One of the hot topics today is market automation. In fact, it’s a huge business.

Upon a closer look you will see that the market is flooded by some pretty great applications.

Popular programs like Infusionsoft, Ontraport, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, and so on all focus on helping people and businesses automate their marketing efforts.

If you haven’t heard of marketing automation before then you should really check it out – it’s an exciting, fast-paced field.

Given the proven benefits and efficiency of marketing automation, does it make sense to apply the same to elearning and online courses?

For years teaching and learning have been a personal event. It has been suggested that often times it is the “human element” during the learning process that can really have the greatest impact on learning.

Knowing this, should implement automation into elearning?

In short: yes.

The longer answer is that only certainly elements should be automated and that you should always try to incorporate the personal touch where possible.

For example, you can place your learners onto a certain email list if they fail a quiz. Perhaps this email list sends them extra review content for the subject. Here, it is beneficial to have learning automation.

However, you should look to add that personal touch as well.

In this scenario it might also be a good idea to have a forum available for people who failed the quiz so that you (or another instructor) are available to answer their specific questions.

This of course is a very basic example, but it does highlight an important point when it comes to automation in learning. We have effectively supplemented the automation with the always important “human” factor.

There are many ways to facilitate engagement through automated methods. If you do go this route, keep it simple initially. Don’t try to automate every part of your course.

Start with one aspect, monitor the feedback, refine it, and expand from there.