I've been thinking a lot about the success of your course members recently.

As I mentioned last week, I've been selected to pilot the new maven.com platform for cohort based courses and I'm going to run my planned “Persuasive Email Writing System” course through it.

At the onboarding this week it was interesting to reflect on how much emphasis they were putting on student success. Right from the use of cohorts, the community mechanisms to get them engaged, and the built in use of net promoter score at the end.

Of course, everyone wants their students to succeed.

But I think we often underestimate just how powerful having successful enthusiastic students can be.

Marketing is getting increasingly difficult. It's noisy. Advertising costs have shot up and results have got worse.

But the highest impact route to new clients: word of mouth from happy customers, is still as powerful as it's always been.

Especially in areas where potential customers are unsure whether the course will work for them. They're going to be looking to see whether it's worked for others like them.

That's where enthusiastic testimonials and people who willingly spread the word become so powerful.

That enthusiasm comes from both getting great results from your course, but also having a great experience.

Feeling part of a community. Of something bigger. Of being noticed. And heard.

If you want people to proactively refer you to others you've got to spark those feelings. And most of that comes from the way you work with your students through your program, not just the content itself.

When you're designing your course, don't just ask yourself how you can ensure your students get results. Ask yourself how you can make sure they have an amazing experience.