A must-have checklist when buying an online coaching platform

Important Items to Consider When Choosing An Online Coaching Platform

Professional coaches are looking at ways to remodel their business, especially during the pandemic, and many are considering using an online coaching platform. Choosing the best platform to suit your needs can be a tricky affair. It is not only about the actual platform but you need to consider the user’s experience, administrative tasks, coaching tools and added benefits like support. Let’s consider some of the general items to look out for when choosing an online coaching platform. 

Administrative Tasks and The System

When you think about what is important for administrative tasks and coaching management processes, aim to streamline your system for ease. You need to be able to easily invite users to join your course and manage clients progress effectively.

Reviewing answers to questions and surveys may also be essential for you during the tracking progress process. Join a solution where you can simply generate reports in real time for your corporate clients. Often your clients require weekly reporting and analytics based on their employees you may be coaching. Running a coaching business that is successful is more than just the content - it is also about the additional services you provide. 

Most importantly – is the system ease to use for you in the backend and for coaching clients during their learning journey. Items to consider for users is if they can access their course from various devices such as mobile, tablet and a computer to ensure this doesn’t stub their course completion rates.

Content Creation Needs

Knowing what type of online training course you wish to create upfront will be beneficial, so you can ensure the platform meets all your requirements. You need to know aspects such as if you require technical expertise to assist in building course content or maybe you easily manage this yourself. A simple content delivery solution is usually advised. Additional items you need to consider is integrating with external tools like survey apps, videos or scheduling tools. 

Creating engaging coaching programs is of the utmost importance. One must remember that individuals learn in different ways, so make sure you cater for everyone’s needs. 

There are four types of learners you need to cater for:

1. Visual learners: Someone with a preference for visual learning is partial to seeing and observing things, including pictures, diagrams, written directions and more.

2. Auditory learners: Auditory learners tend to learn better when the subject matter is reinforced by sound. These students would much rather listen to a lecture than read written notes, and they often use their own voices to reinforce new concepts and ideas.

3. Kinesthetic learners: Kinesthetic learners, learn through experiencing or doing things. They like to get involved by acting out events or using their hands to touch and handle in order to understand concepts.

4. Reading/writing learners: Reading/writing learners prefer to learn through written words. These types of learners are drawn to expression through writing, reading articles or books.

Make sure you choose a coaches platform that can address all types of learners and their preferences. Include media such as images and videos, action items like trying this in real life or answering questions, content to read and maybe attach some interesting additional materials.

If you plan on engaging with clients by having live sessions – ensure the platform you choose can assist you in setting these up. A blended learning journey is often the best way to conduct online courses. This is where there is a self-paced learning journey and live sessions to promote engagement. To make your online course more engaging you could try using tools such as Picsart to turn text into an image or create visuals for your content.

Engagement and Communication

Consistent engagement and communication during an online training journey is what makes the real difference for a coachee / learner. Make sure there are features that allow you to communicate with participants and give feedback.

An effective way for users to remain engaged is to have a learning community, this is where they get to chat to peers and share beneficial practices during their online experience. As a coach you can also host group coaching and private digital coaching sessions.

Setting up automated messages can also be useful. This triggers a user should they be falling behind or maybe you just want to encourage them during their online journey. If this is an automated process it can make your coaching management less stressful and more efficient.  

Branding Opportunities and Generating Profit

Yes, the user’s experience is key, but it is equally important to be able to brand your course and online product offering. A white label coaching solution is usually best. Having your logo displayed in as many places as possible and additional features such as a landing page and a catalog could be very useful. You need to be able to successfully market and sell this product. At the end of the day, you need to make a profit and scale your business simultaneously. Having a payment system that can integrate with the online platform is ideal to easily collect payments. Having a fruitful online coaching business means you can coach users anytime, anywhere, thus growing your business.

Platform Price 

Yes - there is always a price tag attached. You need to weigh up the features you are acquiring by using a coaching platform against your budget. Pick a platform that meets your coaching needs and is affordable. The fees are usually associated with a set up cost, the support team and a price for clients to use the system. Many platforms have different packages - for example some include a number of users and course creation within the overall cost. 

Choosing an Online Coaching Platform for You

Basically, you must know what features you need for your type of coaching and pick the coaching app that best meets your requirements and results in a profitable coaching business. Sometimes it is also a good idea to do a free trial and test if a product is really what you are looking for in an online coaching platform. A fantastic option to investigate is myQuest – this is an online coaching platform that has so many amazing coaching tools and really focuses on engagement with users during their online coaching programs. Other platforms to assess would be Satori, Coach Accountable, Nudge Coach and True Coach. Read reviews, watch demo’s, book meetings, review websites and take a free trial to consider the type of support and coaching tools you are receiving. There is no RIGHT platform - only the correct one for you!