So, you’ve got an amazing course idea, done all the research, written up the content, and even recorded some videos.
So, what’s next? Well, now you need a way to deliver and manage your awesome course. To do that effectively, you’ll want to use a learning management system (LMS) that saves you time so you can focus on delivering top-notch content.
If you’ve been looking into LMS options, you would have definitely heard of Teachable.
It’s pretty popular among course creators these days. I am providing an overview of Teachable to help you decide if It is right for you.
Content Outline
What is Teachable?
Teachable is a platform made for people who want to create and sell courses online. It started in 2013, originally called Fedora, by a person named Ankur Nagpal, who was also a course creator.
Over time, it grew and became Teachable. It helps course creators manage everything, like hosting their courses, tracking sales, and handling payments.
Now, it’s used by over 100,000 instructors and has helped sell over $500 million worth of courses to more than 18 million students.
Review of Teachable Features
Here, I will discuss some of the features and what that means for you and your students. Let’s take a closer look!
Security
Teachable understands that both you and your students share sensitive information on the platform. To ensure everyone’s safety, they have implemented several security measures:
Dedicated Fraud Team: Teachable has a team specifically tasked with identifying and preventing fraudulent activities to protect user accounts and data.
SSL Certificate: They use a 2048-bit SSL certificate, which encrypts data during login and checkout processes. This encryption ensures that sensitive information remains confidential and secure.
24/7 Management: Teachable’s team monitors the platform around the clock to address any outages promptly. This ensures continuous access to your account and course content without interruptions.
Instant Upgrades: The platform regularly updates its software to enhance security features and performance. These upgrades are implemented instantly to keep the system up-to-date and protected against potential vulnerabilities.
PCI Compliance: Teachable partners only with payment providers that comply with PCI level-1 standards. This ensures that financial information shared on the platform is handled securely and meets industry standards for data protection.
Course Delivery and Student Engagement
Teachable makes it easy for you and your students to access course content without needing to download any large software.
They host all your content in the Cloud, meaning you can start building your course right away, even if you don’t have a website. If you do have a website, you can easily connect it to your Teachable account using a custom domain.
Teachable offers various features to help you create engaging courses and track your students’ progress. You can create quizzes, both basic and graded, to assess your students’ understanding and keep them involved.
With the Pro plan and higher, you can also issue certificates to students upon completion of courses, making your courses more attractive. You can even control access to specific content until students meet certain requirements, such as finishing a particular course or unit.
For a more interactive learning experience, you can set up milestones and challenges, establish a community, and arrange one-on-one sessions with your students.
Teachable integrates with Calendly, allowing students to easily schedule these sessions and classes according to their own schedules.
Customization and Integration
You can personalize your courses and domain by adding your brand’s personality into the design. With the Power Editor tool, you can create engaging videos, multimedia lectures, quizzes, and coaching sessions.
There are design templates and training available to help you make your courses stand out and reflect your unique style.
In addition to Teachable’s features, you can also connect your account to other tools and platforms using integrations. These integrations can link your Teachable account to scheduling platforms, analytics services, email providers, and community platforms.
Some popular integrations include Google Analytics, ConvertKit, Zapier, Facebook Pixel, and MailChimp. By syncing Teachable with the tools you already use, you can customize your teaching experience even further and streamline your workflow.
Payment Management
Teachable makes it easy for you to create a sales page that’s simple to use and can be customized to fit your needs. You can accept payments in over 130 different currencies and offer options like PayPal or mobile payments.
Plus, they even have a “buy now, pay later” choice available. If you need help handling payouts, Teachable can assist by making payouts to affiliates, your team, and anyone else you’re working with on your courses.
But Teachable doesn’t stop there—it also provides ways to boost your earnings. You can create coupons or vouchers, set up a referral rewards program, offer subscription or membership plans, bundle courses together, and much more!
Teachable tracks all these features, so you can easily monitor your revenue and see how things are progressing.
Reporting/Data Tracking
As a course creator, it’s important to know how well your courses are doing. Teachable makes this easy with its dashboard, where you can see all your sales and student data in one place.
You can check the number of students enrolled, their activity in the sessions, and their completion of the course.
You can also use third-party tools to create surveys and get direct feedback from students. This helps you understand what’s working well and what needs improvement in your courses.
Overall, Teachable’s dashboard gives you a clear picture of your course performance so you can make informed decisions to improve it.
Email marketing Marketing
Email marketing is crucial for online business success. Teachable offers basic email marketing features, but you need a paid plan to use them.
Teachable automatically sends transactional emails like order confirmations and password resets without you having to do anything.
You can also send basic campaign emails to your students and set up simple workflow automation. You can tag your students and send them targeted emails based on their interests and behaviour.
You can use Teachable to send different types of emails to your users:
- Course Launch or Update Emails: Let your audience know when you’ve launched a new course or updated an existing one.
- Abandoned-Cart Emails: Remind visitors who added a course to their cart but didn’t buy it to complete their purchase.
- Receipt and Confirmation Emails: When someone buys a course, Teachable sends them order confirmation and receipt emails with basic information and access links.
- For more advanced email marketing automation, you can integrate Teachable with popular email marketing service providers and run your campaigns.
You can also create course bundles to package your courses and sell them at a discounted price. Merging courses allows students to access all future courses added to the bundle.
Teachable has a robust affiliate management system. You can recruit affiliates, track their performance, and pay them for each new customer they bring to your platform. You can manage affiliates and track their sales from a single dashboard.
The sales tracker helps you monitor sales, revenue, and course performance. You can track course statements, transactions, and more from one window. Additionally, you can offer course-upsell coupons to incentivize students to enrol in more courses.
Keep your customers informed and engaged with Teachable’s email marketing feature. This feature allows you to schedule emails, draft templates, and automate them.
Teachable Pricing
Teachable offers different plans to suit different needs and budgets:
Free Plan:
It is perfect for those new to course creation or just wanting to try out the platform. You can host unlimited students without paying anything.
Basic Plan:
It costs $59 per month or $39 per month annually. It includes all free plan features plus the ability to sell up to five products, like courses and coaching sessions. You’ll also get live coaching features and pay a 5% transaction fee.
Pro Plan:
Their most popular option is $159 per month or $119 per month annually. There are no transaction fees, so you keep all your earnings. You can sell up to 50 products, use upsells and affiliate marketing, and remove Teachable branding from your courses.
Pro+ Plan:
It costs $249 per month or $199 per month annually. You can sell up to 200 products of each type, making it ideal for larger course catalogues.
Business Plan:
It is priced at $665 per month or $499 per month annually. Suitable for big teams or educational businesses. There are no transaction fees. It supports 20 admin users, and it offers advanced theme customization. You can create an unlimited number of products.
What Percentage Does Teachable Take?
If you’re thinking about using Teachable for your courses, it’s crucial to understand the fees they charge. Teachable takes a percentage along with its regular fee, which might seem small but can impact your earnings over time.
The exact percentage and fees vary depending on your Teachable plan. For the basic plan, there’s a 2.9% payment processing fee plus 30 cents per transaction, but this can change for international sales, which may cost up to 3.9% plus 30 cents per sale.
For international PayPal transactions, there’s a 4.4% plus 30 cents fee per sale, and there’s also a $15 chargeback fee applied to all plans.
On top of these transactional fees, Teachable also takes a 5% fee from every sale you make, which isn’t included in the transaction fees. This can quickly add up and cut into your earnings.
However, the Pro and Professional plans don’t have additional transaction fees, which is why they’re pricier. While they cost more monthly, they can save you money in the long run, especially if you’re making a lot of sales.
These fees are essential to consider when deciding whether to use Teachable for your course business.
Who Teachable Is Best For?
Teachable is an ideal platform for educators and entrepreneurs who want to share their expertise with a global audience. Here’s a breakdown of who Teachable is best suited for:
Consultants: Teachable allows consultants to connect with clients worldwide without extensive marketing efforts or the need for in-person meetings. It’s a cost-effective way to deliver services and reach a broader audience.
Coaches: For coaches, Teachable provides a platform to offer and charge for services globally. Integrations with tools like Zoom and Calendly make scheduling and billing seamless, streamlining the coaching process.
Speakers: With Teachable, speakers can package their knowledge and present virtually, eliminating the need for in-person events. Integrating with Zoom enables virtual presentations, offering flexibility and reaching wider audiences.
Authors: Teachable offers marketing and sales tools for authors to build and grow their businesses independently. Authors can leverage the platform to market their books effectively and scale their operations without relying solely on publishers.
Trainers: Trainers can use Teachable to showcase their services through recorded workshops and live webinars. Integrating third-party streaming platforms allows trainers to share knowledge and sell products efficiently.
Teachable’s user-friendly interface makes it accessible to individuals with limited technical knowledge. With a Pro subscription or higher, users can customize their course websites with branding elements, creating a professional online presence.
Whether you’re a yoga instructor, musician, financial advisor, artist, or expert in any field, Teachable provides the tools to share your expertise and passion effectively with learners worldwide.
How to create your course?
Once you’ve set up your school on Teachable, you’ll have the option to create your first course. However, you don’t have to do it immediately. You can choose to do it later whenever you’re ready.
Let me show you step-by-step how to create your course now.
1. To get started, go to your Teachable admin area and look for the “Courses” tab on the side menu. If you can’t find it there, you can also click on the plus icon (+) next to “Products” and select the “course” option. Then, move on to step 3.
2. In the top right corner, click the New Course button.
3. By using this option, you will be taken to the new course area, where you can input the Course Title and select the author of the course.
4. Click the Create Course button once you have filled out the course information.
5. You’ll see a small window confirming that your course has been successfully created and added to your Courses tab. Just click on “Continue” to proceed.
7. You’ll be taken to the Curriculum tab, where you can add the content for your course. If needed, you can always go back to the Information tab by clicking on it.
Course outlining tools
If you want to create an outline for your course quickly, you can use the AI outline generator tool. Here’s how:
- Check the box that says, “Help me generate a course outline.”
- Write a brief description of your course topic in the text box. For example, if your course is about baking, you could write, “Preparing baked goods with tools, recipes, and step-by-step guides.”
- Click the “Generate” button.
- Review the generated outline. If you’re happy with it, click “Continue with an outline.” You can always edit the outline later.
- If you’re not satisfied with the outline, try entering a different description in the text box and click “Generate” again.
- If you don’t have a specific description in mind, you can click “Use blank outline” to skip this step and go directly to creating your course curriculum.
Publish and Preview
In the Information tab of your course, you can manage various settings like publishing, previewing, duplicating, or deleting your course.
Publishing your course means making it available for purchase and enrollment by new students. Only published courses can be bought or enrolled in.
To publish your course, click the “Publish Course” button. A pop-up will appear asking if you want to publish the course and any unpublished lectures within the course curriculum tab. If you click “Yes,” your course will be ready for students to enrol in.
If you choose “Yes, publish all,” your entire course, including sales, checkout, and thank you pages, along with all lecture pages, will be published. If you select “No, just publish the course,” only the course and its related pages will be published, while any unpublished lectures in your Curriculum will remain hidden.
You can also click “Cancel” if you don’t want to publish the course right now.
You can take additional actions by clicking the More dropdown button next to the Publish Course button.
Here are some additional actions you can take from the Information tab:
Preview Sales Page: This lets you see how your course’s sales page looks to a student when they first visit it.
Preview Curriculum: This lets you see how your course’s curriculum appears to students after they purchase the course.
Duplicate Course: This option allows you to make a copy of your course within your Teachable account. Everything in the course, including lectures, media, pages, settings, and author assignments, will be duplicated. You can edit any of these after duplication.
Delete Course: This option permanently removes the course from your Teachable account. Be cautious because this action cannot be undone.
Product Visibility
There is a toggle for product visibility in each course.
Visible products are those displayed in your product directory, where any visitor to your school can see them and choose to buy or enroll in them. On the other hand, hidden products are not shown in the directory.
While students can still access and purchase hidden products, they can only do so if you give them a direct link to the sales or checkout page.
Branding
In the Branding section, you can customize the appearance of your school. You can upload a custom thumbnail logo, which will be visible on your school’s website and other places. Additionally, if you have a 1.0 school, you can also add a promotional video.
You can also set different images specifically for the iOS app, as different sizes are recommended for optimal display.
Course Image: This is a small picture that represents your course throughout your school. Students will see it in the course list and the sidebar when they’re inside the course. It’s best to use a JPG or PNG file with dimensions of 2560×1440 pixels.
Promo Video (1.0 schools only): This is a short promotional video that appears at the top of your course’s sales page. It’s recommended to use either a 1920×1080 or 3840×2160 video file (in MP4, M4V, or AVI format) that’s no larger than 2 GB. It’s also a good idea to compress your video files for optimal performance.
Tip: If you’re using a 4k or 1080p video, it’s best to compress the files to reduce their size without losing quality. Tools like Handbrake can help with this.
To set images specifically for the iOS app, click on the iOS tab. Use a 300×300 JPG or PNG file for thumbnail images on the app, and aim for a 1080x607px JPG or PNG file for background images.
Click the Change button to update any images or videos you’ve uploaded in the Branding section. Click the Reset link to remove.
Details
You can edit the information that will appear across your school in the Details section of your course’s page. The following information can be modified here:
Course Title: This is the main name of your course, which will be displayed prominently throughout your Teachable school.
Course Subtitle: You can use this to provide extra details about what your course covers. The subtitle will appear below the main course title in your course directory.
Categories: Categories help organize your courses and make it simpler for students to find what they’re looking for when browsing through your school’s All Products page.
Author
In the Author section, you can specify who the author of your course is within your school. The author’s name will be shown on various pages like All Products and My Products, as well as in the Featured Products section.
Additionally, the author’s name, picture, and biography will be visible in the course’s My Instructor tab.
In the dropdown menu, you have the option to assign an author or a bio without an author:
Authors: The bio is linked to a specific user/author account in your school. This means the connected user can receive a share of the revenue from sales and can access an author dashboard. Owner bios are also listed here and can be selected if you prefer not to create a separate author account for your product. Owners cannot receive author revenue shares.
Bios without Authors: The bio is not linked to any particular user/author account in your school. This means there is no separate user account to receive a revenue share or manage the course.
Remember to save your changes after making any adjustments.
Search engine optimization (SEO) (Page Editor 1.0)
Note: This part is only for courses made with Page Editor 1.0. For Page Editor 2.0 courses, you can adjust the course details (like URL, page title, and description) from your sales page settings. Learn more about Page Editor 1.0 vs. Page Editor 2.0.
In the SEO section, you can edit important course details to enhance your course’s sales page’s visibility on search engines. Remember, this section is only visible if you’re using the old page editor. If you’re using the new one, your page’s SEO settings will be found within the page editor itself.
Friendly URL – A friendly URL is a web address that is easy to understand and includes words that describe the content of the webpage. It helps with search engine optimization (SEO) by making it easier for both users and search engines to understand what the page is about.
Page Title—The page title appears in search engine results when someone searches for your webpage. It gives users an idea of what they can expect to find on the page.
Meta Description – The meta description is a summary of your webpage’s content. It’s like a mini sales pitch that appears below the page title in search engine results. A good meta description is brief, usually no longer than 160 characters, and entices users to click on the link to visit your Teachable school.
Course compliance
For schools using the Professional plan or higher, you can set compliance rules for each lecture within the Information tab of your course.
These rules specify requirements that students must meet before they can move on to the next lecture.
Default pages
In the Sales Page tab, you can select where students will go after buying your course in the Post Purchase Page menu. For smoother access, you might prefer them to go directly to the course curriculum instead of the thank you page.
You have three options to redirect students after checkout:
- Thank You Page: Students land on the thank you page after purchasing.
- Enrolled Course Curriculum: Students are taken to the course curriculum page.
- Custom URL: Students are redirected to a specific URL you set in the Custom Post Purchase Redirect URL field.
Layout settings
To adjust the width of lecture content on course pages, check the “Limit lecture content width” box. For schools created before June 2, 2022, this sets the content width to 760px. If your school was created after this date, the lecture content width is already set to 760px, and this setting won’t be available.
By setting the lecture content width to 760px, you ensure that your lecture materials—videos, text, and files—don’t become too wide on your students’ screens. This keeps your content easy to read, no matter the size of the browser window.
Hide Progress Bar
In the student’s view of your course, they see a progress bar showing how much of the course they’ve completed. You can choose to hide this progress bar from the student view for each course separately.
To hide the progress bar from students, check the Hide Progress Bar checkbox. Once you’re done, click Save.
Delete a course
Let me show you step-by-step how to delete a course:
- Go to the Publish & Preview section at the top of the Course > Information page.
- Click the More button next to the Publish course button.
- Choose Delete Course from the dropdown menu.
- A popup screen will appear, asking for confirmation of the action.
- In the pop-up window, click Delete.
Remember: Deleting a course cannot be undone. Once you confirm the deletion, the course will be permanently removed and cannot be recovered.
Teachable Integrations
Apps & Integrations:
To enhance the functionality of your Teachable school, you can integrate it with various third-party services. These integrations allow you to automate tasks, streamline processes, and expand the capabilities of your online course platform.
Third-Party Integrations:
You can integrate Teachable with popular third-party services like Zoom, AWeber, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Deadline Funnel, and more. These integrations enable you to connect Teachable with other tools you use for email marketing, automation, webinar hosting, and sales funnel management.
App Hub Overview:
Teachable’s App Hub provides an overview of all available integrations, making it easy for you to explore and choose the ones that best suit your needs.
Whether you want to automate user email unsubscriptions, integrate with email service providers, or utilize webhooks and APIs, you can find relevant options in the App Hub.
Zapier Integration:
Zapier is a powerful automation tool that allows you to connect Teachable with thousands of other apps and services. It Allows you to automate workflows, called “Zaps,” that trigger Teachable actions based on events in other applications.
Automate User Email Unsubscriptions:
By integrating Teachable with email service providers and automation tools like Zapier, you can automate the process of managing user email subscriptions. This ensures that users are added or removed from email lists based on their interactions with your Teachable courses.
Webhooks & API:
Teachable also provides webhooks and an API (Application Programming Interface) for developers who want to build custom integrations or extend the platform’s functionality.
Webhooks allow Teachable to send real-time notifications to external systems, while the API enables developers to interact with Teachable programmatically, accessing and modifying data as needed.
Teachable Customer Care
Teachable offers excellent customer support, which is one of its strong points.
The company is dedicated to helping its users and provides support for any issues they may encounter. The level of support you receive depends on your plan.
For instance, the Basic plan includes email support, while the Professional and Business plans offer live chat support.
Users have found Teachable’s customer support to be responsive and helpful. The support team is knowledgeable and can assist with a wide range of issues.
Teachable also provides a wealth of resources to help users. This includes a comprehensive knowledge base with articles, tutorials, and FAQs. These resources are available to all users and are a great starting point for anyone needing assistance.
Additionally, Teachable has a community forum where users can connect, share advice, and find solutions to common problems.
This forum is a valuable resource for learning from others and collaborating with fellow Teachable users.
Teachable offers various resources to help users understand the platform:
- Documentation: Extensive guides and tutorials on using Teachable, managing courses, and troubleshooting issues.
- Knowledge Base: A collection of articles, tutorials, and FAQs providing detailed information about the platform.
- Video Tutorials: Numerous video tutorials covering different aspects of the platform, from account setup to course creation and marketing.
- Community Forum (Teachable:hq): An active forum where users can connect, share experiences, and receive support from both fellow users and Teachable staff.
- Email Support: Assistance via email for platform-related issues.
- Live Webinars: They regularly host webinars on various topics related to online course creation and business, allowing users to learn from experts and ask questions in real-time.
- Blog: Articles and resources covering a range of topics, such as course creation, marketing, and entrepreneurship, to help users grow their online businesses.
What I love most about Teachable?
Great plan options: Teachable offers flexible plans, including a free option, allowing you to explore its features without commitment. As you move up the tiers, you gain access to more features to enhance your students’ experience. Plus, you can choose between monthly or annual subscriptions for added savings.
Easy setup and management: Teachable provides design templates, tutorials, and support to simplify account setup, even for those with limited technical skills. Many processes, like payments and registrations, are automated, freeing up your time to focus on content creation.
Supports various content formats: One of Teachable’s standout features is its support for diverse content formats, including PDFs, images, videos, and audio files. This versatility enables you to create engaging courses that cater to different learning preferences.
Built-in payment system: Teachable eliminates the need for third-party payment systems, offering its own secure payment processing. However, you still have the option to integrate popular payment gateways if desired. Teachable handles all transactions, streamlining the payment process for both you and your students.
What I think Teachable to improve?
Difficult site building: Many users find it challenging to create pages on Teachable due to small input boxes and limited copy-and-paste functionality, especially for designing one-click upsell pages. Non-tech-savvy users may require a web designer for advanced template changes.
Limited customization options: Teachable’s templated approach simplifies course creation but lacks customization. All content follows the same layout, and the system’s templated pages offer minimal customization options, making it hard to differentiate from other creators.
Transaction fees: Both free and basic plans incur fees for every transaction, which can accumulate over time. Upgrading to more expensive plans to avoid these fees may not be cost-effective, particularly if you don’t need the additional features.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Flexible plan options, including a free tier, with monthly or annual subscriptions for added savings.
- Easy setup and management, with design templates and automated processes for payments and registrations.
- Supports diverse content formats, including PDFs, images, videos, and audio files, for engaging courses.
- Built-in payment system for secure transactions, with the option to integrate popular payment gateways if needed.
Cons:
- Challenging site building process, with small input boxes and limited copy-and-paste functionality, especially for designing pages.
- Limited customization options, with all content following the same layout and minimal customization for templated pages.
- Transaction fees for every transaction, even on free and basic plans, which can accumulate over time and may not be cost-effective to avoid with more expensive plans.
FAQs
🤔Is Teachable trustworthy?
Yes, Teachable is a trustworthy company. Established in 2014 by Ankur Nagpal, it boasts over 170 employees serving more than 70,000 course creators.
👀Is Teachable compatible with mobile devices?
Absolutely! Teachable courses are fully mobile responsive, ensuring seamless viewing on any smartphone, tablet, or computer.
❓Who utilizes Teachable?
The New York Times, Shopify, and Penn Law are just a few of the prominent entities that use Teachable, including individual course creators like Pat Flynn.
🧐Does Teachable impose transaction fees?
Yes, Teachable applies a 5% transaction fee on its Basic plan. However, the Professional and Business plans do not have transaction fees.
👉Is Teachable considered an LMS?
Yes, Teachable serves as a web-based Learning Management System (LMS). LMS software is employed to deliver training courses and educational content in written and video formats.
Quicklinks
Conclusion: Is Teachable Right for you?
So, are you wondering if Teachable is right for you? Teachable has some great features like easy-to-use templates and managing lots of technical stuff for you, and it is known for safety.
But there are also downsides. You and your students may have to pay transaction fees, you can’t customize everything, and sometimes it’s tricky to use.
Just remember, whether you go with Teachable or another platform, what really matters is your passion and dedication to your course.
