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.
FAQ: Increasing Your Chances of Finishing a German Course
1. Does paying for a German course guarantee that I’ll finish?
No. Paying—even a small amount—doesn’t guarantee anything not even prolonged access to my courses. But scientific studies show it can make you up to ten times more likely to complete the course, compared to taking it for free. That’s a pretty high outcome for a relatively little financial contribution.
2. Why does even a small payment help me finish a course?
It’s called the “sunk cost effect.” When you invest—even a token amount—you’re psychologically more committed and less likely to give up, because you don’t want your money to go to waste. You gotta love psychology for things like these 😉
3. What if I really can’t afford to pay?
Then you got bigger problems than thinking about supporting others. The point isn’t that payment is required, but that even a small financial commitment can boost motivation and follow-through for most people. If you can’t pay, you need to make up for that lack by boosting your motivation in other ways 😉
4. Is SmarterGerman only for paying customers?
No. Anyone can learn for free, thanks to those who contribute. If you can pay, your support keeps the platform open for thousands of others who can’t.
5. Is the research about payment and motivation only true for language learning?
No, the “sunk cost effect” and improved completion rates have been shown across a variety of online learning platforms and topics, not just German or language courses.
6. How little do I need to pay to get the benefit?
The studies suggest even a token payment (as low as €2/month in this case) has a significant effect on motivation and completion—it’s about commitment, not the amount. Although, the higher the amount the more people will be able to benefit from my courses. I’m very economical with other people’s money. The only waste in my life is my daily coffee outside with my wife which I “need” not to go insane from sitting in front of my laptop all day. If you are intersted, here’s how I spend “my” money.
7. Can I try the course for free first, and pay later?
Do it or do it not. There’s no try 😉 You can work with my A1-B2 courses for free without ever paying a single cent. There’s really zero obligation to pay anything and I am adamant about that. The only thing that could happen is that I need to charge for my courses again because I ran down my reserves which I hope won’t happen. So, contribute or don’t contribute and when you finally feel ready and able to support my sweet little project here and fellow learners like yourself, you will. My courses will stay free as long as I an afford it. That might be over next month, or in 12 or never. Up to the people.
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, René 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, & Ruipérez-Valiente, José A. (2019). “The MOOC Completion Rate Myth.” Science, 363(6427), 130–131. SSRN link