With high-speed internet and easy to use technology, everything has gone online. Today, we have online schools, classes, stores, food delivery services, cab companies, shopping, supermarkets, admissions, etc. Everyone is expanding their business by going online.
This platform has created great opportunities for a wide range of diffferent business types. One of the most profitable today is coaching classes. Did you know that people spend more money on coaching classes than on school tuition fees?
Let’s see an example
Average school fees for a student in 8th grade are $8,000 a year. Average fees charged for an 8th-grade kid with a private tutor is $40 per hour. So, if you hire a private tutor for about a year, it will cost you around $14,000. That’s close to double the cost.
An online coaching business has great opportunities. The problem is that the students are scattered all around the world, and there are only a few good private tutors. They can’t reach all the students at the same time. Because of this, the income potential is very limited.
To solve this problem, people have set up new options online. They upload their videos online for their students to watch. This has benefited many people during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Schools have shut down, and students are finding it difficult to cope. Many people are now using online coaching for schools and colleges.
If you want to set up an online coachine service, you will need to use an application (app) in which to upload online lessons, tests, revision sheets, and videos. Your students can download the app.
What better time than the present, when most schoolchildren and college students are stuck at home but need to continue studying for exams or university course points. The coronavirus pandemic from one month to the next has increased the size of your target audience by a factor of ten or twenty.
Previously you would have to have invested a lot of money with developers to build your coaching app. But now it’s easy thanks to Passion.io. This drag and drop app builder let’s you start growing your client list fast.
Reasons to develop a coaching application
Large audience
As explained above, there are many students out there. With this app, you can easily reach them all at the same time, i.e., gone are the days of teaching students one-on-one individually. Put simply, demand for online education at the moment is extremely strong.
Global reach
With this app, you can reach students worldwide. Students from every corner of the globe, as long as they have access to the Internet, are your prospects. A prospect is somebody who could turn into a paying customer.
Interactive
Thanks to modern app technology, e-learning has become much more interesting, and more importantly, interactive. Course participants can ask questions, take part in activities, and in some cases even talk to an individual or online robot (a bot).
Multiple students at the same time
You can teach many students simultaneously. You don’t need to go to their place or vice-versa any more. Everybody stays where they are.
Lucrative business
E-learning is a rapidly growing business worth hundreds of billions of dollars globally each year. If your course material is top quality, effective, and students like it, the sky is the limit as far as income is concerned.
Ease of use
Mobile apps today are user friendly. Most of them have multiple features. Your target audience – teenagers and young adults – are mostly tech savvy, i.e., they are used to using modern technology, especially in the Internet world.
How to develop a coaching application
If you have made up your mind and want to develop your own coaching app, you are in the right place. Follow these steps to find out more:
Type of application
The first step is to decide what type of coaching application you want. Most people currently go for two types:
- Coaching application with online courses: in this type, which has all the basic feature, users will be able to access the online courses.
- Coaching application with live coaching sessions: this application is costly, but extremely effective. Only a few coaching applications have this extra special feature. Students and teachers can interact (communicate directly).
Tech partner
This is the most important step. You have to choose a tech partner who will be in charge of develop a coaching application for you. No matter how good you are at teaching, if your app is not up to it, your whole venture will fail. Make sure your partner is qualified, competent, and understands exactly what you and your students need.
Application features
This step includes all the application features. You need to discuss and consult with your tech partner what you need, what the features should facilitate, and why. Below is a list and description of the most common features:
- Sign up and Profiles: which enable users to create an account, log in, log out, change passwords, and generate new passwords. They will also be able to personalize the application and link social media accounts.
- Dashboard: this is the home screen of the app. It will have all the options you need on the home screen. Apart from looking attractive and creative, it should also be intuitive – easy to understand and so that you can determine what each thing on it does instantly.
- File Uploading: tutors as well as students need to upload files onto the app for others to use.
- Audio and Video Player: so that users can listen to and view all the content on the application.
- Feedback: the more you learn about what your customers like and don’t like, or would like to include, the better your product becomes if you respond accordingly.
- Title screen: students need to be able to view all the components of their course clearly and rapidly.
- Course screen: after clicking the title of the preferred course, users will be able to see a basic description of it as well as its contents.
- Lesson screen: couse participants will be able to see the content of the online lessons.
- In-app purchases: most courses come with optional extras that you can purchase, such as more relevant material, revision exercises, mock tests, etc.
- Chat: in the world of customer service today, consumers expect to be able to talk to comebody whenever they have a doubt or something goes wrong.
- Push notifications: which send reminders and notifications to course participants.
Developing the app
After the features and specifications are decided, the tech partner will develop the app using specialized software. This takes time – be patient!
Payment
After the app is developed; the tech partner will charge for the total hours required to develop the app. If your budget is tight, you could consider offering that person a stake in the business, i.e., a percentage ownership.
Start your business
Once your app is developed, you can start your own business. You will need to launch an effective marketing campaign. You might have the best coaching app in the world, but if nobody knows about it, the whole venture will soon flop.
During the first few days or weeks, there may be some teething problems. Make sure that both you and your tech partner are available to deal with problems or faults as soon as they emerge.
Hopefully, after reading this article, you are now in a better position to know what to do when you set about launching your new e-learning business.
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Interesting related article: “What is e-learning?“