Make Learning Easy With Custom e-Learning App Development [A Detailed Guide]

Learning has no age. And to help those curious learners from teenagers to the golden era, many e-learning platforms and apps like Udemy, Coursera, Lynda, MasterClass have come up with digital solutions.

What made these e-learning platforms successful is the wide range of courses and quality services they offer online at an affordable cost. Consider Udemy, an online learning and teaching app founded in 2010 has over 100,000 courses and 24 million students today. The demographic coverage and the demand for e-learning platforms are so high that the global growth of the mobile learning market is expected to be worth $37 billion in 2020. So, if you’re having an idea of custom developing an app like Udemy, trust me, it will only provide you with the benefits like huge market demand, enrollments, global reach, etc.

To help you with a complete breakdown of how to develop an app like Udemy, in this article, we’ve covered all the aspects of a custom-developed e-learning platform - features, business model, target audience, revenue model, requirement gathering, and marketing.

Keep reading!

Herein we will discuss:

• Udemy App Workflow
• Why An App like Udemy is The Right Idea?
• Benefits of Custom Developing an eLearning App
• How To Make an App like Udemy
• Must-Have Features of eLearning Platform
• Why Udemy is Leading in E-learning Market
• Cost to Build an App Like Udemy
• Other Aspects of eLearning App Development

Udemy App Workflow

Why An App like Udemy is The Right Idea?

To understand the advantages of Udemy App Development, it is important to study the Udemy app. What are the services it provides? What is the business model of the Udemy app? What is its revenue model? How does it work? Why is it in demand?

Here’s the quick inside:

• Udemy offers a plethora of free and paid courses ranging from development to designing and music, certifications with lifetime access to courses.
• It operates on a marketplace business model like an eCommerce platform.
• The revenue is generated based on the percent fee received from every course that is purchased. It ranges from 3% to 75% based on the source of traffic.
• It works in 4 steps: User searches for the course, enrolls for it by paying, learns the skill at their own pace, and boosts off with a completion certificate.

Next, check out the market demand of the Udemy app. If we look at the numbers, at present:

• Udemy has 50 million students
• Offers 150,000+ courses
• Has an estimated value of $2 billion

The numbers are enough to explain the reason why you should custom develop an e-learning app.

Going further, let me also share the major benefits of Custom Udemy App Development.

Benefits of Custom Developing an eLearning App:

 

Security:

When you start with elearning mobile app development, providing security according to the recent market trends is essential. Developing an application from scratch will provide you with the freedom to use the latest encryption techniques for security in your application.

Using the latest security techniques ensures that your users’ data is secure and there are fewer chances of any vulnerabilities or data leaks. You will also need to provide regular security updates that keep the application secure from constantly evolving threats. Make sure to hire the right Udemy app development company like us who can help you build custom solutions.

Interactive and Intuitive User Experience:

The user experience of an application has a huge role to play to retain customers and help them navigate your application. You need to design and develop an interactive, intuitive, and easy-to-navigate interface that helps your users. User experience is important as it helps your brand connect with the users, helps in SEO ranking, defines customers’ journey, etc. These things will help you define the brand and how customers will interact with your application.

Build Brand Awareness:

E-learning app development will provide you with the freedom to develop an application that resonates with your brand. The logo, design, write-up, features, etc., of your application, reflects your company. One of the best examples of this is Zomato; they have changed their logo over the years, but color and typography are consistent. This helps users to easily notice the Zomato app on their phone and use it.

Increase Customer Loyalty:

E-learning app development is not only about designing and developing; there are plenty of other things which it includes: marketing, customer loyalty programs, support, etc. The number of users using your application will define your loyal customers. The major thing here is to take care of your customers’ convenience and requirements, be available for them and cater to their needs. With more consumers engaging in your business and the amount of better rewards you provide to your customers, your loyalty program will work out. Offer coupons and discounts on the products they are looking for as this will help you retain them and increase your sales.

Understand Market Needs:

One of the biggest advantages of elearning mobile app development is that you understand their needs while you carry out market research. Based on the market research and demands, you can modify your business model, app development process, features you define for your application, etc. This is also an important factor as it also helps you know the probability of success of your application.

Understand the market needs and start with custom development of Udemy-like app development. Another major benefit is to study your competitors; you can study their business models, marketing techniques, application features, loyalty programs, etc.; these things will help you know the market and your competitor better. Additionally, it will also provide you with clarity as to which things you can learn from them and implement in your business, how and when you can define what works for you and your customers.

Define Features based on your Business Models:

One of the biggest advantages is defining features of your application; the major drawback with clone apps is that they come with a predefined set of features. As a result, it comes with certain restrictions and extra investment to customize these features. Whereas, custom development will provide you with the freedom to customize the application according to your business needs. It also helps you to define and further modify features depending on your customers’ needs and feedback. This entire development process helps you make your application better and provide a better experience to your customers.

Have Full Control over Monetization of the Application:

You have the freedom to define the monetization model of your application. You can decide how to define the fixed percentage for instructors, course fees for students, etc. It helps you decide your business’s budget, app development costs, marketing campaigns, etc.

Provide Curated Content to Users:

Providing rich and organized content to your users will make your application stand ahead of the competition. Most of the e-learning platforms have plenty of content from various instructors and universities. To stand ahead in such a competitive market you will have to define ways to provide quality content. It is the only thing which will help you to retain customers. Another major thing you need to aim for is to provide quality content for cheaper costs than other platforms.

Select Latest Tech Stack:

When you develop an application from scratch, you can choose the tech stack of your choice. See the latest tech stack like Flutter, React Native, etc., depending on your application type, i.e., native app development or cross-platform development. Using the latest technologies benefits you from getting the best out of technology and handling millions of users easily. Next step is to know how to make an app like Udemy, its features, design, and how much it will cost. Read ahead.

How to Make an App like Udemy:

Every successful venture starts with an idea. Even Udemy started with a thought to provide every learner across the globe with quick access to education. And this thought led Eren Bali, the founder of Udemy, to develop a successful online learning platform.

Develop an elearning app with the help of an app development company with all necessary modules which are required for developing custom e-learning apps.

Must-Have Features of eLearning Platform:

Just like the Udemy app, your custom developed Udemy app should consist of:

a. Variety of course offerings

Provide ample courses on the page with easy categorizations. For example, Udemy offers 15 main courses from engineering to web development and vocational training and then 15 sub-main courses of each course.

You can categorize using main courses and adding the vast list of courses into subcategories.

b. No mandatory enrolling

Let the user surf through the complete list of courses without any prerequisites or eligibility.

c. Free or low-cost course fee

Provide courses either at no cost or very low such as $10-$20. The most exciting feature of the Udemy app is that they offer multiple free cost courses. And ensures that the paid features range affordable.

d. Immediate access

Provide every trainee instant access to their chosen course, all resources like course videos, pdfs, templates, guidelines, PowerPoint templates, sheets, etc with quick downloadable options.

e. Self-paced learning

Everyone’s way of learning is different so comprise video lectures from 5 to 25 minutes. Provide the options to pause and stop or replay the video with no limits.

f. Separate instructor and learner portal

Create separate login portals for instructors and learners. This will help them customize their learning experience and keep track of their courses and uploads.

g. Live Streaming

Allow live video and lecture streaming with Zoom and GoogleMeet API integration.

h. Profile management

To manage the user profile, certificates, courses, uploads, and other details.

i. Customer support

24*7 customer services to assist the visitors and customers with an issue they’re facing.

These are the general features that would benefit both instructors and learners.

Learner Features

a. Dashboard

Learners and visitors can view all the courses on the dashboard. It would be like a Facebook news feed where visitors can check the courses based on their interests, trending, categories, etc.

b. Search and filters

As the app would cover a wide range of courses, it would be helpful if the learners can easily sort and find their choice of course. For this, provide a search bar with categories and filter options.

c. Recommendation

With this feature, learners can find the other related courses to the ones they’ve enrolled for.

This will help them learn more about a specific skill set.

d. Course details and reviews

Provide an overview of the course with the ratings and reviews. It would help learners in deciding whether the course is a good fit for them or not. Ratings and reviews would help other learners make proper decisions.

e. Lifetime access

The sad part is if the course we paid for doesn’t allow lifetime access to the videos. As learners could learn on their pace with no limit to course access, they’re likely to enroll for more. You can even provide them with an offline video downloads option.

f. Cart

Just like a shopping cart, where learners can view their list of enrolled courses and place an order to finalize the course.

g. Certificates and materials

Often the materials and certificates come attached to the course. Provide separate windows to store certificates, quizzes, and all the course materials with download options.

Instructor Features

a. Dashboard

This module will help the trainers/instructors to track their courses, total students who’ve enrolled for the course, total earnings, response rate, etc.

b. Course creation

Provide a tool such as a CMS tool that would allow instructors to prepare and customize a course based on their skills and expertise. Allow easy editing and updating of the course.

c. Course list

Separate window for instructors to manage their courses and modules.

d. Reports

With this feature, instructors can create and download reports of their course reach, total earnings, response rate, etc. It would help them in designing new modules.

Admin Features

a. Dashboard

Here, admin can view all the number of trainers/instructors, total courses, total students along with reports and stats. Any new notification/email can be quickly accessed through Dashboard.

b. CRM

This module will help admin to keep a track of all the instructors and the learners with their detailed information, their total spendings, and earnings, courses enrolled or created, coupons and discounts availed, etc.

c. CMS

To engage the users, send out notifications and emails, create blogs and videos, update web/app content, social media engagement, and many more.

d. Sales

Here admin can track the total courses, their response rate, total earnings, profits, demanding courses, etc, and generate reports for better planning.

e. Payment

To track the complete payment history - the payment sent, received along with the instructors’ payment module that would help them view if the payments are successfully made.

f. Customer Support

Admin can view all the complaints and the grievances received. This would help them assist the customers with the issues, if any.

Next up, let’s see the benefits of Udemy as a platform and why is it a leading elearning platform:

Why Udemy is Leading in E-learning Market:

 

Student Benefits:

Affordable Prices:

Students can get access to world-class education at affordable prices; you can also provide them with various scholarship opportunities.

Easy Access to Courses:

The Internet has made education easily accessible to everyone; it helps students to learn anything from anywhere. Your elearning platform will provide users with an extensive array of courses like designing, development, photography, music, etc., everything under one roof. With features like easy to search, recommendations, their interests, they will be suggested courses based on their profile.

Self-Paced Learning:

This is one of the biggest benefits of an elearning platform; your users can purchase the entire course and learn independently at their convenience and pace. This makes it easy for professionals and students to learn new skills at their own pace.

Tutor Benefits:

Consistent Income:

Tutors can be at ease as the monetization model of Udemy is easy to understand and follow. Instructors can create a course, upload it on your platform, and share it. So, each time the course is purchased, tutors will get a fixed amount of money from you. On the other hand, you will help them to market their courses.

Flexible Working Hours:

Instructors can work at their own pace, design and record courses at their own pace, and then upload on your platform. Flexibility in time helps them to provide quality study content to students.

Increased Online Visibility:

Instructors can increase their online presence by sharing their course on other social media platforms, make sessions insightful and interactive, have a strong profile on your elearning platform, etc. These are common techniques to increase their visibility and provide accessible education to students.

Admin Benefits:

Multiple Revenue Streams:

Your application will open multiple gateways for you to generate a revenue stream. Following are some:

• Commission: You will receive all the amount for each course and will provide a tutor fixed amount commission.
• Subscriptions: You can provide memberships or subscriptions to your users, which gives you a steady user base.
• Advertising: You can partner with other meaningful companies whose services or products you can advertise. Make sure that they are relevant to your services and add value to your users.

Increased Profits:

An online app for your venture will help you to earn higher profits compared to other methods. Multiple monetization and revenue generation streams will help you sustain your business.

How much does it cost to build an app like Udemy?

E-learning app development company Biztech Consultancy assures you affordable pricing for successful execution of Udemy like educational applications and e-learning applications. While calculating the actual cost of developing a Udemy app for Android and iPhone, the platform (Android or iOS) plays an important role as it affects the total hours of Udemy developers. Here is a brief analysis of estimation for Udemy app development.

These are the general features that would benefit both instructors and learners. The features explained below include hours for development, design, and UAT.

Kindly note that the development can be done in phases. We can discuss further on the cost model keeping your requirement in mind. Our hourly rate would be around <$25/hour. For further queries, you can get in touch with us.

 

Partner with the Elearning App Development Company

After gathering all the requirements of the app, find the right elearning app development company. Though the cost of the Udemy-like app would be mostly based on the features and the platform, the right Udemy app development company like us would ensure that your requirements are fulfilled at no extra hidden costs.

To find the right software development company:

• Research about their work experience
• Technological expertise
• Product portfolio
• Clients’ testimonials
• Meet the team
• And discuss all your requirements, ask about the development cost, the technologies, and the features along with business growth.

We expertise in app development, be it an Android or an iOS. Know more about us, through our case studies and testimonials.

Other Aspects of eLearning App Development

 

Business Model

You can plan your business to operate on a marketplace business model like Udemy by organizing the products and services of different sellers (or instructors) and selling them on your website.

The platform would work as a medium between instructors and learners just like an eCommerce website - Amazon, eBay, etc.

Or you can offer free courses with paid certifications, etc.

Choosing the business model

1. Marketplace Business Model

In this model, you would be able to earn a commission on every paid course. Though the commission rate can vary based on the source and course.

But the profit is that your revenue would be based on 90% of the total traffic.

2. Paid Certification

Udemy offers skill-based courses and the main objective of the students is to acquire skills and knowledge. So you can offer free courses to students by asking them to pay for completion certification. But, in such a scenario, the number of students who attended the course and the ones who paid for the certificate would dramatically decrease. Mostly the ones who need to boast off or look for a job would be interested in paying for the certification. This would be unfair with the instructors and your earnings too.

Your revenue would be limited to 20 - 30% of the total enrollment.

Tip: Go for a marketplace business model where you sell and earn from every course. The paid certification model won’t be beneficial in the long term as the revenue generation would be limited.

Apart from this, the paid certification won’t be fair for the instructors and the courses.

Target Audience

Target audience. The most important part before starting any business.

While creating an app like Udemy, your target audience can be students with the age group of 18-25, professionals in the age group of 25-40 who want to learn or sharpen their skills. Your audience can be 60-year old retirees curious to learn about music as a hobby. Apart from this, any independent instructor that would like to create the course. Suppose you wish to add university certified courses too in your e-learning app, then the audience would also comprise of universities.

Thus, to know your ideal customers, you need to create a buyer’s persona that would help you describe your ideal customers, their characteristics, challenges faced by them, their specific needs and interests, and how they make decisions.

To create a buyer’s persona:

• Start with their personal information like age, gender, marital status, location, income, education, hobby, interests, etc.
• Next, add their professional information like job, career, company, skills, tools used, etc.
• List down their personal and professional goals.
• Then, the challenges faced by them.
• What are the solutions you can provide them?
• What would be the features that they would look for?
• Consider all the reasons why they won’t use your e-learning app
• Design your solution wireframe

Revenue Model

Now, it is time to choose the pricing of your e-learning app.

Subscription-based

You can provide customers with a paid subscription to the app. A monthly or a yearly subscription would provide them unlimited access to all the courses. For educators, you can plan a fixed monthly amount.

But here’s the glitch!

Your revenue would suffice on the commission from the subscribers. Imagine, a student subscribes for the app courses by paying a monthly $20 and explores the plethora of courses that would cost around $100-$150. Here, your commission would be based only on $20 and not on courses worth $150.

Commission-based

With every course sale, you can charge instructors with a fee ranging from 3 to 75% based on how the user enrolled for it. Udemy works on three revenue tiers:

• Suppose, a user enrolled through a coupon or referral by the instructor then you can charge the commission rate of 3%.
• If a user enrolled by browsing the app, then you can charge from 30-50% of the total fee.
• If users enrolled through paid marketing ads, then you can levy a commission of 75% like Udemy.

Or you can fix a certain percentage of commission for all the enrollments.

Tip: Commission based revenue model would be more profitable.

Technological Requirements

Now that you’ve got a wireframe of your app like Udemy, let’s get it developed by comprehending the technological requirements of the app.

You will need to work on:

• Backend/Frontend such as AngularJS, ReactJS, Vue.JS, etc.
• Framework - CakePHP, Laravel, Symphony, NodeJS, ASP.Net.
• Database and Infrastructure - MySQL
• APIs such as Zoom, GoogleMeet, Video, MailChimp, etc.
• Payment gateways such as PayPal, Mastercard, Stripe, e-wallets, net banking, etc.
• Plugins - CMS, CRM, Sales and Reports, etc.

And many more...

Engagement and Marketing of e-Learning App

Finally, you got your app developed. But what’s next?

You need to engage tutors and educators that would create quality content and courses.

For this, market your app using paid and sponsored ads, PPC, organic marketing, affiliate marketing, etc.

Provide offers and discounts, coupons for instructors, and learners for better traffic.

Get better engagement by integrating ASO (App Store Optimization), an app optimization engine just like SEO. It would help you reach a wider audience as 63% of total app downloads are attributed to the App Store.

For in-app store maximization, improve your app’s:

• Name, URL and subtitles
• Keyword fields
• Ratings and reviews
• Download

The ranking on app store will automatically optimize your engagement and courses

And the final say…

Follow these 8 steps to develop an app like Udemy.

If you want to know more about the app development or have any query.

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