Online course dropout: how to prevent it among your students
It's not a problem with your online course. According to the “Mapa do Ensino Superior no Brasil 2024” (Map of Higher Education in Brazil 2024), by Instituto Semesp, more than half of the students who enroll in college don't finish their program.
Most of this dropout happens among distance learning students (56.3%).
Even though your digital product isn't a college program, it's normal for this behavior to repeat itself: students start but don't make it to the end of your content. In practice, this can lead to a significant number of refund requests after 7 days. But the good news is that reversing online course dropout is simpler for you than for universities. And the team at Cademí, Brazil's first Member Hub, is here to help you with this mission. So keep reading to understand:
Why online course dropout happens
First of all, you need to understand that dropout can happen for a few reasons:
- Technical difficulties;
- Not relating to the content;
- Lack of interaction between student and expert;
- Feeling alone along the way;
Many factors can lead someone to buy an online course and give up on it. So, to solve this problem, the first step is to analyze the data and understand the reason behind your students' behavior.
In the Cademí dashboard, you can access reports that help you understand your students' habits in detail. In other words, whether a specific lesson gets few views, at what point people tend to drop off, and so on. That alone is already a sign of what could be improved in your content. Maybe re-recording it with more energy or bringing in clearer examples.
But that's not the only thing you can do.
How to prevent online course dropout
Beyond the data, which you should collect even if you don't have a dashboard like Cademí's. Maybe through data from the player where your videos are hosted, or even with in-lesson activities, such as a specific comment for those who made it to a certain point, or a hidden bonus.
Also, keep in mind that yes, your student will be home alone watching your lessons. But it's important that they don't feel like they're going through this journey alone. Your content needs to be interactive, and it's important to offer human, personal support.
+ How to build a connection with your students in an online course
Remember to reply to comments and answer questions right on the platform. If you have a support team, a help desk via email or another format that suits your team and audience can be a good solution. Other options include:
- Creating a community where students interact with each other;
- Encouraging that interaction to actually happen;
- Having an email flow that reminds students about lessons or shares extra tips;
And, just as important, when you set up your member area, keep it simple. Make sure navigation is intuitive and doesn't leave students lost on your platform. Test that every button goes where it says it does, and that there are no broken links, videos with upload issues, ambiguous messaging, etc.
In short, make the journey easy and make sure frustration isn't part of it.
Gamification can help too
On top of all that, another thing that can help is investing in gamification. Since dropout is, at its core, a lack of engagement, turning the process into a game will make it more interactive and fun.
In education, this approach already has proven results.
Anyone who uses Cademí to build their member area gets easy access to gamification on the platform. You can, for example, create an engagement or points leaderboard. From there, it's up to the expert to create rewards that motivate students to earn points. We've seen cases with discount offers and even free courses. The result is always minimal dropout.
There are even cases where gamification is used to generate student referrals and, in turn, win new students and qualified leads at a lower cost. Overall, it's a feature with lots of possibilities, and the Cademí team is ready to help you understand all of them.
Get in touch and talk to one of our specialists by clicking here. And don't forget: fighting dropout takes effective strategies at every stage of your course. Cademí offers support in each one of them!
