Key Takeaways:

• The Pandemic Gold Rush is Over, But Courses Aren't Dead - The era of slapping together content and waiting for passive income has ended. We're back to normal territory where quality and strategy matter, but courses themselves remain a viable business model.

• Ditch the Bloat - More Content Isn't Better - Stop trying to prove your worth through volume. People want results, not 400 videos to get from point A to point B. Focus on giving them exactly what they need to achieve their goal, nothing more.
  
  

• Design for Completion, Not Just Access - Most people don't finish the courses they buy. Use drip content, accountability check-ins, and personal touchpoints to guide people through to completion. This is where you differentiate yourself from AI tools.
  
  

• Lead with Assets, Not Just Information - In an age where AI provides endless information, offer what robots can't: interactive tools, personalized guidance, meal plans, journal prompts, and curated resources that help people reach their goals faster.
  
  

• Create an Experience Worth Talking About - Make entering your course feel like walking into a beautiful space. Use quality platforms, add surprise elements, and consider physical gifts for higher-ticket offerings. When you delight people, they become your best marketers.
  
  

• Bonus: The Real Problem is Usually Marketing, Not Your Course - If your course isn't selling, it's probably not about the course content. Focus on visibility and reaching new people who don't already know you - that's where 85% of your success work needs to happen.

Are Online Courses Dead?

We keep seeing it everywhere. The headlines, the hot takes, the industry chatter: "Courses don't work anymore." "You've got to pivot in 2025." "The course model is broken."

As co-founders of a platform built entirely around online courses and coaching, we'd be lying if we said this narrative didn't catch our attention. But here's what we've learned after years of watching creators succeed (and struggle) in this space: courses aren't dead. Not even close.

What died was the lazy approach to course creation that flourished during the pandemic gold rush. And honestly? Good riddance.

The Post-Pandemic Reality Check

Let's be real about what happened. There was this wild period where you could slap together a multi-module course, throw up a sales page, and wait for the passive income to roll in. People were hungry for online learning, everyone was stuck at home, and the bar was surprisingly low.

That era is over. We're back to normal territory now, where actual rules apply. The same rules that existed before the pandemic, by the way. We just had a brief intermission where they didn't seem to matter as much.

Here's the truth: everything everyone has ever wanted to learn is available online. That's been a fact for years, and it's even more true now with AI tools making information easier to find and synthesize. So what sets you apart as an expert isn't just what you know, it's how you package that knowledge, your unique perspective, your lifetime of experience, and most importantly, your ability to guide someone to actual results.

We've been telling our coaching clients this for years: you are the differentiating factor. Your synthesis, your personalized advice, your human brain giving people accurate information in an era where AI tools (let's be honest) sometimes make stuff up. When accuracy matters because someone could get hurt, lose money, or face legal problems, your expertise becomes incredibly valuable.

The Five New Rules for Course Success

So if courses aren't dead, what needs to change? We've identified five key shifts that separate successful course creators from those struggling to make sales.

Rule 1: Ditch the Bloat

More is not better. We cannot say this enough times.

The result is what people want. The outcome is what people want. The lesson learned is what people want. Giving them 400 videos to get from point A to point B is actually hurting them, not helping them.

We see this mindset constantly, especially among women creators: "I'm going to give them more to prove I'm worthy to teach them." So you over-give, over-teach, and create confusion. Don't teach everything you know. Don't try to prove your worth through volume.

Think of it this way: pretend you're teaching at a university where students pay serious money for every course. Every lesson on that syllabus matters because you're asking people to invest their time, which is honestly more valuable than their money. Don't waste it.

We saw a perfect example of this recently in a fitness article. Someone was getting overwhelmed by the vast number of online fitness classes available and figured out what actually worked: picking just five classes and doing them every single week. Not a different class every day, not trying every option available. Five classes, repeated weekly, and they finally started seeing real fitness results.

Your body was actually learning because it was exercising the same muscles consistently. The mental fatigue of choosing what to do each day disappeared. That's the power of focused, intentional course design.

Rule 2: Design for Completion, Not Just Access

The statistics on online course completion rates are pretty terrible. Most people who buy something don't finish it. So how do you change that?

This could look like dripping out content so people can't get overwhelmed. It could mean having a very small collection of lessons. It could involve accountability check-ins where you're actually reaching out to ask for progress reports or checking in on social media.

This is where you can really differentiate yourself from AI. Sure, AI can do automated check-ins, but that feels pretty lame. When you have a real coach or teacher reaching out personally, asking for a voice message update or a DM about progress, that's completely different. People will pay for that because that's exactly why people hire coaches: accountability.

Think about it like working out with a trainer. You could technically do those same exercises by yourself, but you won't. You pay someone to make sure you show up and do the work. Even if you don't consider yourself a coach, when people pay for your expertise, you're kind of coaching them toward their goals.

Rule 3: Make It Feel Personal

This goes beyond just using someone's name in an email. We're talking about creating choose-your-own-adventure paths based on someone's fitness level, goals, or experience. You could give people specific trajectories through your program, and this doesn't have to be automated. A manual onboarding process where you personally assign someone their path through your course is an incredibly valuable touch.

Consider adding live interactive components: office hours, Q&A calls, group messaging through platforms like Voxer or Slack. There are so many tools available now to create genuine connection with your students.

The key is making people feel seen and supported throughout their journey, not just at the point of purchase.

Rule 4: Lead with Assets, Not Just Information

This represents a bit of a shift from what we've historically advised. We used to say nobody cares if it's audio or video or how many modules you have. They care about the outcome. That's still true, but we've noticed something important.

We live in an era of incredibly short attention spans. Once you've shared enough information to pass the legitimacy test (where people perceive you as an expert), don't overwhelm them with more facts about yourself. Focus on what you're going to do for them and how you'll get them there.

Think about actionable tools: libraries, meal planning sheets, audio lessons, meditations, breathwork sessions, journal prompts, recipes with shopping lists, pre-class rituals. These assets help people reach their goals faster and easier.

People can go to ChatGPT or other AI tools for endless streams of information on any topic. As a creator, you need to do things that AI tools cannot do, or cannot do easily. Interactive journal prompts, personalized guidance, curated resources, these are things that set you apart from what people can get for free online.

Rule 5: Create an Experience, Not Just a Course

Here's where we get passionate: don't use a terrible course platform.

We recently bought a course from a creator with a beautiful aesthetic and gorgeous free content. Then we entered her course platform and it was absolutely awful. Clunky, ugly, confusing. The disconnect between her brand and her course experience was jarring.

Make the experience of entering your online space feel like walking into your actual home, studio, or business. It should be inviting and gorgeous. You should have rituals or an entryway experience that makes people think, "Wow, I just stepped into the right place."

This is where you infuse your vibe, personality, and philosophy. People are buying the energy of you and your teaching, not just seven modules of content. Think about opening ceremonies, surprise elements, beautiful automated emails with guided meditations they weren't expecting.

If you delight someone with your product, they'll tell their friends about it. We're constantly sharing cool experiences with each other because humans love to talk about things that surprise them in positive ways. That word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly valuable for your business.

Consider physical gifts for higher-ticket offerings. We've had coaches send us books, knives with our names engraved, flowers, journals, candles, workout gear. It's a lot of work, but the impact is significant. For smaller offerings, focus on digital surprises: personalized messages, unexpected bonuses, or special access to additional content.

The Missing Piece: Quality and Marketing

Here's the summary of everything: you can't be successful selling garbage. If you're really good at what you do, you can get away with a lot and still succeed. If you're mediocre at what you do, the current online landscape makes success a very heavy lift.

If you're not finding the success you're looking for, it's worth doing some soul searching. Where can you improve? What advanced training can you pursue? How can you change the way you talk about your expertise to make it more relevant to people?

But here's the thing: if you're not selling your course, it's probably not about the course itself. It's about your marketing. It's about your visibility. It's about how you're showing up to your audience before they buy.

Making the changes we've discussed is probably 15% of the work. The other 85% is getting really good at marketing and selling your course. That means translating all these improvements into your sales page, your email sequences, and your social media content.

A lot of the chatter focuses on courses being the problem, but the real question is: how do people know about your course? That's usually where the breakdown happens. We see creators who are brilliant at their craft but haven't figured out how to talk about their work compellingly enough to reach new people who don't already know them.

This is especially true if you took your existing real-life clients online during the pandemic and they've already bought what you're offering. Now it's about finding new people, and that requires figuring out your path for online visibility. Are you meant to have a YouTube channel? Should you be writing on Substack? Do you need a podcast? Are you supposed to be an influencer on TikTok?

The answer depends on your personality, your audience, and your expertise. But you've got to figure out what works for you because that's how you'll reach people who don't know you exist yet.

Moving Forward

So are online courses dead? Absolutely not. But the era of low-effort course creation is over, and that's actually great news for creators who are willing to do the work.

Focus on creating something genuinely valuable, design it for completion, make it personal, lead with useful assets, and craft it as an experience worth talking about. Then get really good at marketing it to people who need what you're offering.

The creators who embrace these principles and commit to improving both their craft and their marketing will continue to thrive in the online education space. The ones clinging to 2020's playbook? They might want to start listening to what their audience actually needs in 2025.

Jeni Barcelos and Sandy Connery are the co-founders of Marvelous, the platform helping wellness creators build and grow profitable online businesses. Together, they host the Wellness Creator Podcast and bring decades of experience in tech, wellness, and entrepreneurship to everything they teach and create.

RESOURCES:
Marvelous Software Platform
Well Well Well Marketplace