Sell courses online and transform your LMS into a money-making machine.

eCommerce is an avenue that is fast gaining momentum in the eLearning industry. With the rise of various eLearning platforms, it is now easier than ever for instructors and companies to sell courses online and bring in an extra revenue stream.

Many people out there haven’t considered the benefits of selling the content they have spent time and resources creating, as well as people who may be unsure of the best way to go about it. This article should open up some possibilities for those who are considering commercializing their content and will provide some helpful information for sellers who want to learn more about how you can hook your LMS up to an eCommerce platform to add make some cash out of material you have spent a lot of time and effort producing; basically, mint some money by selling courses online with the same content that is already prepared.

eCommerce is simply selling your courses/product online, and there are plenty of different platforms to choose from, which can each offer you something slightly different depending on your needs, but more about that later. eCommerce gives users the power to sell whatever they want and to whomever they want over the internet. Almost all robust learning management systems have some eCommerce integration, allowing learning managers and course designers to effectively sell courses online to individual buyers or buyers looking to purchase content for organizations or specific learner groups.

When it comes to selling eLearning content, the main product you will probably want to sell is your courses. However, the list doesn’t end there. All eLearning content you produce can be sold, including webinars, presentations, videos, digital content and even entrance to in-person events.

eCommerce LMS integration and how it works

eCommerce LMS integration is a customization offered by many market-leading LMSs, and the extent of the integration depends strongly on the needs of the individual organization. It depends on the quantity and breadth of your products, the size of the company and how many bells and whistles you want to be included in the package. At Paradiso Solutions, we work with you, the client, to determine exactly your needs and how we can best build in the integration for your specific case to allow you to sell courses online.

Thanks in significant part to Single Sign On (SSO) – which means you only need to enter one set of login details for both the eCommerce platform and the LMS – going from purchasing to taking the course is now a piece of cake.

So who’s going to buy it?

Different types of people will want to buy your eLearning material, such as individual private buyers or people who like the look of a course or webinar. Your students or users of your LMS may also want to purchase courses; likewise, you might want to buy individual or packages of courses for your students.

After the buyer has located the course on the eCommerce platform they will proceed to the checkout. From here, they enter a few personal details and make the payment.

Once the purchase has been processed, the learner must enter a few personal details if they are a user of your LMS. Because of SSO, they will be automatically enrolled on the course they have bought and can access the LMS from the eCommerce dashboard. If the buyer is not an LMS user then they can be assigned guest user status and still get access to the course or download a copy of the course to use on another learning management system.

LMS Pricing

The pricing that can be assigned to your products for selling eLearning online is very flexible. Courses can be sold individually or as part of a bundle of courses, and there is the option of bulk discounts if you so wish. You can manage subscriptions, payment plans and even offer free trials.

LMS Customization

Like your LMS, your eCommerce platform must reflect your brand’s identity. With eCommerce LMS integration, the ideal is that the transition between the two platforms is seamless from the user’s perspective. Being able to transform the look and feel of the platform is critical as it could be the difference between a learner choosing your course or not. If brand loyalty is important to you, then the branding, colour schemes, and narrative must be consistent across any platform to which you lend your brand.

Choosing the right platform

There are several excellent eCommerce platforms you can choose from to help you sell courses online, and as already mentioned, much depends on the size of your company and your individual needs – you can view a great article that delves much deeper into the subject here. The cost is Probably the first thing you will consider when looking for an eCommerce platform, especially if you are an SME. The good news is that selling courses online is now so popular that plenty of options are available at very competitive prices. Before committing, ensure you only purchase the features you need and not a whole load you will never use. Likewise, you must be aware of where your business is headed regarding the growth and be sure that the platform you choose is fully scalable in line with your own projections.

Possibly the most important thing to bear in mind when deciding on which eCommerce platform to go with is how your customers will be interacting with the platform and how easy it is for them to process to the payment stage. The easier it is to go from choosing a course to actually purchasing it, and the less hassle the customer has to go through with forms to fill out or extra accounts to open, the happier the customer will be and the more willing they will be to buy.

Some platforms to help you sell courses online

Paradiso LMS integrates with the most popular eCommerce platforms around. Again, which one you choose depends on a lot of factors. WooCommerce is a platform built on WordPress and can be downloaded for free as an add-on, so if you already have a site built on WordPress, this would be an easy transition. On the other hand, Magento is designed more for enterprises and larger companies, with tons of great features and almost unlimited customizability; however, maybe a wee bit out of the price range of smaller firms. Shopify is a good option as, for a monthly fee, they take care of a lot of things for you, allowing you to concentrate more on other things, such as making your courses the best they can be.

Do you plan to sell courses online? Want help with integrations? Get in touch with us by clicking on the below link
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