. Our recommendation is creating a four-part series warming your audience up to you and your online course.

Step one – establish your expertise

Create a valuable video walking your audience through some aspect of what your online course is going to cover. Don’t worry about giving away bits and pieces of what will be included in your main product, your focus here should be providing value.

For example, if you’re a gardening course creator, you can create a video walking your audience through setting up an indoor gardening space start to finish. Be detailed and clear and prove that you’re an authority when it comes to gardening.

Step two – mention your paid product

This video should also be incredibly high value. Introduce the topic by saying, “Hey, I’ve been working on creating an online course on ________ and I was so excited about ________ that I had to share this section with your right now.

At the end of the video, let your audience know when you expect the course sales page to be live.

Step three – host a Q&A

You can really establish yourself as an authority here by hosting a Q&A. Ask everyone who follows you on social or who is on your email list to submit questions to answer. No shame, if you don’t get questions have your friends and family send you some, or make some up based on what people have come to you for advice on in the past!

It doesn’t matter who is asking so long as you can host a valuable Q&A where you’re able to flex your expertise.

Step four – announce your online course or digital product

Announce your online course! If you’re okay with the clickbait game, title your video something like, “I am so excited…” for the first hour or two to get people curious and clicking, and then change the title to be optimized for SEO after your first wave of views. In this video walk your audience through what your course is, the value it provides, and what people will get from taking it. Be excited and high-energy so that your audience feels excited. Make sure to link to your sales page in the description.

Do this after you post your YouTube video

Go back into your first three videos and add an annotation at the beginning letting everyone know to check your description box for a link to your online course.

In-real-life (IRL) marketing

People love to connect with real people. Anonymous names and pictures on the internet can be stiff and uninviting and they don’t always invite trust. Whether you’re able to speak at a conference or just go to a networking event, making an in person appeal can go a long way.

Giving an impassioned talk about what you have to offer and your history in your niche can resonate with people like you wouldn’t believe. If there is a local conference happening in your niche, reach out to the coordinators to see if there is a need for speakers or panelists.

Again, people are going to feel more connected to you after seeing you in person, and having the opportunity to engage with you in a real way will build trust and make it easier to convert the audience into customers. And even if your local conference doesn’t have an opening for speakers, attending is great for networking.

Hosting in-person events

If you want to take things into your own hands, you could also host an in-person event to people interested in your area of expertise. Hosting a live training for people in your area gives you the opportunity to better connect with your potential customers and gain their trust.

You could do this by turning the first lesson in your online course into an in-person presentation and teaching it where your audience hangs out whether that’s a university, yoga studio, culinary school, or somewhere else entirely.

If you don’t have any local places that totally make sense for your live training, consider reaching out to your local library or co-working space. In my area, our co-working space will actually give anyone who hosts an event a free month membership because they’re so grateful to get people in the building and interested in the space.

How to sell at in-person events

The key here is to really connect with the people you speak with and present a solution to the problems they might be having.

Print out business cards (or DIY some) with a link to your sales page and maybe even a coupon code. If people feel like you provided value at the event, they’re more likely to feel like they can trust your paid product to provide value, too.

Use Twitter (X) to make your first sale

X is interesting because it’s a platform where people are still excited to engage. They don’t want to scroll through boring tweet after boring tweet. They want something funny or clever to retweet or respond to, so consider getting outside your comfort zone.

How to get your first sale on Twitter

The most important thing to keep in mind on Twitter is that you do not want to come across as salesy or pushy. Twitter champions authenticity, so at least 80% of your tweets should be stand alone tweets that aren’t linking to your sales page or people will be less likely to follow.

Build your following and clout on the platform by tweeting real and engaging quips that are relevant to your audience. Whether you’re a food blogger rejoicing in finding the perfect avocado or a tech blogger celebrating your first app in the app store, spend most of your time being you. You can also tweet out other people’s content to build positive relationship and your niche and provide value to your followers.

The other 20% of the time you can self-promote. Once your audience trusts that you provide value, promote the heck out of your content. Don’t just tweet a link to your sales page. Instead attach images or valuable quotes from your course so people don’t just scroll past. You can also incentivize people to retweet or share by offering a coupon in exchange for a retweet.

Also, choose your most enticing promotion tweet and pin it to the top of your profile. Your pinned tweet will be the first thing anyone sees when they go to your profile.

Leverage Instagram to make your first digital sale

Selling on Instagram is great for visual brands or people who already have a following on the platform. Instagram is a bit trickier to sell on compared to other sites because they don’t allow you to link within your posts. But, you can add a link to your bio, and if you have over 10,000 followers you can add a link to your Instagram stories.

Instagram is all about engagement. If you’re not engaging with people, you’re not going to grow and you’re not going to get on anybody’s radar. Make sure to follow others in your niche and people who might be interested in your topic. Spend time going through your feed to like and comment on pictures that catch your attention.

Beyond that, it’s important to post high-quality content. Instagram is a visual platform, so the accounts that are growing the quickest are the ones posting the most beautiful imagery.

Getting your first sale on Instagram

We recommend finding a picture that is somehow related to your course topic and editing a text overlay on top of it. Keep the text simple and clean so it doesn’t make your picture look spammy, and have it say something like “Exciting announcement!”

From there, use the caption to announce your online course and direct people to click the link in your bio. Instagram is tricky because people have a short attention span and will oftentimes just mindlessly scroll. If you don’t have an engaged Instagram audience, this might not be the right method for you.

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A student purchases your course. They’re excited, maybe a little nervous. They log into your platform for the first time.

What students see when they log in will determine whether they succeed or disappear.

Most creators think backwards about business growth.

They believe more marketing leads to more students, which leads to more revenue, which eventually leads to better student outcomes.

Wrong order. When students succeed first, everything else gets easier:

• Referral marketing happens naturally.
• Lifetime value increases dramatically.
• Premium pricing becomes sustainable.
• Testimonials write themselves.
• Refund rates drop significantly.

The outcome is clear: where students thrive, your business grows. Here’s how you can set your students up for success and grow your business with Teachable.

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How Teachable’s brand new student dashboard will help boost your course completion rates

Catch the replay of our recent webinar to see how Teachable’s student home can guide students, drive repeat sales, and connect your community, all in one place.

A good dashboard answers three questions immediately:

1. Do I belong here? It shows students exactly where they are in their journey. Progress bars, completion percentages, and “next lesson” prompts remove guesswork.
2. Can I succeed? It shows the bigger picture. Students can see their completed courses alongside other courses they’re enrolled in and new opportunities, reinforcing that they’re building real expertise over time. It also makes finding help easy: the right resources in the right place.
3. What do I do next? It suggests logical next steps. Whether that’s the next lesson, a supplementary resource, or an advanced program, students always know how to move forward.

A bad dashboard throws everything at them at once. Video library. Resource downloads. Community links. Bonus materials. No coherent order to any of it. Where do they even start? They bookmark it to “check out later” and never come back.

When students feel confident and clear about their progress, they keep coming back. When they feel lost, they quit.

But the real power comes from how it creates a home for your students. Everything they need, thoughtfully structured, in one place.

It’s a space that directs intentional learning outcomes and connects to your broader ecosystem at the same time:

• Progress tracking shows students they’re advancing even when it doesn’t feel like it
• Personalized navigation eliminates decision fatigue about what to work on next
• A hero banner to welcome students, highlight upcoming programs or events, or spotlight important information
• Community and support access connects students with the resources they need, whether that’s your community, FAQs, or ways to book a 1:1 call
• Mobile accessibility lets students learn during commutes, lunch breaks, or whenever they have time

When these elements work together, students go beyond simply completing your course—they develop genuine expertise through lived experience. 

They may also become advocates who drive sustainable business growth through referrals, testimonials, and repeat purchases.

Teachable’s new student dashboard delivered measurable results within months of launch:

• Students navigate to their lessons 6x faster
• They return to continue learning 2x more frequently after four weeks
• They go to checkout 2.8x more frequently than before

The dashboard works by organizing itself around each student’s actual needs and behavior:

• Jump Back In: Students with courses in progress see these first, with the most completed courses shown first. No creator setup required—the system identifies where students left off and surfaces it at the top.
• My Library: All enrolled products organized by your chosen sort order. Students never lose track of what they own or wonder what they have access to.
• Completed Courses: Finished courses stay visible for review, sorted by when students last opened them. This encourages revisiting valuable content and reinforces the value they received.
• Explore Additional Products: Other courses from your school appear here using your catalog sort order, driving natural discovery of your full curriculum.

This creates the cycle that separates successful education businesses from struggling content creators: student success drives business growth, which enables investment in even better learning experiences, which creates more student success.

Simple ways to customize your student experience

While the dashboard works automatically, you can customize key elements:

• Brand Colors: Set navigation background, link colors, and button colors. Pro tip: Use high contrast combinations for accessibility—dark text on light backgrounds or light text on dark backgrounds.
• One-Click Translations: 10 languages are available instantly (English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and Turkish—Arabic coming soon). The system translates all new interface elements automatically. Custom translations available for other languages.
• Homepage Settings: Choose what logged-in or logged-out students see first—your dashboard, product catalog, or external pages.
• Product Sorting: Control how courses appear in the “Explore Additional Products” section through your catalog sort settings.

Preview your student experience like a pro on Teachable

Many creators never see what their students actually experience. Here’s how to check:

To view the course itself, from your course curriculum, click “Preview” in the top right to see your content through student eyes.

To see what it’s like when they enter your school, from Site > Navigation, use the preview button to see your homepage and catalog as students experience them.

Check both logged-in and logged-out views—students see different content depending on their login status.

This represents a shift from the old course directory that separated products by type and made discovery difficult. The new unified experience puts student needs first—showing in-progress courses prominently while making additional offerings easy to find.

Why students abandon online courses (and how to fix it)

If a student never finishes a course, how likely are they to recommend it to someone else? Even if a student does finish your course, what if they don’t apply anything they learned?

Your students are not failing because your content is bad. They’re failing because you don’t have the right tools to get them to take action.

Think about it. Students don’t come to you wanting more information. They can get that from YouTube or a $20 book or ChatGPT. 

They come to you because they want a transformational result, feedback, fresh perspective, and live experience. 

They want someone to guide them from where they are to where they want to be—and have a ball doing it.

That requires structure. Guardrails. A clear path forward. All the things that turn passive information consumption into active skill development.

Students don’t abandon courses because they’re lazy or uncommitted. They drop out because the course design works against human psychology.

Here are a few of the most common reasons students don’t complete online courses:

• They don’t know what to do next. Without clear direction, they default to doing nothing.
• They can’t see their progress. No visible momentum means no motivation to continue.
• They feel overwhelmed by choice. Too many options create decision paralysis.
• They’re learning in isolation. No accountability means it’s easy to quit when things get difficult.

These are all problems you can solve by creating a structured learning environment that guides students toward completion and application.

What makes people pay for online courses?

Students don’t mind paying more for courses that actually work. The problem is most creators think “more content” equals “more value.” It doesn’t.

Premium pricing comes from premium outcomes. And premium outcomes come from premium structure.

Here’s what students will pay extra for:

• Clear start and finish lines: They want to know exactly what they’ll be able to do when they’re done—not vague promises about “mastery” but specific skills they can point to.
• Guided progression: Instead of dumping everything on them at once, you release lessons in a sequence that builds their confidence step by step.
• Real practice opportunities: They want templates they can fill out, exercises they can complete, and projects they can actually use in their business.
• Peer support: A community of other students working through the same challenges makes the journey feel less lonely and more achievable.
• Instructor feedback: Knowing you’re actually paying attention to their progress and available when they get stuck.

Notice what’s not on that list? Hours of video content. Bonus modules. Lifetime access to a Facebook group nobody uses.

Students pay premium prices for premium experiences, not massive quantities of information.

What separates successful online courses from courses students don’t finish

The most successful online creators have figured out something important: students thrive in classroom-style environments, not digital libraries.

In a classroom, students know exactly what’s expected of them. They follow a clear sequence. They have regular check-ins. Someone notices if they fall behind.

Your online school can work the same way. Instead of giving students access to everything at once and hoping they figure it out, you create a guided experience that moves them systematically from beginner to capable.

This means:

• Sequential progression that builds skills step by step
• Clear milestones that show students they’re making progress
• Focused pathways that eliminate decision fatigue
• Built-in accountability that keeps students on track

When students feel guided rather than abandoned, completion rates soar. More importantly, they actually apply what they learn.

How to design online courses that help students succeed

Course structure determines student outcomes. Design it with intention.

Start with the specific outcome: What should students be able to do differently when they complete your course?

Then work backwards:

• What’s the minimum viable knowledge they need to achieve that outcome? Focus on essentials, not everything you know.
• Where will they practice these skills? Build application opportunities into every section, not just at the end.
• When will they get feedback? Create multiple touchpoints for questions, sharing, and course correction throughout the journey.
• How will they stay motivated through difficult parts? Design regular wins and progress markers that maintain momentum.
• What support do they need when they get stuck? Anticipate common problems and provide solutions proactively.

This outcome-focused approach transforms how you build courses. Instead of asking “What should I teach?” you ask “What do my students need to succeed?”

The resulting experience feels purposeful and supportive instead of overwhelming and scattered.

Most students can watch your entire course and still not know how to do anything practical.

Watching is not learning. Learning is changing behavior.

If your course is mostly videos students consume passively, you’re not creating transformation. You’re creating the illusion of productivity.

Real skill development happens through practice:

• Give them templates to complete. Don’t just explain how to write a sales email—provide a template and have them write one for their business using Teachable’s downloadable resources feature.
• Create mandatory practice exercises. After teaching a concept, immediately give them a way to apply it. Use Teachable’s course compliance settings to require completion before they can move forward.
• Build in reflection checkpoints. Regular assessments help students process what they’ve learned and identify knowledge gaps. Teachable’s built-in quiz tools can provide instant feedback on their understanding.
• Make peer interaction part of the curriculum. Students learn faster when they can share work and get feedback from others tackling the same challenges.
• Provide multiple ways to engage. Some students learn by watching, others by reading, others by doing. Mix video lessons with written materials, interactive exercises, and discussion prompts.

The transformation happens when students start applying your concepts to their real problems. That’s when they become practitioners, not just consumers.

What student success metrics actually matter?

Stop obsessing over completion rates. Start tracking transformation rates.

The creators who build sustainable businesses measure what matters:

• How many students apply course concepts to their real situations?
• What specific outcomes do students achieve within 30, 60, and 90 days?
• How many students feel confident enough to tackle the next level of challenges?
• What percentage of graduates recommend the course to peers?

These metrics tell you whether your course actually works. They also predict business growth better than any engagement metric.

Students who get results become your biggest advocates. They buy your next course. They refer friends. They share success stories that sell better than any marketing copy you could write.

Start creating online courses built on student success with Teachable

Do you see yourself as a course creator who packages information? Or as an educator who guides transformation?

Course creators optimize for more material. Educators optimize for better outcomes.

The creators who thrive in this economy understand that student success is their business strategy. Everything else—pricing, marketing, product development—flows from that foundation.

Your course creation platform should support this approach, not fight against it. 

When you have tools that make it easy to create structured learning experiences, track student progress, and intervene when people get stuck, you can focus on what matters most: helping students transform their capabilities.

Ready to build on the course platform where your students thrive?

Start your free 7-day trial of Teachable and experience the Student Hub dashboard that puts student success at the center of your online school.