Marketing Tools: Rules and Guidelines

Udemy offers marketing tools so that instructors can market only their Udemy courses to their students. Other than the Bonus Lecture, there is no space where you can market other related products to students.

The marketing tools Udemy offers are:

• Course Landing Page to communicate the value of the course
• Coupons and course referral links promote the instructor’s other Udemy courses to students 
• Promotional Emails: to market the instructor’s other Udemy courses to their students
• Bonus Lecture to market other courses and related products to students

These tools are meant to help the instructor engage their audience outside of Udemy with their Udemy courses. They also help the students of one course discover other great Udemy courses by the same instructor. They are not meant for instructors to market courses not created by them, or any other products to Udemy students.

Remember, when instructors do this, the whole community loses out on having a common pool of engaged students who want to learn. Students are either driven off the platform, or they unsubscribe and disengage from the platform because they feel like they’re being sold to.

What are Marketing Tools?

• Promotional Emails: These are used to let students of one course know about other Udemy courses by the same instructor. They’re meant for you to send to only your students, and may only include information about your courses. Please don’t take the marketing of other courses by other instructors into your hands, because this will hurt your relationship with students who will mark you (and us!) as spam.
  
  • Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with Promotional Emails here.
• Coupons and course referral links: These allow instructors to promote their Udemy courses to students on and off the platform. Coupons and course referral links are allowed only in promotional emails and the bonus lecture. They cannot be used anywhere else on the Udemy platform, because once students enter a course, they expect a safe learning environment where they will not be sold to.
  • Learn how to create Coupons here.
  • Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with coupons and course referral links by clicking here.
• Course Landing Page: The landing page includes the title and subtitle, course summary, instructor bio and course goals. Instructors use this space to help potential students decide whether the course is right for them. Don’t engage in marketing other courses or products to students or provide misleading marketing messages.
  
  • Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with Course Landing Pages here.
• Bonus Lecture: The last lecture of the course, after the concluding lecture, is called the Bonus Lecture. Instructors can add a Bonus Lecture to market other Udemy courses and products to students, and to inform students of material that is provided beyond the course. Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with Bonus Lectures here.

What are the restrictions for audiovisual promotions?

Any audiovisual promotional material (presented in video format) that instructors include in their courses or otherwise make available through Udemy’s Services is subject to the following conditions:

• You must disclose in your Course Description whether your course contains a promotion. Learn more about how to disclose promotions in your courses.
• The promotions must: 
  • be readily recognizable; 
  • not use subliminal techniques;
  • not prejudice respect for human dignity;
  • not include or promote any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;
  • not encourage behavior prejudicial to health or safety;
  • not encourage behavior grossly prejudicial to the protection of the environment;
  • not promote cigarettes or other tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes or refill containers;
  • not be aimed specifically at minors and not encourage immoderate consumption, if promoting alcoholic beverages;
  • not promote medicinal products or medical treatment available only on prescription; and
  • not cause physical, mental or moral detriment to minors; therefore, they shall not directly exhort minors to buy or hire a product or service by exploiting their inexperience or credulity, directly encourage them to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services being advertised, exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or other persons, or unreasonably show minors in dangerous situations.

Escalation Policy
Learn what happens when there is a violation of our policies here.