With delayed course content, you can set modules to become available a certain number of days after the customer's enrollment date (or product's start date).
This approach helps pace the learning process and keeps customers engaged over time.
Introduction
Delaying course content gives you the ability to gradually release course modules, rather than providing immediate access to all lessons at once.
Delays are set by the number of days. If you plan to release content over weeks or months, you'll need to calculate the total number of days based on your set schedule.
Delays make sections available based on the date and time a customer enrolls in your product (or based on a product's start date).
This means each customer gets access to these delayed sections according to their own signup schedule.
Example: You have a course with 2 modules. Module 1 is set to open up immediately and Module 2 is delayed 7 days.
Angela signed up on Nov 1st at 8:00 PM ET. Angela will have access to Module 1 immediately and Module 2 will become available to her on Nov 8th at 8:00 PM ET.
Things you should know before setting up delays
Delays can follow a complex logic, so here are a couple of things you should consider before setting up delays:
Delays make sections available based on the date and time a customer enrolls in your product
Delays need to be set beforecustomers enroll in your course.
Any changes or additions to delays made after customers are enrolled won’t affect those who were already in the course.
Setting a start date for a product ensures that delays are based on this date.
After the start date passes, the delay schedules will revert to being based on each customer’s individual signup date for those who enroll after that date.
Adding or modifying delays would just impact new customers.
Existing customers will continue with the original delay settings they started with and will not be affected by changes post-enrollment.
If you want to remove delays for current customers, you'll need to manually unlock sections for them. Simply removing delays from your course settings will not affect customers who are already enrolled.
Setting up delays for online course modules
Add or edit a section on your online course.
Since delayed content is only available for course sections, you'll want to make sure you have them set up to get delays started. You can select the New section button at the top of your course editor to create a new section.
After adding a section, click directly on its name to access the section editor. This will be where you set up delays!
At the bottom of the section editor you will see a delay settings area.
Toggle the "Section is delayed __ days from access" button and set up how many days you want your sections to be delayed.
Day 0 would always be the day your customers purchase a course or your start date.
Day 1 would be 1 day after the purchase/start date.
You do also get the option to send an email notification to customers when the section is available.
To enable this, check the box titled "Send email notification to customers when available" beneath the days from access setting.
Feel free to modify the email your customers will receive or use the automatically generated template!
At the bottom of the email, we’ll include a link directly to the current online course section, but if you’d like to copy and paste the link into the body of your email, you can do that too (click on “Copy section link” in the bottom right corner).
When you're done, just hit Save!
FAQ
Can I set delays based on prior section completion instead of time?
Can I set delays based on prior section completion instead of time?
At this time, delays can only be set based on time.
We do not support automated unlocking based on prior lesson completion.
If I add delays to an existing course, will it impact current customers?
If I add delays to an existing course, will it impact current customers?
No. Adding or modifying delays would just impact new customers.
Current customers will be locked into the delay settings you had for your course based on when they signed up for the course.
Can I unlock sections for customers?
Can I unlock sections for customers?
You can unlock specific sections for customers if you'd like to. Simply follow the steps described here.
Note: Deleting delays from your course in an effort to unlock sections for your students won't work. Doing this will simply affect future enrollees and not existing ones.
If I remove delays from a course would it impact existing customers?
If I remove delays from a course would it impact existing customers?
No. Removing delays from your course won't impact existing customers.
If you want to unlock sections for existing customers, make sure you follow these steps.
How do I schedule sections to unlock on a specific date?
How do I schedule sections to unlock on a specific date?
Podia does not support automatically unlocking course sections on a specific date. Instead, delays will automatically unlock section based on the date a customer enrolls.
As a workaround, you can manually hide lessons within your course and then unhide them when you're ready to make them available to your customers.
How do delays interact with start dates?
How do delays interact with start dates?
Section delays typically work off enrollment dates unless you have a start date in place!
If you set up a start date for your course, delays will unlock based on this start date - for customers who purchased the course while the start date was set.
If customers purchase the course after the start date has passed, delays will be unlocked based on their enrollment date again.
You can always set up new start dates if you want new cohorts to receive the delays on a specific schedule.
Example: You have set a course with Module 0 to unlock 0 days after entrance and Module 1 to unlock 10 days after entrance.
You have set a start date for November 1st.
Katee and Joe purchased the course on October 15th. Maia purchased the course on November 5th.
Katee and Joe would receive Module 0 on November 1st and Module 1 on November 10th.
Maia purchased the course after the start date, so the sections would unlock based on her enrollment date. She would receive Module 0 on November 5th and Module 1 on November 15th.
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