Industry
Online Courses
They do not quit because of the content. They quit because nobody holds them.
An online course does not earn on the sale, it earns on completion: whoever finishes recommends, rebuys, stays. The numbers are clear - and most platforms earn off you, not with you. Here are the levers, and what we build for them.
Calculator
How many actually finish the course · Completion rate
Same numbers, your business: pull the levers and watch what moves.
Completion rate
Margin / viability
Hebel
Simplified calculation: only the leverage effect of support, reach and positioning. Platform fees, production, advertising and your own time are not included - the figure shows the leverage, not the full viability of your programme.
Completion rate
Margin / viability
Simplified calculation: only the leverage effect of support, reach and positioning. Platform fees, production, advertising and your own time are not included - the figure shows the leverage, not the full viability of your programme.
Where the margin goes
Share of buyers who finish the course - the industry average sits in the low single digits. Whoever completes recommends and rebuys; whoever quits asks for a refund.
Guided courses are finished up to five times more often.
Around 10 % of buyers finish a self-paced course. Close guidance - cohorts, feedback, fixed dates - lifts that in the model by +45 pp, to 5.5 times. Support costs time - but it is the lever that turns buyers into referrers.
Source: Teachable Cohort Completion Data; learningrevolution Course Benchmarks
A warm list sells what cold advertising cannot reach.
Whoever already knows you is more likely to finish - in the model, familiarity moves the completion rate by up to 10 pp in either direction. The list is yours only if it lives on your platform, not with the provider.
Source: learningrevolution Course Revenue Data; Online Course Conversion Benchmarks 2026
The platform earns off you. Every month.
The base margin in the model is 35 % - before platform subscription and revenue share. Kajabi, Teachable or elopage take both. Your own platform is a one-off investment, then hosting and the Stripe fee.
Source: learningrevolution Course Revenue Data; Online Course Conversion Benchmarks 2026
The numbers behind it
- 10 %
- Completion rate of self-paced courses (base)Source: Teachable Cohort Completion Data; learningrevolution Course Benchmarks
- up to 5.5×
- more often completed with close guidanceSource: Teachable Cohort Completion Data; learningrevolution Course Benchmarks
- ±10 pp
- Completion effect of a warm list versus cold adsSource: learningrevolution Course Revenue Data; Online Course Conversion Benchmarks 2026
- 35 %
- Base margin in the model, before platform feesSource: learningrevolution Course Revenue Data; Online Course Conversion Benchmarks 2026
What we build for it
mP Academy - our course and membership platform - runs for Dominique Scharax as the replacement for Kajabi: courses, members, Stripe, shipping, bilingual, data with you. Plus email automation for the warm list and tracking that measures completion instead of clicks.
Common questions
How do I lift the completion rate of my course?
With guidance, not with more content: cohorts, fixed dates, feedback. In the model the completion rate rises by +45 pp. And with a platform that makes progress visible - for you and for the participants.Own platform instead of Kajabi - when is it worth it?
From a volume we calculate for you before anyone builds anything. Platforms charge a monthly subscription plus revenue share and keep the participant data. Your own platform costs once; then hosting and the Stripe fee. Dominique Scharax is walking this path with us right now.Do I need advertising to sell a course?
A warm list sells better than any cold campaign. Advertising pays to fill the list - not to buy every sale individually. We build the path on which prospects stay first, then the reach.What do you measure first for a course creator?
Completion rate, refund rate and the share of warm versus cold buyers. Three numbers the platform usually has and never shows. From that follows whether the first lever is guidance, the list or the platform.
Next step
Where do you stand?
The analyzer detects whether your site runs on Kajabi, Teachable or elopage, whether tracking exists and how readable you are for AI engines. The rest we think through together.