How To Sell Online Courses On Amazon: Simplified
Creating your online course may seem like hard work especially if you’re new to the industry. But the most difficult part of content creation comes after your courses have been successfully created.
This step is called marketing or to put it simply, getting customers to consume your courses. There are many ways to go about getting customers and in some cases, it partly depends on how or where your courses are hosted.
Some course creators resort to leveraging marketplace platforms like Udemy while others choose to sell from their websites.
These are some of the popular means to host online courses and they each come with their advantages and disadvantages.
I’ve taken several courses on Udemy in the past and wondered which other platforms content creators could sell their online courses.
During my research, I came across many of these platforms but one particular concept piqued my interest.
Amazon ranks as the number marketplace globally which makes it a perfect place for online course creators to also sell their courses.
Unfortunately, many people aren’t doing this and the answer to this was quite simple. Successfully getting your course for sale on Amazon has a very difficult barrier to entry.
This article answers some questions on using Amazon to sell online courses and provides some insight into the best options available for content creators on the platform.
You can check out this article to learn how to buy online courses for resale on Amazon, other market places or on your own website.
Can you sell online courses on Amazon?
Yes. Although tricky, there’re various approaches content creators can leverage including using Amazon Video Direct, 3rd-Party Integrations like Zapier, and converting digital courses into physical products.
Amazon Video Direct enables content creators to upload their videos for Amazon Prime Video customers worldwide making it a perfect place for online course creators to sell their courses on Amazon.
3rd Party integrations like Zapier enable content creators to connect Amazon to other applications including learning management systems like Teachable, Thinkific, and Zenler.
The quality of content is key in this case as Amazon performs a technical review before your content is made public. Monetization strategies may also differ from some traditional video marketplaces.
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Can I monetize my online courses on Amazon?
Yes. Monetization strategies depend on your preferred method of content delivery on Amazon.
For Amazon Video Direct, monetization could be through sales or rental of individual episodes, full series, royalties based on hours streamed, or even free courses with advertisement revenue.
Pros Of Selling Courses On Amazon
- Access to a global audience
- Access to 100million+ Amazon Video Direct customers
- Additional subtitles for multiple languages
Cons Of Selling Courses On Amazon
- High barrier to entry
How to sell online courses on Amazon
There’re various options available for online course creators looking to leverage Amazon to reach greater audiences.
Sell courses on CDs, DVDs, and Flashdrives
The first and quite obvious way to consider is by putting your online courses on a CD, DVD, or possibly a Flashdrive.
This will enable you to easily package your course as a physical product that can be sold on Amazon.
In this instance, you get access to Amazon’s over 300million users, providing you with publicity most other marketplaces can’t afford.
Although this sounds simple enough, it also comes with the hurdle of maintaining inventory which can be a deterrent to some content creators who enter the industry especially to avoid any challenges associated with inventory.
This may seem old-school but it’s still effective even in our modern age. Unfortunately, shipment may increase the overall cost of your course.
Sell courses on Amazon Kindle
Another way around this is leveraging Amazon Kindle to sell your courses. In this case, online course creators can convert their courses to books and leverage Kindle Direct Publishing to sell them.
This comes with the added advantage of selling either ebooks or hard copies or even both.
Unfortunately, this can be tiring and some content creators may not choose this path especially if the content is easier consumed in video formats.
Sell Audio courses on Amazon
Another option available to sell your courses is by converting your online courses into audio formats. By leveraging platforms like Audible, content creators can easily turn their books and videos into audiobooks.
This makes it possible for learners to easily listen to the lesson wherever they go.
Creating audiobooks is a great option that works great for courses that simply provide information without the need for visual illustrations but would not be convenient for courses that do, especially if they’re “how-to: videos that require visual illustrations.
Sell course on Amazon using Zapier integrations
One incredible discovery I came across in my search for a way to sell courses on Amazon was using Zapier integrations.
Zapier is essentially a third-party application that helps users connect one application to another. This application has integrations with Applications like Thinkific, Teachable, and many more and can connect these applications to Amazon.
The concept of Zapier is pretty simple. One application is connected to another and when something happens on the first application, some specific action should be performed on the second application.
Check out some Zapier integrations on Amazon Seller Central and see whether your learning management system integrates with Zapier.
At the time of writing this article, Zapier has no integration connecting Udemy to Amazon Seller Central.
Use this link to find out whether Zapier has an Amazon Seller Central integration for your chosen learning management system.
If you’re using platforms like Teachable, Zenler, and Thinkific, and many more, Zapier’s Amazon Seller Central integration connects with all of these applications.
You may be wondering what exactly having your LMS integrate with Amazon do. Well, the answer is quite simple.
It means your LMS, whether Teachable, Thinkific, or whichever you prefer, can send information between these apps and your Amazon listing using Zapier.
For example, any purchase on your course listing on Amazon will automatically Trigger an order on your Teachable or Thinkific account and much more.
Triggers may include; new orders on Amazon should result in new user creation or learner enrolment on Thinkific, and many more.
This means you don’t need to upload your courses to Amazon but simply need to create the listing and set up the integration.
Quality checks would be unnecessary in this case and any lessons using these platforms can be marketed on Amazon.
Users will be provided with information after purchase, directing them to log into their Teachable, Zenler, or Thinkific accounts.
An attractive advertising image will still be required as with most listings to attract customers.
It is worth noting that this process may require a few more steps than most users are used to but it’s a great way to sell your online courses on Amazon.
Sell courses through Amazon Video Direct
The last method for selling courses on Amazon is by leveraging Amazon Video Direct. Although this is a great way to reach customers, it’s also rather difficult to get approval.
Submitted videos through this method need to go through technical review to ensure that it meets Amazon’s quality checks.
This is where most content creators fail to qualify for their content to be available to Amazon’s 100million+ prime video customers.
Courses submitted through this method can either be combined to make one long video or put in a series.
Putting courses together means customers in this case, can simply purchase the video or rent it. The lesson can also be provided to customers for free with advertisement included.
In the case of creating a series, lessons can be presented as a season with episodes, as is the case with other tv shows.
In this case, customers can simply pay per episode or pay for the full season. This can also be provided free of charge with advertisement included.
Taking royalties based on the number of hours streamed is also another monetization strategy for this method.
The Bottom Line
Selling courses on Amazon isn’t just an idea but a possibility. It is the number one marketplace in the world, which makes it the best place to market your product as a course creator.
There are multiple methods through which this can be accomplished and it’s up to content creators to leverage the most convenient method to sell to Amazon’s 300million+ customers for free.
This comes with the added advantage of minimal competition which means more visibility for your courses.
My preferred method would be leveraging Zapier’s Amazon Seller Central integration but this is only available for some select applications.
If Zappier doesn’t have an Amazon integration for your preferred LMS, I would recommend adding any of the supported LMSs to your course or content delivery platforms to use this amazing feature.
What do you have to lose by trying? Simply try it and enjoy the benefits.
