How to Build an Online Language Learning School Like italki

Do you have a flair for languages and dream of owning a language-learning business? You can build a million-dollar language learning empire like Preply, Italki, Duolingo.

The language learning industry is having a significant demand and immense revenue potential.

With the right guidance, building an online school is simpler than you think! From market research to attracting high-value learners, here’s a complete guide on how to build an online language learning school like Italki. 

So, ready to nurture a language learning community? 

What is Italki and How Does it Work?

Italki is a global language learning platform offering one-to-one language lessons for 150+ languages. It offers tutoring for popular languages like English, Spanish, French, German and Korean. Tutoring for less popular languages like Arabic, Dutch, and Czech is also available.

Learners can connect with native-language teachers and get personalized tutoring catering to specific needs. They can select their sessions based on their level of expertise: beginner, intermediate, or advanced.

Now, let’s take a look at how Italki works!

First, learners and tutors need to create accounts on the platform. Tutors can customize their profiles—they can add a brief intro, list their subjects, and provide price and availability. 

Learners can explore and book a trial session with their preferred tutor. They need to book a slot depending on their preferred time on the calendar. Later, tutors would confirm the booking and connect with the learners through live-video sessions. 

Benefits of Building an Online Language Learning School like Italki

Advantages of building an Italki-like platform includes:

• Personalized Learning

Learners can connect with tutors for tailored learning paths, gamified experiences, and even self-paced programs.

• Diverse Revenue Streams

Expand your revenue with tutor commissions, group tutoring, subscription plans, or one-to-one business tutoring.

• Global Reach

These online platforms connect learners with language experts across the globe. It offers accessibility & flexibility to book a language session from anywhere, anytime.

• Brand Authority & Ownership

Decide a unique business proposition to build your language school’s identity. This could be specializing in lesser-known language tutoring, targeting underserved segments,or cultural-immersion.

• Affordable Language Learning 

Online language learning platforms offer budget-friendly lessons tailored as per users’ needs.

How to Build an Online Language Learning School Like Italki: Step-by-Step Guide

Italki’s success story is an inspiring one — from a social networking site for language learners to an online language learning school. Today, the platform hosts over 3 million learners and 10,000 tutors tutoring 150+ languages. 

With a revenue of $328.5 million, Italki has carved its space in the language learning industry.

Inspired to achieve a similar success? We have crafted an amazing business roadmap to build an online language learning school like Italki!

Step 1: Define a Profitable Niche

Now, you have made up your mind to start your language learning business. Remember, you are stepping into a massive $33.3 billion market.

There are several language learning platforms deciding to sail through its waters. 

Amidst this, how will your platform anchor its rightful place? 

A profitable niche and a befitting target market holds the answer.

Here are a few strategies to find one:

• Assess your expertise and education: Do you nurture a love for languages? Or have a background in teaching a specific language? Your past knowledge can help  you to refine your offerings, attract the right audience and potentially scale your business.
• Market demand: Assess the market size and demand for your niche to run a sustainable long-term business.

• Perform competitor analysis: Identify 2-3 language learning platforms dominating the space. A comparative analysis looks into their market share, offerings, pricing, social media & marketing strategy.
• Discover the underserved yet rewarding markets: A comprehensive market research helps you come across the less-explored markets. Are there specific language learning markets where the learners’ needs are not met? Few examples include learners with special needs or language learning regional dialects. 

Language learning for K-12 students, young learners with special needs, business, travel purposes, etc., are a few profitable niches.

You can also choose to create a specific type of language learning platform, such as a self-paced, gamified, or language-exchange platform.

Step 2: Research Your Target Market

To create personalized experiences, you need to define your target audience. 

To whom do you plan to offer your tutoring services? Young learners, corporate teams, or expatriates?

Define who your target audience is and isn’t. This helps to mold your language learning platform based on what learners expect. 

Categorize audience into: supporters (influences to purchase product) and decision-makers (ultimately buys the product) 

Key Strategies for Audience Research:

• Know your current audience through email lists, social media, and website visitors.
• Create buyer personas — consider ideal characteristics, key demographics, needs and pain points.
• Find effective traffic sources with social media listening and analytics Use tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Brandwatch, etc.
• Gather insights from surveys, interviews, niche focussed-groups
• Delve deeper into what your audiences expect — achievements, learning needs, outcomes. Determine how your platform can fulfill their needs.

Step 3: Choose a Robust Business Model

Next, find a solid monetization strategy to supercharge your language learning website. 

Italki’s business model is based on a popular marketplace or commission model. But, there are few other revenue models you can explore.

A winning business model caters to unique business proposition, target audience, platform goals, market potential.

Profitable revenue streams to scale your language learning business:

• Pay-per-session – Earn commissions from one-to-one tutoring lessons, workshops, certifications priced on individual sessions basis.
• Subscriptions -Looking for a steady revenue stream? Offer subscription-plans with unlimited access to pay-per-classes, courses, etc.
• Language Packages – Lesson bundle packages as one-time purchases or tiered pricing
• Freemium Models – Attract free users with basic features; premium upgrades include personalized lessons 
• Affiliate Marketing – Partner with niche-relevant software & tools (Grammarly & ) and certifications or study abroad programs.
• Partnerships– Collaborate with organizations for one-to-one business,  language tutoring, licensed software for universities & colleges.
• Hybrid Revenue Models – Marketplace Model + Courses; Mobile App + Live One-to-One Classes; Live Classes + Community Support

Step 4: Design the UI/UX

An visually-appealing design, intuitive experience and powerful feature set is non-negotiable. Italki’s popularity can be credited to its user-friendliness, community support, and seamless search feature.

Key features to build an online language learning school like Italki:

• Login & Registration – An easy & secure login experience for tutors and students, allowing them to access all the platform features
• Easy Tutor Search & Filters –  Search extensive tutor profiles with filters, such as lesson category, price, location, session time, etc
• Tutor Booking System & Calendar Availability- On finding their preferred tutors, students can schedule a lesson with the tutor based on their availability
• Communication Tools –  Direct messaging, emails, and discussion forums offer spaces for student-tutor interactions
• Live Video Lessons: Integrate real-time interactivity with video conferencing SDKs like Zoom, LessonSpace, Zegocloud, etc
• Ratings & Reviews – Learners can evaluate the proficiency and credibility of tutors with a star rating system. The ratings highlight the tutors experience, expertise in the specific subject area
• Payment Gateway Integration- A streamlined payment process offers a superior platform experience. Choose trusted payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal and Authorize.net for secure payments
• Virtual whiteboards and screen sharing- Tools like virtual whiteboards and screen sharing make learning fun and interactive
• Asynchronous Communication – Platform features for building quizzes, multiple-choice questions, reading samples, etc
• Community Support- Italki has a resounding community for learners to connect and grow. Learners can build their language skills with assessments, quizzes, posts, and challenges. 
• Multilingual support – Offering multiple language options is essential for a language-learning community like Italki.
• Mobile Responsiveness – With the increase in mobile learners, optimizing your website to fit different screens and device orientations is crucial.

Step 4: Choose Your Platform

The success of your language learning business with a solid foundation — an all-in-one platform to host your learning school.

This is one of the most essential steps in this “how to build an online language learning school like Italki guide.”

Your choice of platform defines everything — from website experience, language learning sessions, learner engagement, and progress tracking.  So, choose wisely!

Not sure where to start? Here are a few solutions to get started:

• Readymade clone-scripts with essential pre-integrated features
• Using WordPress and LMS Plugin like Tutor LMS, Joomla, Drupal
• Low-code builders like Bubble.io, ShareTribe, etc
• Course builders like Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific
• Building from scratch

Prioritize your platform goals, features, and scalability needs. Look for a solution that helps to build a unique brand identity & aligns with your larger business vision. 

Ready-made clone scripts come integrated with all the essential features to launch a language learning school. Pinlearn is a leading self-hosted marketplace clone script to launch an Italki-like website in no time. No development or coding skills required; you can save time and money!

Step 5: Hire Expert Language Tutors

Now, you have set a platform for your language learning business. Next, you need talented linguists to drive your platform. Finding the right talent is essential to sustain the long-term success of your business.

Defining an effective tutor onboarding process attracts the best tutors to your platform. For example, Italki allows applicants to choose between — professional teacher and community tutor.

Key Onboarding Strategies:

• Define clear eligibility criteria for tutors – qualifications, skills, language expertise, and technology skills. 
• Profile submission – Tutors complete & submit their profiles as per platform requirements. Next, they need to clear all the interview rounds to join the platform. 
• Complete the onboarding process – Includes verification, success tutorials, platform walkthrough, etc
• Customize your profile – Tutor adds intro video, bio, interests, languages & topics, price availability
• Ongoing training & support – Involves upskilling with certifications, workshops, webinars

Step 6: Registering Your Business & Compliance

Legal compliance is essential for establishing your language learning school. 

Navigating the Legal Landscape:

• Register your business as an LLC (preferably), sole proprietorship, etc.
• Create contract agreements & guidelines for teachers 
• Draft the terms & policy, refund policy, etc.
• Check for essential licenses and permits as per your state and regional regulations.
• Manage sales tax permits if necessary (selling courses online). 

Step 7: Monitor Your Platform’s Success

The language learning industry is a competitive market. Evaluate whether your language’s school offer is promising enough!

Key Success Metrics for Every Language School:

• Learner Progress & Proficiency – How far have learners improved their language skills from your platform? Student performance is a major indicator of your platform’s success.
• Customer Retention Rate: If your customers are satisfied with your tutor sessions, courses, and resources, they are likely to stick to your platform longer.
• Website Traffic & Social Media Analytics: Track your platform visits and website conversions. Also, check how far people are engaging with your posts on social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn).
• New enrollments: Are there enough new learners joining your platform? Analyze the sources with more conversions – referrals, social media, website, advertisement.

• ROI: Last but not least, you cannot miss on key business metrics. While performance metrics depend on your business model, platform revenue, conversions, and commissions are common ones.

How to Attract High-Value Learners to Your Language Learning School?

Acquiring the right learners for your online language learning school is challenging.

Focus on building your platform’s online presence. 

They haven’t built a business by merely selling their language lessons. These platforms have all mastered the art of combining storytelling with cutting-edge technology. 

For example, Duolingo’s green-owl mascot, Duo, is deeply ingrained in its branding. It’s synonymous with the platform itself. It’s all about creating touchpoints along the customer journey!

Consider these marketing strategies to etch a powerful brand experience:

• Use social media to weave compelling brand narratives — testimonials,  success stories, language tips, and challenges.
• Leverage blogs and industry reports on tutoring tips & market trends.
• Provide free demo sessions & discounts to attract learners
• Create paid Google ads or social media campaigns to broaden your reach.
• Start email marketing campaigns — newsletters, promotional emails, and course reminders.
• Collaborate with educational institutions to offer certifications, degrees, and master track programs.
• Build an attractive referral program — turn your existing customers into cheerleaders.

Roadblocks to Build an Online Language Learning School Like Italki

There is a slow AI-powered language learning revolution gripping the industry. Platforms like Preply and Italki are at the forefront. 

So, the biggest challenge is the integration of AI for learning.

Few challenges include:

• Automated Tutor Matching- The machine algorithm analyzes student and tutor data and matches based on personalized learning paths.
• Enhanced Customer Support – Customer satisfaction matters more than ever! Modern AI-driven bots and support tools provide the best assistance, reducing reliance on human staff.
• Streamlining Administrative Processes- For online platforms, streamlining administrative operations like payment and billing ensures ease of operations. 
• Balancing AI with human tutoring – While an AI-bot can help you with your pronunciation and grammar, human creativity and empathy is irreplaceable. AI is best for augmented learning along with the warmth of human touch.
• Data Privacy and Security- Employing robust data security measures helps to protect confidential data.
• Managing Tutor Resistance – Attracting the right talent is essential for long-term business success. Convincing tutors that AI is not a threat, but here to enhance your learning is a challenge.

Constantly track your platform growth with powerful metrics. Scale your platform with trending features & modern technology.

How Much Does it Cost for Building a Platform like Italki?

Planning to build an online language learning school like Italki? Then, development cost might be the biggest roadblock. 

Although an exact cost estimate depends on the developer cost, project complexity, platform integrations, location,etc.

Development Cost Breakdown:

Conclusion

Building an online language learning school like Italki is a rewarding business to scale. But, you need a well-though business plan and engaging feature-set to make some noise! Here’s a proven blueprint to script success like Italki. We hope you find value with our detailed guide!

Looking for an ideal solution with a feature-rich interface? Pinlearn is a highly-customizable solution that comes pre-integrated with video-conferencing, booking and calendar management, communication tools and  much more! Ready to revolutionize language learning? Let’s connect and crystallize this together!

FAQs for Building an Online Language Learning School Like Italki

1. What are the steps needed to set up an online language-learning platform?

• Find a profitable niche
• Research your target audience
• Design the UI/UX
• Choose your platform
• Hire expert language tutors
• Registering your business & compliance
• Monitor your platform’s success

2. What’s the cost to develop a language learning school like Italki?

The cost to develop a platform like Italki is around $50,000 to $70,000 depending on the project complexity. Other factors that affect the cost are developer cost, location, third-party integrations, and tech stack.

3. Can you make money on an Italki-like platform?

Tutor commissions are the main monetization stream for Italki-like platforms. Other revenue streams include freemium model, referrals, affiliate programs, or ads.

4. What are the alternative approaches to reduce the development cost of an Italki-like website?

Consider pre-built clone scripts, open-source frameworks and a minimum viable product (MVP) instead of building from scratch.