How to use email marketing to enhance your student experience

Have you ever signed up for an online course only to be left wondering what to do once you’ve enrolled? This recently happened to me. 

I signed up for a well-known network that looks impressively established from the outside. But, I soon found that looks can be deceiving. Upon signing up, I was diverted to the membership page of their website. Luckily, I saved this page to my favourites as nothing else arrived. 

The student experience wasn’t great. There was no welcome email or onboarding sequence at all. And as an online course creator, I know the importance of the student experience.

It’s honestly one of the essential parts of your online course. Many course creators get so involved in creating content that they overlook the student experience. 

Trust me; you don’t want your students feeling like I did.

Start by welcoming students to your online course!

This may sound like an absolute no-brainer, but in my experience, this doesn’t always happen.  

You mustn’t leave your students sitting and wondering what to do next. Answer questions like:

  • Where do I log in?
  • How do I get access to the group?
  • What’s included in my course/membership? 

One of the best ways to welcome students is to set up an automatic course welcome email. 

If you’re using Thinkific (the best online course platform!), you can set up a welcome email using the dashboard. You can also integrate your email marketing system like ActiveCampaign. 

 

Hi, lovely!

I’m Alethea & welcome to CloudXS Digital! We help coaches, consultants and service providers grow their impact online with beautiful, conversional, student focused online courses. We share lots of tips and tricks on our blog to help you get started with your online course. You can learn more about working with us to build your online course here.

Online Courses

Websites

Digital Marketing

Automation

CCHere’s an example of a welcome email for an online course

Welcome {{user_first_name}},

Thank you for enrolling in {{course_name}}.

In this program, you will be learning xyz…

There are 4 action steps to do within your first week:

Step 1: Join the Facebook Group

  • Explain the group rules, what to expect and a link to join the group

Step 2: Save the course dashboard to your favourites

  • Explain how to save the link to their favourites bar and give a link to the dashboard

Step 3: Schedule learning time

  • Give guidelines on how to progress through your course
  • Mention any live sessions or other things students should diarise 

Step 4: Explore the course dashboard

  • Let the students know what to expect from the dashboard and how to find their way around 

If you need support or have any technical issues, please reach out to support@yourbusiness.com

We wish you the best,

{{instructor_full_name}}

{{Company Name}}

Continue your onboarding email marketing sequence for your online course

Now that you’ve welcomed your students and let them know what to expect, it’s a great idea to continue with an onboarding email marketing sequence. This shows your students that you are genuinely interested in their progress and appreciate them signing up for your course. 

Here’s an example of what an onboarding email marketing sequence could look like: 

  • Day 1 – Your welcome email (example above)
  • Day 2 – Tips on how to get the best out of the course/membership
  • Day 3 – A reminder of how to get support (e.g. Join the Facebook group, online support group like the Thinkific Community, Circle Communities, etc.) 
  • Day 4 – A check-in to see how they’re going and a reminder of where to login in case they need help with access 
  • Day 5 – Mention any upcoming live calls or classes or introduce the next module, promo or upsell 

This is an example; you can create your onboarding email marketing schedule to align with your course. 

If you drip feed content, you can incorporate emails to let the students know what’s ‘coming next’, so they can plan their study time. You can also send live or coaching session reminders to ensure the students know what’s available to them. 

The power of email marketing shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to enhancing your student’s online course experience. 

When you look after your students, you’ll create raving fans that will do your marketing for you! So, stay in touch with them with relevant, fun and engaging emails. 

Online course platforms like Thinkific make email marketing easy

Our team loves Thinkific (and so do our online course creator clients) as it’s so easy to use and provides the best student experience. 

Being able to send student emails from the Thinkific platform adds to its magic. If you don’t do an entire onboarding email marketing sequence, that’s ok too. BUT, you should always have a welcome email at the very least. 

If you’d like a hand in setting up your email marketing using Thinkific or an email marketing program like ActiveCampaign, please get in touch. Our team would love to help you enhance your student learning experience. 

Alethea Tuitahi

Alethea Tuitahi

Online Course Designer & Founder

 

Alethea specialises in creating beautiful, conversional, student focusd online courses. Allowing course creators to deliver their course or program to the world… sans tech frustrations and problems. Need help building your online course? As a Thinkific specialist, Alethea is here to help! Book in a free call here.

Disclosure: Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I only promote services that I personally use and love. I will be paid a small commission if you use this link to make a purchase.

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