Self paced, cohort or live: choosing a course format to sell

A self paced course opens the moment payment clears. There is no start date. No seat count, no group. The learner works through lessons on their own timetable, so the software must release modules in order and record progress, so the instructor sees who stalled at module two.

The load comes later. Questions arrive by email at odd hours. Dropouts rise without a deadline. Many drip one module a week.

Refunds are simplest here. A window runs from the purchase date, and lesson progress shows whether the learner used the course or only bought it, which settles most arguments quickly.

A cohort is a group. It shares a start and a finish. You set the number of seats. When the last seat sells, the page should switch to a waitlist and capture the email of anyone who wants the next round.

The software holds much more here. It needs a cohort record with open and close dates and a seat counter that reserves a place during checkout. It needs a rule for failed payments. Add a transfer path for anyone moving rounds.

Support is heavier because you answer in a shared channel, mark assignments and chase late joiners, and most of it lands in the evenings. Price that time before you choose the format.

A live course is sold as sessions. Each session has a date, a time zone, a Zoom or Meet room and a capacity set by the meeting tool. Buyers need reminders. A recording helps if they miss one.

Time zones add a problem of their own. A learner in Singapore must see the session on their own clock, and the reminder must arrive at the right hour. Moved sessions need a notice.

Refunds depend on whether a session has run. Decide if a missed session is refundable, replaced by a recording or credited to the next date, and print that rule beside the ticket button.

Put the three formats against the same four questions. When does a learner start? How many can join? Who answers questions, and how often? What happens to the payment when someone leaves?

Self paced starts any day and takes unlimited learners. Cohort starts on a fixed date, takes limited seats, needs daily answers during the run and refunds before the start or by week. Live starts per session, is capped by the room, needs you on the call, refunds by session attended and leaves a recording behind.

Mixing formats is common. A self paced core course with a paid cohort add-on gives steady sales plus a premium tier for learners who want a deadline and a group. Each part still needs its own rules.

Test the platform before you pick the format. Can it close sales at a seat count? Hold a waitlist? Move a learner between cohorts? Send reminders in the learner’s time zone? Any gap means doing the job by hand in a spreadsheet at midnight before each start date. Errors follow.

Start with self paced if your tools are basic. Add a cohort once seats and waitlist work. Add live when the calendar and reminders work.

Write down the one format you will sell next quarter and the one rule your software cannot yet enforce for it. Fix that rule first. Everything else can wait.