Offer a free course

A free course, like a five-day mini course or a starter lesson, is a friendly way to meet new people. Instead of a checkout, your sales page leads to a sign-up page. You don't need Stripe for it.

Make a course free

1. Choose Free course

   Open your course, go to Publish, step 1 Get paid, and choose Free course.

2. Ask if they'd like your emails

   Ask if they'd like your emails is ticked to start with. It adds a box people can tick on your sign-up page. Then fill in:

   • What the box says: who'll email them and what about, like "Yes, send me weekly tips and offers from Bloom Studio." We add "You can unsubscribe at any time." after it.
   • Your business mailing address: shown in small print under the box, with your business name and your support email from Brand settings.

3. Publish

   In step 3, click Publish my course (or Publish changes). Your sales page now shows Free, and every button on it goes to your sign-up page: your course's address with /join on the end.

What people see

Your sign-up page shows your course in your colours, with First name (optional), Email and, if you asked, the box for your emails. They click Get free access, and we email them Your free access to your course, with a button that logs them in. It works for 30 days, on each device they use. After that, they type their email on your course's login page to get a new link.

We send the login link by email, rather than letting them straight in, so you know each address is real. Someone who comes to your course's login page without signing up sees New here? Sign up free.

See who wants your emails

On your course's Students tab, and on the Students page of your dashboard, people who signed up are marked Free sign-up, with their first name. People who ticked the box are marked:

• Wants your emails, once they've opened the login email we sent when they ticked the box. That email tells them opening it confirms they'd like your emails, and it shows the address is really theirs.
• Emails: not confirmed, until then.

Once they're on your email platform, they're also marked Sent to it (see below). Download spreadsheet gives you their email, name, wants_your_emails, agreed_to_emails_at and sent_to_email_platform, if you'd rather import them yourself.

Send them to your email platform

Course Mark can add everyone who ticks the box to your email platform, as soon as they open their login email to confirm it. People who don't tick the box are never sent. It works with Flodesk, MailerLite, Mailchimp and Kit, and with anything else through Zapier or Make.

1. Choose your platform

   Open your course, go to Publish, step 1 Get paid, with Free course and Ask if they'd like your emails chosen. Under Send them to your email platform, click yours.

2. Paste your key and connect

   Paste your API key (or, for Zapier or Make, your webhook address) and click Connect. The sections below say where to find it. You connect once for your account, and every free course can use it. We keep the key locked away: it's never shown again, even to you.

3. Choose where they go, and publish

   Choose the segment, group, audience or tag under Add them to this, then publish your course again so your live course uses it.

Flodesk

You need a paid Flodesk plan: Flodesk doesn't give API keys during a free trial. In Flodesk, open your profile menu, then Integrations, and the API keys tab. Click Create API key, name it Course Mark, click Create API key again, and copy it: Flodesk only shows it once. People go into the segment you choose. Course Mark lists the segments you add people to yourself, not ones that fill themselves from rules. Flodesk's own confirmation email isn't sent, because they've already confirmed by opening theirs.

MailerLite

This works with the new MailerLite (accounts made since March 2022, or moved over since). A MailerLite Classic account's key won't connect. In MailerLite, open Integrations, click Use next to MailerLite API, then Generate new token. Name it Course Mark. If it asks which IP addresses can use it, allow any: Course Mark's servers don't have one fixed address. Copy or download the token, as MailerLite only shows it once. People go into the group you choose. If you've turned on double opt-in for the API in MailerLite's settings, MailerLite also sends new people its own confirmation email.

Mailchimp

In Mailchimp, click your profile picture, choose Profile, then Extras and API keys, and click Create A Key. Name it Course Mark, click Generate Key, then Copy Key to Clipboard: Mailchimp only shows it once. It ends in something like -us21. New Mailchimp keys stop working a year after they're made: when yours does, make a new one and connect again. People are added to the audience you choose and tagged with your course's title, so you can find them and start an automation. Anyone already in that audience keeps their subscription (only their first name is updated), so nobody who unsubscribed is added back.

Kit

In Kit, open Settings, then Developer, and click Add a new key to make a V4 API key (the older V3 keys don't work here). Name it Course Mark and copy it straight away: Kit won't show it again once you leave the page. People are added as subscribers with the tag you choose: use that tag to start a sequence or an automation in Kit (those need a paid Kit plan).

Zapier or Make

For any other platform, or to do more with each sign-up. In Zapier, start a Zap with Webhooks by Zapier and Catch Hook (Webhooks by Zapier needs a paid Zapier plan or a trial); in Make, start a scenario with a Custom webhook, click Add, then Copy address to clipboard. Paste the address it gives you and click Connect, then Send a test sign-up so Zapier or Make can see what's coming: email, first_name, course (its title and web address), agreed_at, agreed_to (the words they ticked) confirmed_at, and id (the same each time for one person's yes, so you can skip a repeat). Every free course on your account sends its yeses there.

If someone isn't sent

Your Students tab marks them Not sent yet: hover over it to see what your platform said, like a key that's been deleted or has run out (a Mailchimp key, after a year) or a segment that's gone. Fix that, connecting again with a new key if you need to, then click Send them now on the Students tab, which sends everyone waiting. People who confirmed before you connected your platform are sent the same way. Disconnecting stops new ones going there; anyone already sent stays on your list.

Canada's anti-spam law

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and laws like it in other countries, ask that people agree before you send them marketing emails. Course Mark's sign-up page is set up for that:

Every email you send them must also say who it's from, include your mailing address and have a working unsubscribe link. Email platforms add these for you, and unsubscribes are handled there too. Read more in the CRTC's questions about CASL.

Good to know

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