Deciding Where to Create Online Courses for Your Brand

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Shift from Physical Products to Digital Experiences
3. Understanding Your Hosting Options
4. The Technical Advantage of a Unified Ecosystem
5. Case Study: From Fragmented Systems to Unified Success
6. Building High-Margin Revenue with Digital Bundles
7. Transparency and Predictable Pricing
8. Managing Your Community Without Leaving Shopify
9. Creating Your Curriculum: A Step-by-Step Approach
10. Setting Realistic Business Expectations
11. The Importance of Owning Your Customer Data
12. Scaling Your Education Business
13. Conclusion
14. Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

Did you know that the global eLearning market is projected to reach a staggering $325 billion by 2026? This isn't just a statistic for massive tech conglomerates; it represents a fundamental shift in how people consume information and how modern brands build loyalty. For any business owner with a Shopify store, this growth presents a unique opportunity to stop thinking about inventory as purely physical and start viewing knowledge as a high-margin, scalable asset. However, as the creator economy matures, the biggest challenge isn't just "what" to teach, but "where" to host that knowledge. Choosing the wrong environment can lead to fragmented customer data, high transaction fees, and a disjointed brand experience that confuses your audience.

In this guide, we will explore the critical factors involved in choosing where to create online courses. We will examine the differences between hosting on third-party marketplaces, using standalone platforms, and leveraging the power of a native Shopify integration. We will also discuss the technical requirements for a professional course, such as video hosting and community engagement, and how these elements impact your long-term revenue. Our goal is to provide you with a clear roadmap for turning your existing store into a digital learning powerhouse without adding unnecessary complexity or hidden costs.

At Tevello, we believe that you should own your brand and your customer relationships from start to finish. The core message of this article is simple: the most sustainable and profitable place to build your online course is right where your customers already are—on your own Shopify store.

The Shift from Physical Products to Digital Experiences

For years, e-commerce was defined by the logistics of moving physical goods from point A to point B. Merchants worried about shipping times, warehouse space, and the rising costs of raw materials. While physical products remain the backbone of many businesses, the most successful brands are now diversifying their revenue streams by adding digital layers to their offerings.

When you think about where to create online courses, you have to consider the relationship between your product and the knowledge required to use it. A merchant selling high-end espresso machines is no longer just a hardware vendor; they are a gateway to the perfect cup of coffee. By creating a "Barista Fundamentals" course, that merchant can provide an immediate value-add that costs nothing to ship and has a profit margin near 100%. This model doesn't just increase initial revenue; it boosts Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and ensures that the customer returns to your site for their next bag of beans or a replacement filter.

The challenge, however, is that many merchants feel forced to send their customers away to third-party platforms to access this digital content. This creates a "fragmented stack" where your customers have one login for your shop and another for your course. This friction is the primary reason why many digital initiatives fail to gain traction.

Understanding Your Hosting Options

When deciding where to create online courses, you typically face three main paths. Each has its own set of pros and cons, but for a Shopify merchant, one path stands out as the clear winner for brand consistency and long-term growth.

1. Online Learning Marketplaces

Marketplaces can be tempting for beginners because they promise built-in audiences. However, this comes at a steep price. These platforms often take a significant percentage of your sales—sometimes as high as 50% or more—and they rarely give you access to your customers' email addresses. You are essentially building someone else's platform rather than your own brand. Furthermore, you have little control over pricing, and your course is often listed right next to your competitors' courses.

2. Standalone Course Platforms

Standalone platforms offer more control than marketplaces, but they exist as an "island" away from your store. If a customer buys a product on Shopify and a course on a standalone platform, they are managed in two different databases. This makes it incredibly difficult to run cohesive marketing campaigns or offer "buy a physical product, get a course for free" bundles. It also forces you to manage multiple monthly subscriptions for your business tools.

3. Native Shopify Integration

This is the approach we champion at Tevello. By using a native integration, your courses live directly on your Shopify domain. Your customers use their existing Shopify accounts to log in, and you manage everything through your familiar Shopify admin. This setup ensures that you own 100% of your data and maintain a seamless brand experience. When you see seeing how the app natively integrates with Shopify, it becomes clear that the best way to scale is to keep everything under one roof.

The Technical Advantage of a Unified Ecosystem

A major part of deciding where to create online courses involves evaluating the technical features that will support your students. Many merchants underestimate the complexity of hosting video and managing a community. If you choose a platform that isn't built for scale, you might find yourself hit with "success fees" or bandwidth overages just as your business starts to take off.

At Tevello, we designed our platform to remove these technical barriers. Our mission is to "turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse" by providing all the key features for courses and communities in one place. This includes:

• Unlimited Video Hosting: Many platforms charge extra based on the amount of video you upload or the number of people watching it. We believe you shouldn't be penalized for being successful.
• Drip Content Scheduling: To keep students engaged over time, you need the ability to release lessons on a schedule (e.g., one lesson per week).
• Interactive Quizzes: Testing knowledge is essential for effective learning and high completion rates.
• Native Checkout: Because we integrate directly with Shopify, your customers use the payment gateways they already trust, like Shop Pay, PayPal, or credit cards, without being redirected.

By keeping these features within your own ecosystem, you are keeping customers at home on the brand website. This isn't just about aesthetics; it’s about reducing the "bounce rate" and ensuring that when a student finishes a lesson, they are only one click away from purchasing their next physical product from your store.

Case Study: From Fragmented Systems to Unified Success

The power of choosing the right place to host your courses is best illustrated by real-world examples. Many creators start on fragmented systems, only to realize that the administrative burden becomes a bottleneck for growth.

Consider the journey of brands that have moved away from complex, multi-platform setups. In many cases, these businesses were struggling with customer support issues—usually related to login problems or missing course access because the Shopify store wasn't "talking" to the course platform. By solving login issues by moving to a native platform, creators are able to focus on content rather than technical troubleshooting.

One significant example involves migrating over 14,000 members and reducing support tickets simply by consolidating everything onto Shopify. This move doesn't just save time for the merchant; it provides a much more professional experience for the student. When a customer can buy a subscription and immediately see their content in their account area without waiting for a confirmation email from a third-party site, their trust in your brand skyrockets.

Building High-Margin Revenue with Digital Bundles

If you are a merchant currently selling physical goods, the decision of where to create online courses should be heavily influenced by your ability to bundle products. Bundling is one of the fastest ways to increase your average order value (AOV).

Let’s look at a practical scenario. Suppose you sell knitting supplies. A customer might buy a pair of needles and some yarn for $40. By offering a "Master Your First Scarf" video course for an additional $20, you’ve increased the order value by 50% with zero additional shipping or inventory costs. This is the magic of generating revenue from both physical and digital goods simultaneously.

Digital products are also a fantastic way to handle seasonal dips in physical product sales. If your physical inventory is delayed or if you are in a slow season, launching a digital challenge or an educational series can keep your revenue steady. We have seen how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses, proving that the "Shopify + Digital" model is a potent combination for any niche.

Transparency and Predictable Pricing

One of the most frustrating aspects of the e-learning industry is the complex pricing structures found on many platforms. You might start at a low price point, but as soon as you add more students or hit a certain revenue threshold, the platform starts taking a percentage of your earnings or forces you into a much more expensive tier.

We believe merchants deserve a more honest approach. When we built Tevello, we decided to offer a flat-rate plan that supports unlimited members. We don't believe in "success fees." If you sell a course for $1,000, you should keep that $1,000 (minus your standard Shopify payment processing fees).

Our model is simple: The Unlimited Plan is $29.99 per month.

This price includes:

• Unlimited courses and students.
• Unlimited video hosting and bandwidth.
• Full community features (profiles, member directories, social feeds).
• Drip content and quizzes.

By providing predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees, we allow you to accurately forecast your margins. You can grow from 10 students to 10,000 students without your Tevello bill changing by a single cent. If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses.

Managing Your Community Without Leaving Shopify

Education is rarely a solitary experience. The most successful online courses are those that build a sense of community. When students can interact with each other and the instructor, they are more likely to finish the course and recommend it to others.

When you are deciding where to create online courses, you must ask: "How will my students talk to me?" If the community lives on a Facebook group, you are once again sending your customers away from your site. Worse, you are subjecting them to the distractions of a social media algorithm. If the community lives on a standalone platform, it’s yet another place for them to log in.

A native Shopify solution allows the community to live directly alongside the curriculum. Students have profiles, can participate in social feeds, and browse member directories—all within your store’s URL. This level of integration builds a "moat" around your brand, making it much harder for competitors to lure your customers away.

Creating Your Curriculum: A Step-by-Step Approach

Once you’ve decided where to create online courses, the next step is actually building the content. Many merchants feel overwhelmed by this, but it doesn’t have to be a monumental task. The best way to start is by identifying the most common questions your customers ask.

If you sell organic skincare, your first course could be a "7-Day Routine for Glowing Skin." This can be a mix of short videos and PDF guides. Because you are using a platform that integrates with Shopify, you can easily set up "Drip Scheduling" so that your students receive one video per day for a week. This keeps them engaged with your brand for seven consecutive days, during which time they are much more likely to make another purchase.

You can build your entire curriculum during our 14-day free trial. This means you can have your course ready to go before you ever pay for the app. We encourage you to install Tevello from the Shopify App Store today and start uploading your first lesson. There is no risk, and the potential for recurring revenue is immense.

Setting Realistic Business Expectations

While online courses are a powerful tool, it is important to approach them with a long-term business mindset. At Tevello, we don't promise "six figures in your first week." Instead, we focus on the sustainable benefits of the model: diversifying your revenue, increasing brand loyalty, and stabilizing your cash flow.

A digital course is a robust tool that amplifies your existing marketing efforts. If you already have traffic coming to your Shopify store, adding a course is a logical next step to capture more value from that traffic. It is about building a business that is resilient. If shipping costs rise or physical supply chains are disrupted, your digital products continue to sell and deliver instantly, providing a much-needed financial cushion.

When comparing plan costs against total course revenue, the ROI of a native course builder becomes obvious. For the price of a few cups of coffee a month, you are gaining a new sales channel that can grow indefinitely.

The Importance of Owning Your Customer Data

In the era of privacy changes and shifting social media algorithms, your customer list is your most valuable asset. When you host your courses on a marketplace, they own the relationship. If that marketplace changes its rules or raises its fees, your business is at their mercy.

By choosing to build on your own Shopify store, you ensure that every student who signs up is added to your own customer database. You can see their purchase history, track their progress through your course, and send them personalized email marketing based on their interests. This data allows you to create more effective marketing campaigns and build a deeper connection with your audience.

We believe that the future of e-commerce is personal. Customers want to buy from brands they trust and learn from experts they admire. By keeping the learning experience under your own brand, you are telling your customers that you value their experience enough to provide a high-quality, seamless environment.

Scaling Your Education Business

As your course grows, your needs will change. You might want to add more instructors, create tiered membership levels, or offer certificates of completion. A native Shopify app is designed to grow with you. Because it leverages Shopify’s world-class infrastructure, you never have to worry about your site crashing during a big launch or a holiday sale.

The "Unlimited Plan" we offer is specifically designed to handle this growth. We want you to feel empowered to add as many courses as you want. Whether you have one flagship "Masterclass" or fifty small "Mini-Courses," your costs remain the same. This freedom allows you to experiment with different types of content and find exactly what resonates with your audience.

Conclusion

The question of where to create online courses is one of the most important decisions you will make as a modern merchant. While marketplaces and standalone platforms have their place, they often come with hidden costs, fragmented data, and a disjointed customer experience. By choosing a native Shopify integration like Tevello, you are choosing to keep your brand, your data, and your customers exactly where they belong—on your own website.

At Tevello, we are committed to helping you turn your Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse. Our simple, flat-rate pricing of $29.99 per month for the Unlimited Plan ensures that you can scale your business without worrying about transaction fees or per-user costs. With 0% transaction fees, you keep every dollar you earn, and our comprehensive feature set—including unlimited video hosting and community tools—gives you everything you need to succeed.

Don't let the technical side of course creation hold you back. You can start building your curriculum today with our 14-day free trial. See for yourself how easy it is to manage your physical and digital products in one unified ecosystem.

To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sell both physical products and online courses on the same Shopify store?

Yes, absolutely! This is one of the primary advantages of using a native integration like Tevello. You can manage your physical inventory and your digital course content from the same Shopify admin. This allows you to create powerful bundles, such as offering a free "How-To" course with the purchase of a specific physical product, all within a single checkout process.

Do I need to pay for separate video hosting for my course lessons?

No. When you use the Tevello Unlimited Plan, unlimited video hosting and bandwidth are included in your monthly subscription. You don't need to worry about paying for a separate service or managing external links. Your videos are securely hosted and delivered directly through our platform, ensuring a smooth playback experience for your students.

How do transaction fees work with Shopify courses?

While many course platforms charge a "success fee" or take a percentage (usually 3% to 10%) of every sale you make, Tevello charges 0% transaction fees. You only pay your standard Shopify payment processing fees, just like you do for your physical products. This means as your course revenue grows, your software costs stay exactly the same.

Is it difficult to move my existing course from another platform to Shopify?

Migration is a common step for growing brands, and we aim to make it as smooth as possible. Because our app lives within Shopify, you can set up your course structure and upload your content while your old site is still live. Once you are ready, you can import your students into Shopify, and they will be able to access their courses using their Shopify account. This consolidation often results in a significant reduction in customer support tickets and login issues.