Unlocking the potential of eLearning with MLM

Synopsis

Built on the principle that knowledge is not only empowering but also rewarding, an eLearning business chose to revive its business model to provide both learners and tutors with an earning opportunity. This noble idea of combining learning with earning demanded a business model as vibrant and promising as the idea itself.

When the company approached Epixel with the idea of combining an advanced MLM model with eLearning, we planned to give it a transformational shift. Enhancing user experience and empowering distributors thereby increasing the productivity and efficiency of the business was put on focus.

Problem

Firstly, the eLearning business needed a perfect MLM compensation plan to establish successfully in the market. We had to analyze the market, demands, and the company’s profitability expectations to match the appropriate compensation plan.

The ability to scale with the increasing distributor and learner base while maintaining a seamless and efficient UX was also listed as a serious concern.

Rapidly growing learner base and course catalogs overburdened the eLearning business’ capacity to establish itself.

A rapid increase in the distributor base, learners, and course catalogs challenged the efficiency of the business to handle itself. Even with a commendable distributor base the company was unable to improve their sales. An inaccurate distributor management system failed in managing expanding network of distributors and in ensuring necessary tools to effectively promote distributor performance.

Devoid of a proper support system, distributors were not able perform well in their sales arena. These gaps in operational efficiency together with disengaged learners on the other side hindered the productivity of the company. In an already saturated market, the brand was on the verge of losing to the market competition.

Solution

A multi-faceted approach combining an innovative MLM with eLearning addressed the already existing concerns and an innovative approach with advanced technological backup led us successfully through the process of revitalizing the brand. Scaling up the system demanded ruling out the trade-offs and skillfully tackling the challenges.

Streamlining the onboarding process for increased productivity and efficiency

Distributor onboarding automation accelerated the registration process making it easier for new distributors to join the network quickly. The customized registration process takes each learner and distributor through a personalized onboarding experience. This resulted in a significant reduction in the dropout rate during onboarding and accelerated the growth of the company’s learner and distributor base. A hassle-free self-registration process also eliminated the need for manual data entry reducing admin workload.

New training module integrated to the onboarding process ensured base level training that educated new distributors on the company, products, compensation plan, and best practices. Learners were also given a complete overview of available courses and currently running offers to make their decision making process easier.

Optimizing the last step of the onboarding process called for an integration of the popular payment gateways to facilitate easier product purchases and enrollment fee payments. Multicurrency feature helped ensure hassle-free payments for a global learner and distributor network.

Boosting course engagement with an enhanced course creation module

Course creation was made easy with pre-built course templates and authoring tools that ensured consistency in course design and a drag-and-drop facility that accelerated the course creation process. The authoring tool facilitates the creation of interactive content by adding interactive elements such as assessments, quizzes, and interactive study guides.

Multimedia integration feature facilitates seamless integration of various multimedia elements to the online content library such as videos, animations, quizzes, and course assessments. This one feature was exclusively designed to enhance and instill an active learning experience and to keep the courses engaging.

Learners were presented with a blended learning experience that combined live training with self-paced learning so that they could comprehend topics easily and learn at their own pace.

Instilling fun and enthusiasm among learners was one way to maximize course engagement. Gamification tools like leaderboards, badges, and rewards motivated learners with an agile learning environment and cultivated healthy competition among learners.

Managing the expansive distributor network

MLM genealogy tree gave the organization a complete visualization of their distributor team in a tree structure with individual distributor details displayed with just a hover of the mouse. This instant visualization covered details such as individual sales volume, commissions earned, rank, etc. This helped sponsors and leaders get a complete picture of their downline performance thus promptly identifying areas requiring attention. The MLM genealogy tree also give sponsors the authority to place their downlines in favorable positions to improve their profitability.

Distributors get an overview of their individual performance and their position in the organizational hierarchy. This motivated distributors and considerably improved their productivity.

Ensuring an accurate commission process

The MLM commission system automatically disbursed commissions based on the configured compensation plan. The commission system was designed to allow plan customizations at any time to match the growing business demands. Admins can add or modify commission, bonus, or rank criteria for individual distributors or teams.

The automated commission tracking system guaranteed accurate and real-time payouts, fewer disputes, and an improved visibility into the overall sales process.

The real-time dashboard assured a transparent commission calculation process thus improving distributor trust and motivation which converted into increased retention rates. The system also delivered critical data and insights that helped them optimize their sales process.

Improving distributor performance

A crucial feature in the distributor enhancement module is the automated performance recognition. The feature rewards distributors with badges and certificates on completion of various performance criteria and sales milestones. The badges appear on their respective profiles and are visible to the entire organization. Instant appreciation for their ongoing efforts motivated distributors to achieve ranks and sales quotas faster.

The rank advancement tracking system helped admins track distributor ranks and activate goal road maps for encouraging distributors.

An integrated performance analytics tools measured and rightly delivered distributor performance insights to individual distributors, their sponsors, and admins.

Uninterrupted support system ensures real-time support

A seamless support mechanism was introduced to ensure distributors and learners get support round the clock. In order to facilitate this a ticketing system was employed that logs and tracks support requests. It also prioritizes and manages support inquiries efficiently.

Live chat support offers real-time assistance, resolving instant queries or technical issues without the need for human assistance. The live chat module can also be customized with preset customer queries using data from the past. The multilingual support system caters to a diverse distributor base assisting the company in its global marketplace.

Sales reporting and tracking

Tracking sales and generating reports on the various sales processes were made role-specific. Admin and top leaders can view and generate reports of the entire team whereas distributors were given access to view and download only their individual reports and those of their downlines.

Distributors can access detailed reports on their sales volumes, data on product sales, enrollments, course completion rates, and customer purchases. This helped distributors understand their strengths and areas for improvement. Now with a more accurate sales forecasting,the company can precisely strategize their sales activities and optimize the processes.

Giving the business a 360° view

Getting a complete view of the business helped the company strategize operations, optimize processes, and make future predictions. The analytics tools delivered insights on course performance, learner engagement, and course completion rates. These data-driven insights assisted in making faster and informed decisions on course improvements and distributor performance.

Extending the scalability and efficiency

Enhancing the scalability through dynamic scaling efficiently handled expanding distributor base and enrollment surges. Considerable reduction in the course access time and improved traffic management translated into increased course adoption rates and an uninterrupted registration process. The new and improved system offered flexible storage space and initiated ease of access to the courses and the system.

Building a market-driven approach

Market research tools helped the brand to quickly identify and respond to market trends and maintain a competitive advantage in the eLearning industry. This diverse set of tools helped the company get a comprehensive overview of the trends and patterns of their operating markets. The system automatically creates customer, product, and market segments based on insights derived through user data, surveys, and campaigns.

The demand forecasting feature helped the team to line up courses on trending topics.

Challenges We Faced

Enhancing the scalability to handle surges in traffic and course enrollments demanded a predictive scaling architecture. The system needed insights delivered through predictive analytics to forecast traffic patterns and course demand requests. This required advanced algorithms and historical data analysis.

Implementing redundancy and failover mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted service during high-traffic periods required additional hardware, software, and resources. We experienced an increased complexity in configuration, management, and troubleshooting. We also had to maintain a low latency rate to deliver supreme user experience.

The complexity in compensation plan required a high precision commission engine that could handle even the minute variation in commission percentages. Changing commission structures and rank rules needed to be automatically updated and that called for advanced algorithms and rule engines.

Integration of extensive sales and enrollment data from ecommerce and CRM was challenging for the fact that an improper integration process can cause issues and hamper the quality and retrieval of data. Learner and distributor data also needed to be secured and compliant with the privacy regulations of the operating countries.