The advent of Udemy cannot be better explained than its CEO Eren Bali, – ‘To make quality education accessible to all.’
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It was this aim that has made an online learning marketplace like Udemy one of the popular names in the industry. Today, it has over 40 million subscribers, 157,000 courses, and more than 70,000 instructors teaching in more than 80 languages. No wonder why some of the Fortune 100 companies like Apple, Unicef, Samsung, PayPal, and Unilever trust Udemy for employee upskilling.
Now, the worldwide phenomenon of people inclining towards this innovative learning medium has resulted in a gigantic eLearning industry. The market size of the industry stood at $253.3 billion in 2021. Interestingly, this is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.9% to $521.8 billion during 2022-2027.
These are some real motivating numbers for entrepreneurs looking to profit from this flourishing industry using an Udemy clone app.
If you are one of those entrepreneurs looking to establish a brand in this industry, you are at the right place!
This blog offers a thorough insight on how an online education marketplace works – business & revenue model, key features, app development costs, and its essential aspects.
Here’s an interesting fact: In the US, 30% of higher education students take at least one distance course. And, it makes sense considering it’s a great way to sharpen their existing skills or even to learn a new skill.
Let’s take a look at why it’s trending and growing at an exponential rate.
The fact that both students and tutors can learn at their own pace makes it more convenient than traditional learning. Learning a new skill sometimes makes people give up something. However, eLearning makes it easier for anyone willing to learn at their own pace. This pursuit of professional exploration also helps them to improve their time management skills.
The Internet plays a pivotal role in online learning as it offers a wide range of courses that are easily accessible online. Students can learn from some of the renowned universities that offer online programs in various disciplines. And, the best part of this learning medium is that they get official certificates after their course.
Continuing on the last point, just take a moment and imagine getting an official degree or diploma certificate without even setting your foot in college.
All you need is an internet connection, a working system, and access to the opted course. You are all set to attend a virtual classroom at your convenience.
Now, it’s not just the class scheduling convenience that online teaching provides a student with but it also considers their grasping ability. For instance, online learning platforms don’t only do group classes but also take 1-1 session wherein a tutor only interacts with one student at a time for better interaction and understanding.
In addition, many online platforms also offer photos, videos, and eBooks for a better learning experience for students.
As students are not physically going to college, there are no college maintenance charges in their course fee structure. Moreover, students don’t need to commute from one place to another or follow a strict schedule. This extra charge is not a part of the online learning fee structure.
What stands out Udemy from its competitors is the convenience it provides to the students. The students get the liberty to study from a variety of online courses from experts all over the world in different languages at an affordable price.
Now, this online learning giant operates on a marketplace model. It doesn’t own the products or services from different sellers. Instead, it efficiently organizes them and makes them available on the website. So, the prices are determined by the instructors (the owner of an online course), while Udemy only takes commissions for providing a website to the sellers.
The revenue generated from the platform is divided between Udemy and the instructors based on where it is coming from. Here’s how Udemy makes revenue from the platform.
The process to build an app like Udemy may seem like a lot to do. However, it can be done efficiently if you plan each step thoroughly.
Here are the eleven steps for developing an online learning app.
Planning the dynamics of an app like Udemy is essential. You must have a detailed plan that answers all the important questions. Here are some simple yet go-to questions to ask.
As you might already know, eLearning platforms are on the rise with a gradual influx of different competitors. Instead of getting demotivated by the fact that people have multiple options to select from, you can explore the market strategies to stay ahead of your competition.
Here are some quick questions that will help you understand the online learning marketplace.
Identifying your target audience is not only about developing an app for business, but it is also about giving them a better service as an alternative like Udemy. Here are some questions you should ask yourself to make your services better.
A well-thought monetization plan is a good way to start an online learning and teaching business. Here are some popular monetization techniques adopted by some of the industry giants.
Charge a commission for providing an official certificate at the end of a course.
This allows students to access the classes, course materials, and eBooks on a subscription basis.
Another easy way to boost revenue is by making users upgrade to premium accounts to get the most benefit. In addition, you can offer three versions of such plans, i.e., basic, standard, and advanced with different pricing models.
In 2021, SME organizations accounted for over 40% of the revenue from corporate eLearning. This has become a norm used by many multinational businesses to upskill their employees. Udemy and Coursera are two of the leading players famous for availing such practices.
Shortlist all the things you need before the app design and development start on a full scale. Not only this will save you a ton of time but will also give clarity to the whole process.
Once done with the prerequisites for an eLearning marketplace like Udemy, start working on the visual aspects of your application. It also includes the UX/UI design of the application.
A prototype app is a great start to eLearning app development. Moreover, it gives you an insight into the look and feel of the final product. It includes rapid testing of the prototype with real users. Further, the developers use their feedback to improve the application.
One of the positives of building a prototype is that it’s economical and doesn’t require a lot of coding in comparison to creating a final product.
Whether you create a website like Udemy or a mobile application, testing is an important part of quality assurance. Moreover, it helps to improve the quality and performance of the system to check whether it’s working on both iOS and Android devices.
Before launching an Udemy clone app, a lot of testing, correcting loopholes, and debugging go into improving the final product.
App optimization is an effective way to rank among other competitors. You should optimize your app’s SEO using keywords, backlinks, title tags, etcetera. In addition, customer reviews and the number of downloads also help in improving app SEO.
An organic search may not be easy when first launching an online education app. Blogging, video content creation, social media marketing, and answering quora threads are some go-to marketing strategies to promote your app.
A feature-rich app is more likely to cover all aspects to build an Udemy clone app. It makes all the difference in whether a user finds your online education helpful app or not. Besides, considering the competition in the eLearning field, it’s better to incorporate as many useful features as possible.
Here are some must-have features to include in an Udemy clone app.
Users should be able to sign-up on your eLearning app. For instance, the whole process to select whether they’re a tutor or a student should be short, precise, and hassle-free.
In addition, you must avail all the management tools to users that allow them to manage their profiles more efficiently.
No matter how diverse the range of courses offered on the platform, it should never be confusing for a student. It would be great if you offer an easy search & filtering option that allows them to get the desired results easily.
Course management tools make it easy for users to create, edit, purchase, and use courses. So, an instructor should be able to build, update, attach files, and track data, so that a learner can give feedback, and update work statuses, among other necessary tasks.
A push notification system keeps the users updated on the latest happening on the app. It includes offers on their past searched courses, upcoming courses, other latest updates, et cetera.
A dashboard panel allows the owner of the app to easily manage users, content, notifications, and analyze data & reports, among other things.
This helps in analyzing the overall performance of the eLearning app and thus, improves the way you offer services. Moreover, you will be able to better understand how users are interacting with the platform.
Offering services in multiple languages is beneficial if you are looking to run a localized eLearning platform.
As mentioned earlier, Internet has been a driving factor in creating a worldwide phenomenon of online teaching. However, its absence also affects the user experience. To avoid such a scenario, availing of making course material downloadable works well.
To provide the learners with the best online courses, highlight the list of popular instructors, their expertise, and Udemy courses they can browse or access on the platform.
This feature works best in solving users’ queries regarding the courses or services offered on the app.
Code Brew offers top-notch web development and design services, with a proven track record of building 150+ learning and educational mobility solutions.
Our expert development team at Code Brew has not only worked on learning platforms but has successfully created apps for various industries. It includes eCommerce, education, healthcare, real estate, and more. Check out our portfolio here. It will help you walks through our app-building expertise and industry knowledge.
Here’s all we provide to our clients.
Our tech suite services come with three essential components – student, instructor, and admin panel.
The student panel allows all the learners to select their desired online course(s). They can also check tutors’ reviews and feedback from other students. The process makes it easier for the students to filter tutors that better serve their interests and also helps them connect to them remotely.
An instructor or a tutor panel helps efficiently communicate and provide the best learning resources to the students. This also helps tutors to keep track of students’ progress like daily tasks & assignments and drive better results for them.
An admin panel is for the owner of the application. If you are an entrepreneur looking to start an eLearning business, an admin panel gives you access to analyze the application’s overall performance efficiently. It also allows you to make necessary amendments whenever required to help you boost ROI.
Now, our expert app development services go beyond our advanced tech stack.
Here’s what else we provide as part of our feature-loaded tutoring marketplace with our online education app development services.
This makes the communication between tutors and students more intuitive and transparent. If needed, tutors can stream live classrooms on the app for an engaging learning experience.
Apart from sharing tasks and assignments, tutors can utilize the option to create a forum or a discussion thread. This helps them to connect students with the same interests, answer queries, and have open discussions.
Students and tutors can upload documents, PDF files, and presentations on the application. So, let’s say, when a tutor adds a new lecture on the app, the other person gets a notification.
This feature allows tutors to create & maintain their profile, add certifications, and showcase their expertise in a particular subject. In return, this helps students to select a tutor and their courses.
It helps tutors to set their tuition fees and get instant payments. Further, tutors can make a proper channel of fee management by setting their tuition fees and start getting instant payments.
As part of all the essential features to have in an Udemy clone application, advanced analytics work wonders to fetch real-time data reports on application performance. The data helps you to stay ahead of industry competitors and helps to gradually grow your business.
The total cost of building an eLearning app depends on several factors. From the complexity of the app, features, and tech stack to development time, and the location of developers. Well, the list is long.
Speaking of the location, the hourly rate in the US ranges between $100 – $150. While in the UK, the same development cost falls in the range of $80 – $100, and it costs around $50 – $120 per hour in the UAE.
Note: These are only tentative pricing for the mentioned regions. The pricing may vary depending on the reputation or expertise of the development team you hire. Here’s what the pricing overview looks like.
The above pricing model is US-based with an average app development rate of $100 per hour.
In a nutshell, the demand for online education has dramatically increased over the years as we have discussed in the article. For business prospects and entrepreneurs who are seeking core insights to build an app like Udemy, the set of tactics and strategies mentioned above plays an imperative part to make things go right.
There’s no denying the way online education is revolutionizing the way people are learning new skills at the convenience of their homes.
The eLearning industry looks ever-promising for any business entrepreneur looking to start a similar endeavor.
To succeed in a highly competitive industry like online education, you will need an expert app development team – like Code Brew! We have an intuitive team of veterans who have years of experience building apps and designing.
Contact us to kickstart your eLearning business today!
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