If you've tried to learn anything online before, you know how easy it is to sign up for a course'much harder to actually begin and nearly impossible to finish it. Here's the reality: Fewer than 20 in 100 people even START a free online course. And 99% of those that start, many get distracted, and never finish their course. That sounds like a bleak future, doesn't it? And that's not just SmarterGerman, that's consistent with data found by much bigger institutions (see sources at the end of this article).
But there's a very simple trick to boost your chances to finish the course you just signed up for by 10x. What do you think this trick is? Take a moment to guess.
Did you Guess It?
The research is clear:
Harvard, MIT, and other major platforms have found that even a token payment of e.g. 2 USD per month can make you up to 10 times more likely to finish. On Coursera, completion rates jump from just 5'7% for free users to about 60% for those who pay, no matter how little.
Why? Psychologists call it the 'sunk cost effect.' Even a tiny payment means you have some skin in the game. Skipping a lesson now feels like wasting your own money'so you stick with it.
SmarterGerman's Real Costs'and Why Your Contribution Matters
Operating SmarterGerman'including my own salary, pension, ongoing support, and every bit of course maintenance'costs about $20,000 per month. That currently supports around 47,000 potential learners so far who are not all active at the same time but theoretically they could jump in and get started whenever it works for them.
That means it costs about $0.43 per learner per month to keep everything running'less than a cup of filter coffee you brew at home. Less than a single cigarette. And the more learners join the cheaper it'll get:
Let's dream big and say one million learners one day will want to study German on their own terms at their own pace with SmarterGerman. The monthly cost might increase due to certain usage based subscriptions to lets say $25,000. One month of German learning would then only cost $0,025 per learner (1,000,000 learners / $25,000). That's ridiculous. The German government is currently planning to increase their spendings on integration courses. In such courses schools have much higher cost than I do as a one-person business. One month of German classes in an integration course costs the German taxpayer - that includes you when you live here as you pay taxes with everything you consume - ~$458 versus currently $0.43 at SmarterGerman.
You would think the German state would reach out to me, but unfortunately I'm a too small fish with no ISO9001 certfication in my pocket and no desire to apply for one. I love my freedom too much for that. ;)
I just write this because I'm proud of the efficiency of my business which officially exists since Jan 2013 and I'm not done yet optimizing things.
A Massive Social Impact
If only a 10,000 learners contributed just $2 a month, it would more than cover their own use and help keep the doors open for 3 others who want to learn German, but might not be able to pay.
Your payment isn't just about your own motivation, although that of course matters most. It helps keep this model sustainable for everyone and of course it will allow me to keep working in a job that I deeply enjoy and which allows me to express myself in many creative ways.
Free Isn't Bad'But Commitment Is Powerful
Free courses are important. You wouldn't believe how many people share with me that they are thankful for my approach because they simply couldn't afford even Duolingo which you have to pay for if you want to use it intensively and which wouldn't get you very far to begin with in my professinal opinion (and in the opinion of many people on Reddit it seems).
For most people, a small financial commitment is the difference between 'just browsing' and actually making progress. It's a way to back up your intentions with action'and at SmarterGerman, it supports others, too.
If you want the best shot at finally speaking German, consider pitching in.
Even $2 a month can boost your odds and keep the community going strong. And even if you can't afford $2 every month, a single payment of $2 already goes a long way. What do you spend $2 or more on monthly that you could possibly transform into a good deed for 3 other people? If you are a Hindu or Buddhist, imagine how much Karma this would dissolve ?.
The Takeaway
If you keep starting German courses and never finish, maybe all you need is a small nudge.
- A small payment means a real commitment to yourself.
- At SmarterGerman, '2 a month covers your costs and supports the whole community.
Fluency in German is possible. Sometimes, all it takes is a small step'and a small investment'in yourself and in others.
Resources
You know I like my science. Here you go. Read the abstracts and the conclusion and use ChatGPT to get to their essence. No need to dive deeper unless you want to of course. If you find a flaw in any of my articles, please point it out so that I can take another look:
- Chuang, Isaac & Ho, Andrew Dean. (2016). 'HarvardX and MITx: Four Years of Open Online Courses.' Full study
- Goli, Chintagunta & Sriram (2021) ' 'Effects of Payment on User Engagement in Online Courses' Abstract
- Kizilcec, Ren' F., Piech, Chris, & Schneider, Emily. (2013). 'Deconstructing Disengagement: Analyzing Learner Subpopulations in Massive Open Online Courses.' Study
- Hone, K. S., & El Said, G. R. (2019). 'Paying Up for Success: The Effect of Paying for MOOCs on Completion Rates.' Computers & Education, 137, 1'12. ScienceDirect article
- 'MOOC fees improve course completion rates.' University of Potsdam
- Reich, Justin, & Ruip'rez-Valiente, Jos' A. (2019). 'The MOOC Completion Rate Myth.' Science, 363(6427), 130'131. SSRN link
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I stay motivated learning German?
Set small daily goals, track your hours, and connect German to something you actually care about - not just "I should learn this."