GetResponse, the email marketing pioneer, is venturing into the creator economy. 

After 25 years of helping businesses reach inboxes, the company is now setting its sights on a new territory: empowering creators to monetize their expertise.

However, this pivot isn’t just another tech company jumping on the latest bandwagon. It’s calculated based on years of customer insights and market analysis. 

GetResponse observed its users increasingly selling content rather than just using it as lead magnets. The company saw an opportunity to revamp the fragmented online course creation and marketing world.

The solution? A new Content Monetization Platform that promises to be the Swiss Army knife for content creators. It aims to provide an ecosystem where creators can build, market, and sell their knowledge without juggling multiple subscriptions or mastering complex tech stacks.

Abby Hehemann, GetResponse’s Director of Product Marketing, explains the impetus behind the new offering. 

“We’re seeing this convergence of online education, traditional education, marketing software, creators, marketers, educators – it’s all coming to a bit of a confluence, which is a cool place to be,” she says.

The Content Monetization Platform differentiates itself by integrating native marketing tools, which Abby claims competitors often sell as add-ons.

“By default, we’ve got pre-built automation, email templates, and automation that are automatically set up whenever you create your account,” Abby explains.

The exec breaks down the platform’s essential features, AI-powered capabilities, and the company’s approach to pricing and partnerships.

Key Features of the Content Monetization Platform

At the forefront of the Content Monetization Platform offering is the AI-powered course creator, which utilizes OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini technology to assist users in structuring their courses.

“The purpose of integrating it with AI natively is to help creators get started with the right ways to structure their course,” Abby explains. The AI suggests course modules, sections, lessons, and even quiz content, which creators can customize with their material and expertise.

Another key offering is the paid newsletter subscription feature. “This is paid access to an ongoing digest of content that people can receive in their inbox but also view on a dedicated hub,” Abby says. The tool allows creators to offer premium content to subscribers, diversifying their revenue streams.

The platform also includes a creator’s profile, serving as a centralized hub for all offerings the creator can promote on different social media platforms.

GetResponse’s native webinar functionality—which Abby says is unique for a solution in this market—is integrated into the platform, allowing real-time student engagement.

Another key feature is that the platform supports automated email scenarios.

“We have automatically built the recommended flow for how you engage with your students,” Abby explains. If students drop off without proceeding to the next lesson, the system sends emails reminding them to return their lessons.

Empowering Creators Through Marketing Support and Pricing Strategies

The Content Monetization Platform aims to offer a comprehensive suite of tools under one subscription. 

“The main pain point is multiple subscriptions, the associated cost, and having to find niche solutions for little specific aspects,” Abby points out.

The platform integrates course hosting, webinars, email marketing, and landing pages, eliminating the need for multiple subscriptions and reducing creators’ costs and complexity. 

“A quote that one of my team members had from a customer who has moved over to our solution is ‘I canceled all my other subscriptions,’” Abby notes.

The platform currently supports Stripe and PayPal integration for monetization. GetResponse does not take any revenue share from course or paid newsletter sales. “It’s your content, your knowledge, your revenue, you keep it,” Abby says.

The pricing strategy is based on two factors: the number of marketing contacts or subscribers and the number of actively enrolled students. 

Abby explains, “We wanted to take a close look at the competitive landscape [and] the common subscription prices for different niche products people were previously solving for and make it cheaper, not because we want it to be cheap but because we want it to be affordable.”

GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial with full access to features, except for selling. Abby reveals that the company has seen many creators pay for the subscription within ten to three days, even after one sale, in extreme cases.

The platform’s focus on “time-to-monetization” aims to help creators quickly recoup their subscription costs and start generating profit. Features like AI-structured course creation accelerate this process.

Customer Insights and Expert Collaborations

The Content Monetization Platform model results from extensive customer feedback and strategic collaborations with industry experts.

“Part of the general marketing and product marketing and customer success strategy [at] GetResponse is ongoing customer feedback loops, checking in, having multiple calls across different units,” Abby shares.

The company utilizes a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. These include one-on-one calls with new customers, surveys, and regular check-ins. 

The process helped identify key trends, such as the prevalence of life coaches, business coaches, and development coaches within GetResponse’s ecosystem and their need for content monetization tools.

GetResponse has partnered with industry experts like Michaela Alexis and Erik Huberman to enhance the platform’s value proposition and provide users with insights into course creation, brand building, and marketing fundamentals.

The expert-created content, including courses, webinars, and blog posts, complements GetResponse’s educational materials on product usage. “We definitely prioritize partnerships with experts in this field,” Abby points out.

Poised for Growth

GetResponse has a positive outlook for the growth of the Content Monetization Platform. 

“We’re being conservative,” Abby acknowledges. “GetResponse is synonymous with email marketing. It will take time for GetResponse to be exposed to a new audience for a different use case.”

Abby explains that the company’s immediate focus is on learning and adaptation, which involves engaging directly with creators at events and gathering feedback to refine the platform.

Future developments may include community features and marketplace integration based on user feedback. 

“We’re trying to determine what aspects are essential for us to have in-house and what aspects are acceptable for our users to integrate with,” Abby notes.

The company recently hired social media maverick Carlos Gil to capitalize on the growth of the creator economy.

GetResponse’s recent research study highlights the potential of the online education market. “93% of the course creators are making money from it,” Abby reveals, adding that the industry is projected to reach “$1 trillion within the next few years.”

“If you already consider yourself a creator and don’t have a course yet, it’s time,” Abby concludes.