How to create an email course using ConvertKit

If you’re providing your clients with products and services, either physical or digital, then chances are you have a lot of really great content that you could share via an email course.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through the process of designing, creating, and launching your first email course so that you can have yours ‘live’ within the next few days (yes, it really can be done that quickly!).

I’ll show you how you can produce something that’s really great and can all be done without the need for an LMS (Learning Management System) like Thinkific or Teachable.?

Don’t get me wrong, these LMS platforms are great, but sometimes we just want the convenience of being able to put something out there that sits within our email marketing space and no need for complex or expensive solutions.

Step #1 of 8:?Designing your email course

Start by figuring out what the course outcome will be – for the example that I’m using in this article, it’s to show solopreneurs how to get started with email marketing in their business.

Based on the desired outcome, I now know the areas of content that I’ll want to focus on during the training; here is a list of things that I need to consider;

• How I’m going to map out the course content.
• Type of content I want to share with my students.
• Media requirements (e.g. written, videos, images, audio etc.) for the content.
• The email drip-feed schedule, including days to include/exclude; e.g. daily for 7 days, or weekly, every Friday at 7am.
• The follow-on steps for students who complete the course.

These bullet points give a framework for what the content will include, making the subsequent steps in the process easier.

Step #2 of 8:?Course modules and lessons

Depending on the size of your email course, you may decide that you want to structure your course with modules and lessons within each module; for my example?(which is a short 7-day course)?I’ll just be using lessons without modules?(I do use modules for my longer courses).

However, if I did want to use modules, I’d design it something like this;

• Module 1 – Email Marketing Basics
• Lesson #1
• Lesson #2
• Lesson #3
• Module 2 – Email Marketing Software
• Lesson #1
• Lesson #2
• …etc.

With this structure, you could have as many modules + lessons as you need, making it flexible enough to work for any course type.

?

Okay, so now I’ll list out the lessons that I’ll have in my very basic 7-day course example;

Lesson #1:?Email marketing fundamentals

Lesson #2:?Attracting leads to your email list

Lesson #3:?Managing your subscribers using segmentation and tags

Lesson #4:?Using opt-in forms and landing pages

Lesson #5:?Email broadcasts and sequences

Lesson #6:?Email marketing automation

Lesson #7:?Selling products via your email marketing platform

These modules/lessons bullet-points give me enough information at the moment, and I’d be using them as placeholders for what I’m going to teach in each lesson.

Depending on the type of course you’re creating, you may also want to include lesson assignments (or actions) that your students should complete before moving on to the next lesson.?

Step #3 of 8:?Decide on how you want to package up your course

The reason I like to wait until I’ve done the modules and lesson mapping is because sometimes I end up including content that I may have not anticipated and then change my mind about what to call it.

When it comes to naming your course, you’re limited only by your imagination. Personally, I prefer the simple approach over anything confusingly clever, so mine will be called “7-Day Crash Course on Email Marketing“, with a sub-title of “Everything you need to get your email marketing system set up.”.

Sub-titles are optional but I feel that they can add a bit more clarity around what the course will do for the student.

My course will be written using the same look and feel that I use here, on my website content, including in this blog post. I like to be quite informal and use the bitmoji characters to keep the mood light. I’ll also maintain the brand colours of the blue/pink contrast as it helps to remind people of the Proven Flows brand.

Now that I have my title, sub-title, and ‘look and feel’ decided, I can now start to create the marketing materials using tools like Canva and Artboard, both of which I use to create my graphics. Below is an example of one that I’ve created for this email course;

Step #4 of 8:?Write the content for your modules and lessons

Now it’s time to start creating the actual course content. This is where you now begin to create one email per lesson. If you’re using the module/lesson structure, then you should sign-post your students as to which module/lesson they’re currently reading.

The video below shows how to create your email course, using a ‘sequence’ inside ConvertKit – in ConvertKit’s terminology, a ‘sequence’ is just a series of emails that are sent out, one after the other, based on a predefined schedule, e.g. one email per day, every day, for 7 days.

Step #5 of 8:?Build your email sequence and schedule in ConvertKit

Once you’ve written all your course content and split it into logical modules and lessons, then it’s time to make sure the sequence is correct (i.e. all being sent in the right order) and set the schedule for when you want each lesson to be sent to your subscribers.

In this next video, I’ll walk you through the process of creating your course lessons (using a sequence), creating your opt-in form (to embed on your website) or landing page (that ConvertKit hosts for you), and setting up the automation that makes it all work without you having to do anything when a subscriber signs up to your course.

If you want to reorder any of your lessons, it’s very simple to do using ConvertKit; just click on the handle of the lesson (i.e. the email) that you want to move and drag it to where you want it to be (as shown below);

Step #6 of 8:?Build your onboarding and delivery plan

When subscribers sign up for your email course you’ll want to have it automated so that they receive everything they need, without the need for you to do anything. Typically, you’ll want to have a welcome email that also signposts them with regards to what they can expect from you.

The way that I normally design mine is as follows;

• Write a welcome email that explains what to expect. Depending on the course, I may also include a downloadable accompanying course handbook (I configure ConvertKit to do this for me).
• Deliver the first email in your sequence (i.e .your email course)
• Continue to drip feed all lessons, as per your schedule.
• After the final lesson has been delivered (normally the day after), send a wrap-up email summarising what they just completed. As part of this email, I normally look for feedback, both on the course, but also on what they would like to progress onto next. If they respond, their answers will determine what I email to them next.
• I always make sure I have another sequence that I can place them into when they’ve completed the course, one that will add even more value to them and their business.

You should always strive to make your students feel welcome and that they’ve made a smart decision by joining your course.

It’s good practice to tell them what they’ll get from completing the course, and let them know that you are there if they need support (support can come in many forms, including help articles, private messaging groups, memberships, calls etc.)?

Step #7 of 8:?Build your process automation inside ConvertKit

One of the main benefits of any email marketing platform, ConvertKit included, is the ability to automate tasks, based both on preferences and subscriber behaviour. When you create your email course you should take advantage of the automation features to optimise the experience for your subscribers.

?Here are some of the things that I like to automate in my email marketing platform;

• Onboarding your subscribers and have them confirm their email addresses.
• Welcoming your subscribers to the course.
• The drip-fed delivery of your course.
• The ability to make dynamic decisions based on subscriber preference; e.g. a link saying “click here if you want more info” could automatically move them onto an additional sequence.
• Make artefacts available at relevant points that subscribers (students) can access if they wish; e.g. a video explainer, a downloadable PDF, book a call with you, a form to complete etc.
• You can add in delays to your schedule based on subscriber interactions, e.g. “if you want more time to complete this assignment, click here to delay by 3 days”.
• You can design conditional automated paths for subscribers to take, depending on their behaviour; e.g. you could configure it to say.. .”if the subscriber does this thing, move them to this step of the sequence, otherwise move them to this other step here”.
• You can add subscriber tags based on their behaviour, e.g. if they watch a particular video, or click on a link, you can add a tag to their profile, meaning you have useful information for future marketing or email communication.

Really, there are an almost infinite number of things you can do with automation, and your level of creativity will determine how much you can (or want to) automate. The list above is just to give you some thoughts that will hopefully trigger ideas in your head, which you can go on to implement in your own email marketing system.

Step #8 of 8:?Design and plan?your course marketing strategy

Arguably the most important part of your email course – telling people that it exists! You can have the best course ever, but if nobody knows about then you’ve wasted your time creating it. So you need to be strategic about how you’ll market it, and to whom.

From the outset?(as I mentioned way back in step #1)?you need to be clear about what the intended outcome is for your students, and equally importantly, you need to be clear about WHO the course will help.

For example, in my free email course, the outcome is that solopreneurs will learn what they need to know in order to set up ConvertKit as their email marketing platform. So, stating the obvious, I’m only targeting solopreneurs, and as best as I can, only targeting those who aren’t already using email marketing in their business (or at least not doing it effectively).

Once I know these things, I need to figure out where my target subscribers hang out and create a campaign for promoting it to them there. Personally, most of my subscribers (and clients) come from LinkedIn; it’s my preferred platform for social interactions (much less small talk / fewer useless convos going on than on other platforms) and so I’ll spend my marketing time there.

On LinkedIn, I’ll normally add a new section in my ‘Featured’ section where passers-by have more chances of seeing it. I also add something to my profile about the course, and I may even create a new profile banner that helps promote the course too.?

Below is an example of my LinkedIn banner that promotes my free email course. ??

In addition to these steps, I'll normally create a post that specifically promotes the offer, although not in a salesy way - I just let people know it's there, just in case it's something they believe they'll get value from.

Bonus Step:?Seamlessly flow your students onto the next logical step in their journey

Once your entire sequence has been delivered (i.e the course has been completed) it’s good practice to send a summary email, recapping what the student has learned, how to best use their new information, and what their next steps are (people like to be led).

Depending on your particular subscriber profile, and what you have available for them, you should make sure you are continuing to add value, meaning they’ll be much more likely to grow their relationship with you.

It’s also perfectly valid to offer them something to buy from you, now that they’ve experienced the value that you can provide to them, and especially since it was free*.

When planning on what to offer them next, think about what would either provide even more value on the subject covered in your email course or give them something else that complements the course content; e.g. if your email course was showing them how to build their own website, then a follow-on subject could be SEO (search engine optimisation).

*It’s perfectly valid to create a ‘paid-for’ email course, it doesn’t have to be a free giveaway. If you do want to charge for your course, you can add automation to your sequence, meaning that students would need to purchase a ‘Product’ from your email platform in order to trigger the subscriber being added to the sequence.

If you want to learn how to create ‘Products’ that you can sell via ConvertKit,?check out this article?that explains it for you.???

If you want to get started with your email marketing, get access to my free course.

The 7-day Crash Course on Email Marketing. ??

This article was first published on the?Proven Flows?website.

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