7 things you need to know about your online course from a lawyer
I heard a statistic in a Grace Lever webinar today that completely blew my mind:
The global online course industry is worth $165 billion each year.
This means that each and every hour, every day of the year around the world, over $12 million dollars is spent on online courses.
Considering that statistic, it is not surprising that I help so many course creators with their terms and conditions to make sure they can sell their online course with confidence and get paid.
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Sadly I only see some of these course creators after things go wrong. Things like:
the course creator doesn’t get paid any of the instalment payments for the course after that first payment is made;
the customer who bought the course demands a refund because they didn’t magically become an expert in the subject area of the course, even though the customer hasn’t even done one course module; or
someone has copied a course and is selling a similar program.
This breaks my heart. I know how much you, as a course creator, put into creating and delivering courses. And the thing is, it can be so easily avoided by putting into place some strong terms and conditions on your website and at the time people purchase your course to regulate the use of your online course platform.
To help you work out how to protect yourself and your course, here are my top 7 things you need to know about legals for your online course:
Thing 1 – you don’t own the digital real estate that hosts your course
If you use a third party platform like Kajabi, Teachable, Kartra or Thinkific to host yuor course, you don’t own that platform. You also don’t control it. This means that things outside of your control can happen when your customers are doing your course. Things that could impact the way the course is delivered and leaves you liable for damages if things go wrong or that platform disappears.
This is an easy fix. Ensure your online course terms and conditions are in place at the time your customer buys the course from you and ask your customers to acknowledge and agree to the use of a third party platform and inserting the necessary disclaimers. But, without that knowledge you can get sucked into a pretty and functional looking platform without the legal protection.
Thing 2 – protect your intellectual property (IP)
Copycats are the worst. You don’t want someone ripping off your course, so make sure your terms and conditions reflect your moral rights and copyright in the material. You should also consider trademarking your brand and any other items able to be protected. Online terms providing for this make it easier to enforce when things go wrong.
Thing 3 – get paid and keep getting paid
In order to make courses more attractive, especially when they are over that $300 mark, course creators often allow payment via instalment payments rather than paying up front. While in theory this is good and can provide a stream of income for you as the course creator, in practice it can be fraught with difficulty where customers gain access to your course, download all the content and then demand a refund or stop paying instalments. As we head into difficult financial times, the incidence of such events is increasing.
When I prepare online course terms and conditions for a course creator I sit down (virtually) with them and talk through issues around payment and whether they are willing to look at instalments and what the terms around payment are. Whether they are using a payment system which allows instalment payments to be locked in and what the risk is in offering instalments.
Thing 4 – no guarantees
Your course will help people. But will it help all people? What about the customer who buys your course but never opens an email or logs on to complete the worksheets or modules?
Inevitably it will be that customer who complains (and maybe even sues you) because you didn’t help them [insert solution such as grow shiny healthy hair, save their marriage, quit sugar, launch a podcast etc].
By inserting disclaimers and acknowledgments that you make no guarantee about success and that it is not individual advice for their specific circumstances, you protect yourself against these types of claims. And believe me, people make them!
Thing 5 – website terms of use
You want to make sure you are not held liable for information on your website or if someone visits a link you share and gets hacked. You also need to protect your website from those copycats too. If they are copying your course, they will likely copy your website. Inspiration is one thing but copying is a no no.
Thing 6 – privacy policy
The privacy laws in Australia and overseas (particularly where the GDPR applies in EU countries) require that you have a privacy policy before you collect information about people, including email addresses and taking payments online for courses. This is a non-negotiable aspect and you don’t want to leave yourself open for lack of a privacy policy.
Thing 7 – and then there are rules for your course portal or Facebook group
With many courses, there is an online group component, whether it is through a Facebook group or third party portal it is important that the conduct of the group is regulated and your course participants know what is and what isn’t acceptable and what you can kick them out for.
What’s next?
So, you have a course without online terms and conditions or you are launching a course and need online terms and conditions for the course and your website.
The first thing to do is get in touch with a lawyer who does this sort of thing all the time (like me). You can book an obligation free chat with me here.
Or you can send me an email at hello@theremoteexpert.com to enquire further. I have packages available that include not only customised online terms and conditions and Facebook rules but support via checklists and video support to help you implement them on your page.
Don’t get caught short just because you were so caught up in launching your course that you forget about those legal aspects you needed to cover off.
About me
Hi, I am Emma Heuston - lawyer, lady boss and author. I help women with online businesses get their legals sorted and grow their business in the process. I am passionate about creating work/ life balance, but not at the expense of a successful and profitable business.