Covid 19 plunged us all into a new reality. Society had to adapt to it, developing and improving new solutions in numerous areas. Online education was one of the fields that experienced all the changes most strikingly back then.  

You thought online learning was cool in 2019? Well, fasten your virtual seatbelt! In 2023, technology is going to be rocketing you even further toward a new era of education. Today, new technologies accelerate the growth of e-learning – from apps and AR/VR technology to AI and machine learning!

So, if you’ve got dreams of becoming a modern e-learning business founder, get ready for takeoff: the future of learning is coming faster than you think!

Relevance and Prospects of E-Learning Business in 2023

Many believe that the online learning niche is already crowded with big names like Udemy or Teachable. But that’s a huge misconception. Millions of users are still searching for a solution that’s best for them. 

In the post-pandemic market, online learning products continue to smash records in popularity. According to ProsperityForAmerica, 73% of students in the U.S. want to continue online learning after the pandemic is over, and the E-learning market is forecasted to grow at a 20% CAGR from 2022 to 2028. 

But e-learning solutions aren’t just of interest to high school and college students. About 90% of businesses offer their employees to take advantage of e-learning solutions. Some companies even use online learning platforms to enhance Customer Education and customer loyalty. So, people can pump up their skills and theoretical knowledge, seamlessly combining it with their work schedule. 

Here are the reasons why the e-learning business is an unbeatable boon in 2023:

• You don’t have to limit your business to the tight confines of one city or even country. Your solution can deliver value and knowledge all over the world; 
• You can hire top experts from any corner of the world where internet coverage is available; 
• You can offer different learning formats and a flexible schedule of lectures instead of attending boring and stuffy classes offline. 

Apparently, the slogan of any online education business is “learning without boundaries”. 

Moreover, nowadays, the online learning process is becoming more and more streamlined, as AI can take care of all the little things that used to take up a lot of time (and energy). 

So, by starting an e-learning business in 2023, you can grant your customers the possibility to learn what they want, when they want, and where they want (even while lying in their bed at home or on a beach lounger in Bali). 

Operating Models for the E-Learning Business

Of course, online education businesses are not created by copy. Nevertheless, it is still feasible to outline the main biz models that encompass almost the whole bundle of the industry. 

Evening School Model

What could be better than balancing education and your core occupation? Evening School is an immensely popular business model that enables your students to stay quite flexible.  

Classes on a particular topic are held in the evening and can easily be combined with college classes or even a full-time job. This is especially a good option for an English learning center because for people who work a full-time job will find this convenient. Students pay a one-time fee for a course in a certain subject and attend online classes on designated days of the week. 

What’s more, this model is highly personalized because, during online lectures, an expert can answer all of the acute questions in real-time. 

Often, businesses also offer video recordings of lectures for viewing at any convenient time, making this model ultra-satisfying for everyone. 

Academy Model 

Imagine that you’ve compiled a variety of topical courses, video lectures, articles, online tutorials, and other educational products on one platform and want to provide your customers with access to all of the ready-made content. The Academy model is a great fit in this case. 

Students pay for monthly/yearly access to all content and can study at their convenience while being automatically assessed on the site/app. 

This model may seem the least tailored, but it is surely not the least popular. 

“All Inclusive” Model

This option is the most encompassing and highly cost-effective because it combines the two models described above. 

In fact, this way, you can offer your clients everything at once:

• Ready-made courses available via subscription;
• Evening classes;
• Maximum comfort and flexibility. 

Also, your platform/app can offer clients niche courses (for example, only IT-related ones) or, conversely, a multitude of different destinations from master classes on creating scented soy candles to advanced-level SEO courses. Java application development services can be used to develop high-quality e-learning platforms that cater to specific niches while also delivering a highly personalized learning experience to students.

How to Create an Educational Program 

Essentially, there are two basic approaches to creating an online training course: independently or with the assistance of a course design team. 

Creating a Course Independently

If you are a niche expert by now and want to impart your insights, you can probably resort to the first option and design courses for your niche on your own. However, this will require a wealth of knowledge beyond expert skills: 

• Teaching techniques; 
• Curriculum creation; 
• Knowledge assessment methods. 

But this way, you are hardly able to scale your business fast since creating top-quality training content, organizing online lectures, and other related activities consume a woefully inordinate amount of time. 

However, it’s a fine way for online educators who want to take their first steps toward expanding their reach. 

Contacting the Course Design Team 

One thing not everyone knows is that there are entire teams of experts in course design. An experienced team can help create and promote educational programs. For a large business (or a business that intends to become one in the future), a team of such experts is simply indispensable. 

Course designers can either create a training program from scratch for a given topic and make it recognizable and popular or successfully package a course created by one of your platform’s lecturers. 

How to Build an E-Learning Business in 2023? 

To build an e-learning business, you only need to follow 5 steps. But don’t be deluded by this fact because the path will not be quick and unhindered. 

But before moving into action, you will need to determine the technical backbone of your business. Here are the routes available to you: 

• Creating a business from scratch. You build your website or an app, fill it with content, and promote it in search engine rankings and social media. It sounds effortless, but it turns out to be an incredibly high-level task;
• Building a business based on an LMS. A learning management system is an established platform on which you can host courses and training materials. This way, you can save money and time at the beginning of your business journey. 
• Using business process automation or BPA reduces the need for manual intervention and increases overall efficiency. It also creates personalized learning experiences and enables the business to scale effortlessly by automating various aspects of operations and analyzing large volumes of data helping the e-learning business to gain valuable insights.

5 Steps to a Successful E-Learning Business 

Once you’ve decided on the technical background, we suggest you move on to the 5 steps that come after that. 

Step 1: Target Audience 

Every new business should start with the questions “Who is my target audience?” and “What are they looking for?” If you know the exact answers to these questions, your business has no chance other than to be successful. 

Understanding the needs and pain points of your target audience will also help you tailor your content to their needs.

In the aftermath, you’ll need to keep in touch with your customers to discover ways to give them an even better user experience. Yes, simply and soullessly dropping educational programs onto your site and expecting miracles and recognition to happen isn’t an option. 

Step 2: Decide on a Business Model

Once you have identified your target audience and their pain points, you can choose one of the business models outlined above: 

• Evening School Model;
• Academy Model;
• All-Inclusive model;
• Another custom model. 

Step 3: The Tech Part

Now, it’s time to choose an open-source LMS or turn to developers to create a website or application to host your courses. 

There is a huge diversity of offers at different prices and different functionality available to you. Study reviews about LMS or website development companies and be sure to contact them directly to check the cost of services.

Step 4: Determine the Price 

In order to set your company’s pricing policy, you’ll have to thoroughly research the market and your competitor’s offerings. In this market, it pays to find the golden mean: don’t charge customers cosmic amounts (this will repel them), and don’t dump competitors’ prices excessively. 

Step 5: Promote Your Business 

Registering a business and creating courses will prove to be much easier in practice than making them recognizable and marketable. In this highly competitive market, you’ll probably need to tap into the full arsenal of promotional methods: 

• Targeted advertising on social networks; 
• SEO promotion; 
• Email marketing
• Electronic Business Cards and others.

To maximize the success of your e-learning business, it is crucial to promote it effectively. That’s where a digital marketing agency can come in handy. They can help you develop a strong online presence, create engaging content, run targeted advertising campaigns, and monitor your performance to ensure that your business is reaching its full potential. With the right digital marketing strategy in place, you can attract more students, increase engagement, and grow your business.

How to Calculate the Profitability of an E-Learning Business 

Here’s a simple fact: Every business should make a profit. But how do you figure out if your efforts are paying off? We offer two options you can rely on: 

1. The standard ROI calculation. To do this, you need to divide the amount you invested in creating the course by the profits generated from that. That way, you will get a net ROI. If you multiply that number by 100, you can calculate this figure for each course to determine their success; 
2. Calculate ROI using the 4-step Donald Kirkpatrick model. We find this method to be the best for a given type of business. That’s because it takes into account more factors when calculating. With it, you can assess not only the ROI but also the value of the course to the students. 

Conclusion

So, there you have it: online learning in 2023. It is everything we ever hoped for and more! As we say goodbye to the norms of traditional education systems, the future of online learning looks brighter than ever before.

Technology is evolving every day, and online learners can take advantage of virtual reality, augmented reality, and advanced speech recognition technology to enhance their proficiency.  The benefits of augmented reality in education are vast, as it allows students to experience immersive learning environments, visualize complex concepts, and engage in interactive simulations

The mission of entrepreneurs in this field is to provide students with the possibility to study conveniently, innovatively, and from anywhere in the world.