In this month’s Stay Ahead of the Game session, we explored key updates, tools, and strategies to help educators optimize their Outschool experience. With an eye toward 2025, this recap focuses on the major takeaways, including the Automatic Checkout Recovery feature, insights into 2025 programming, and ongoing experiments that impact the platform.
The Automatic Checkout Recovery Feature
What Is It?
The Automatic Checkout Recovery feature sends personalized emails to families who start enrolling in a class but don’t complete the process. This tool aims to capture lost opportunities and increase conversions by reminding families of their initial interest in your class.
Why It Matters
- Capturing Lost Opportunities: Families may abandon the enrollment process for various reasons (e.g., distractions, device changes). These emails serve as a timely nudge to reconnect with those families.
- Building Trust: Educators can now customize these messages, allowing them to reflect their unique teaching voice and style.
- Proven Conversion Tool: Industry research shows abandoned cart emails have an average open rate of 45% and a click-through rate of over 21%. Early Outschool data from November 2024 indicates a 20% better conversion rate when these emails are sent.
- Staying Competitive: By utilizing this tool, educators can engage with families and provide exceptional customer service, keeping Outschool ahead in the online learning space.
Customization Tips
- Highlight Class Benefits: Reinforce what makes your class valuable.
- Address Hesitations: Preemptively answer common concerns (e.g., price, meeting cadence).
- Social Proof: Include reviews or highlight your teaching expertise.
- Prompt Questions: Encourage families to reply with their questions.
- Keep It Short and Friendly: Maintain an approachable tone.
- Use a Postscript (PS): Add a concise, attention-grabbing note at the end.
Looking Ahead to 2025
Key Updates
- Monthly Metrics Emails
Starting January, educators will receive personalized emails on or around the 19th of each month. These will include key performance metrics, providing benchmarks to help you evaluate and improve your business. - Enhanced Educator Library
- Video Library: Over 30 videos are now available, with more to come. Videos from sessions like Stay Ahead of the Game will be uploaded same-day for easy access.
- New Features: A job board for organizational hiring, structured message boards, and experiment updates will be rolled out.
- Streamlined Events
- Workshop Wednesdays: An interactive space for feedback and collaboration, open to all educators.
- Pathway to Success: A merger of Stay Ahead of the Game and Outshine and Empower, offering focused sessions on business and teaching strategies.
- Data-Driven Experiments
Outschool will continue conducting controlled experiments to refine features and improve outcomes. Transparency around final rollouts will remain a priority.
Experimentation and Transparency
Outschool’s fast-paced experimentation process is designed to improve educator tools and enhance user experiences. While not all experiments succeed, they provide valuable insights that shape the platform’s evolution.
Key Points on Experiments
- Experiments are typically visible to a small subset of users.
- Features that succeed in testing will be rolled out with clear communication.
- Transparency will be balanced with the need to protect data integrity and minimize bias.
Current Focus Areas
- Automatic Checkout Recovery: Continued iteration based on educator feedback.
- Marketplace Fee: Testing its impact on enrollments and overall platform success.
Metrics Benchmarks for Educators
Here are some platform-wide benchmarks to guide your progress:
- Enrollments (6-month average): 89
- Transactions (6-month average): 490
- Average Star Rating: 4.89
- Response Rate (to initial messages): 59%
- Fill Rate: 56%
Retention Metrics
- 30-Day Re-enrollment: Ideal for educators with short-form classes.
- 90-Day Re-enrollment: Key for those offering longer courses.
- Repurchase Rate: Measures weekly retention, vital for clubs and ongoing classes.
Key Takeaways
- Customization and Personalization: The Automatic Checkout Recovery feature allows educators to authentically connect with families and grow their business.
- 2025 Outlook: Enhanced resources, streamlined events, and data-driven improvements aim to support educators in achieving success.
- Collaboration and Feedback: Educators are encouraged to participate in workshops, share feedback, and engage with the platform to optimize their teaching practices.
Thank you to all educators who attended this month’s session. For those unable to join live, session materials and videos are available in the Educator Library. Let’s continue building a vibrant, innovative community in 2025!
