Marketing Tools

​At Udemy, our mission is to be the best place to teach and learn online. To achieve that mission and to ensure our students have an amazing educational experience, we ask our instructors to abide by our ground rules when building their courses and communicating with students. 

If our system detects that you are trying to add content that may violate these guidelines, you may receive one or more of the following types of system warnings asking you to review, edit, or remove some of your content. You can review some of the different reasons why you may encounter warnings below.

Links or coupons for other Udemy courses

The warning will indicate that a link has been detected that could be a coupon code, which is not allowed in that particular location. 

• Where you’ll see it: You may see this warning regarding a course link or coupon code, when sending an educational announcement, or when editing your course content (Course Discussion, Course Lectures and Lecture Descriptions) or course marketing fields (Instructor Biography, Title/Subtitle, Promo Video, Course Summary, Course Goal and Objectives, Course Requirements, Intended Audience, etc.). 
• Why it appears: The appropriate place to promote your other Udemy courses is via the Promotional Email tool or in the Bonus Lecture, which keeps the students’ space for learning separate from your space for promotion.  Udemy’s Instructor Community Guidelines prohibit promotional activities such as linking to your other Udemy courses in the areas named above, as these areas are meant for educational content only. If our system detects links to Udemy courses or coupon codes in those fields, this warning will appear. 
• What to do next: Simply remove the link in question, and press “Save” again to proceed.

External links

The warning will report that external links are not allowed in that location and that it needs to be removed.

• Where you’ll see it: You may see this warning regarding an external link when editing your course content (Course Discussion, Course Lectures and Lecture Descriptions) or course marketing fields (Instructor Biography, Title/Subtitle, Promo Video, Course Summary, Course Goal and Objectives, Course Requirements, Intended Audience, etc.). 
• Why it appears: The appropriate place to promote outside resources is in the Bonus Lecture, which keeps the students’ space for learning separate from your space for promotion. If our system detects links to external resources in those fields, this warning will appear. 
• What to do next: Simply remove the link in question, and press “Save” again to proceed.

Conditional external link warning

The warning will ask you to make sure the external link that’s been detected is to direct students to free, educational content.

• Why it appears: This warning regarding an external link will appear if our system detects any external links or partial links in your educational announcements, course lectures, or lecture descriptions. As our system cannot distinguish between an educational link and a non-educational link, this warning will appear as a reminder even if your link is educational.  
• What to do next: Double check your content. If your link does NOT lead to free educational content (i.e., it is actually promotional in nature), please remove the link and then proceed. If we find that your educational announcements violate this policy, you run the risk of having your messaging privileges suspended and/or having your course removed from the site, as per Udemy’s Guidelines.  If your link does lead to educational content, and you believe you received this warning in error, you do not need to edit your text and may proceed.​

Other relevant policies

You may see warnings about external links or coupon links when creating your Bonus Lecture. Please make sure your content and links are in accordance with our Bonus Lecture Guidelines before proceeding. 

Learn about our educational announcements guidelines.

The Course Landing Page includes the title, subtitle, course summary, instructor bio and course goals. This is where instructors provide information to help potential students decide whether the course is right for them. 

Make the course landing page for your courses unique!  While you may teach some similar courses, you cannot recycle language across your landing pages. Highlight what makes each offering special so that your course stands out when students discover it.

Don’t engage in misleading marketing messages; if a student has a bad learning experience because of a bad fit with the course, it can result in bad reviews and low engagement. Don’t include coupon codes, course referral links or external links (except in the designated links field of the instructor bio) either.

Instructor – Detailed Guidelines

Udemy strictly prohibits the following in any sections of the course landing page:

• Misleading marketing messages
• Coupon codes, references to coupon codes or course referral links
• External links (except in the designated links field of the Instructor Bio)
• Content duplicated from other landing pages

Referring to your other Udemy courses is allowed only when it helps you be more transparent to students. For example, if you have a large course A, and a smaller course B that covers a portion of what you cover in A, then it’s good to let students know this in the Course Landing Page or Promo Video. Don’t use this as an opportunity to sell your other course, but to let students know so they can make an informed decision.

When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies, in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates), it will be considered a violation of our policies.

Escalation Policy

Learn more about what happens when there is a violation of our policies.

Promotional Emails are a way to let students of one course know about other Udemy courses by the same instructor. They’re meant for only 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. Click here to learn how to use Promotional Emails well.

Instructors – Detailed Guidelines

• You may send only two Promotional Emails per course per month.
• You may only send Promotional Emails from courses where you are a visible instructor. For more information on instructor permissions and how to edit them, please click here.
• You may send coupon codes or referral links for your courses. For more information on how to create coupon codes for your courses, please click here.
• You may not include any external links or references to external links in your Promotional Emails. This includes, but is not limited to, links to YouTube, other course platforms, any pages that ask for money or personal information, and your own website.
• You may not ask for or post personal information about students.

When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

Escalation Policy

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

For troubleshooting steps regarding issues with promotional email deliveries, please refer to this article.

Coupons and course referral links 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.

Instructor – Detailed Guidelines

• You may send coupons or course referral links only:
  
  • via Promotional Emails or
  • to your own audience via email or social media
• You may not include coupons or course referral links in any of the following:
  
  • Educational announcements
  • Anywhere on the course landing page
  • Course material (excluding bonus lecture)
  • Direct Messages to students
  • Course Discussions

When you provide students with coupons, we require that you be clear about how long it will be available and/or how many people will be able to use it before it expires.

When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

Escalation Policy

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

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.

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

This article explains what a bonus lecture is, and includes the rules and guidelines governing their use.

What is a Bonus Lecture?

A Bonus Lecture is the last lecture of the course, posted after the rest of the course materials. This space can be used to market your other courses, products, and services to students. It is considered a marketing tool for instructors.

Instructors typically use the Bonus Lecture to provide coupon codes, course referral links, external links to other products and services, and affiliate links to supplementary course materials.

What are the rules about Bonus Lectures?

As the Bonus Lecture is a marketing tool, we have rules governing their use to ensure their impact on the learning experience is unobtrusive. 

• Bonus lectures may not be referenced in any other Udemy spaces such as Direct Messages, the Course Landing Page, or Announcements
• Only one Bonus Lecture is permitted per course, and it must be the last of the course
• To prevent confusion, no other lecture titles can include the word "bonus"
• If you have resources such as PDFs, these must be included within the Bonus Lecture
• Bonus Lectures may not be available as part of the Free Preview
• The title of the Bonus Lecture must include the word “bonus.” For example: “bonus lecture,” “bonus section,” “bonus lesson,” etc. 
• The materials contained in your Bonus Lecture may not be mentioned in the lecture title or description, as these are visible from the Course Landing Page

Escalation policy

When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system, or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates), it will be considered a violation of our policies.

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

At Udemy, we’re passionate about protecting learners from upsells and solicitation of personally identifying information (PII). We want the course experience to be focused on learning, and free of promotional content. 

That said, we know that setting up for a course often requires additional financial investment into certification, software or material costs. Part of creating a great Udemy course is providing unique selling points such as discounts and resources for the learner.

To make space for these resources but preserve the course experience, they may be shared through the Course Setup Lecture.  

What is a Course Setup Lecture?

A Course Setup Lecture is one of the first few lectures of the course, posted after the introduction, but before getting into the learning portion of the course materials. This space can be used to talk through or include a list of required materials needed to complete your course. It is considered a vital tool for learners to refer to when preparing to begin their course experience.

Instructors typically use the Course Setup Lecture to provide: 

• Exam vouchers
• Discounts for software taught in the course
• Industry-standard certificates or credits administered by the instructor
• Free interactive labs on an instructor’s website which cannot be offered through the Udemy platform

What are the rules for the Course Setup Lecture?

The Course Setup lecture has several rules to ensure that any resources shared are limited to those essential to the course requirements or learning objectives.

• Only one Course Setup Lecture is permitted per course
• The title of the Course Setup Lecture must include the word “Setup” to easily distinguish it from other lectures. For example: “Course Setup Lecture,” “Setup Lesson,” “Getting Set up for your course,” etc 
• If the instructor receives an email from the learner, that learner must consent before being added to any mailing lists
• Recommended: To avoid confusion with other lectures which may include the word “setup” in the title, consider adding a lecture description saying something like “Official Course Setup Lecture”

We ask also that instructors be as transparent as possible on the course landing page and within the Course Setup lecture about what accessing these resources will require from the learner, such as:

• Any associated costs
• Whether a credit card is required to access free trials
• Whether signup is required for another site
• Personally Identifying Information (PII) collected
• How any PII will be handled e.g. if learners will be added to any newsletters or mailing lists
• Whether the resources are provided by third parties, or directly from the instructor

Learners should have a good understanding of where the Udemy experience is ending, and when they are providing PII or payment information to other platforms.  

What shouldn’t I put in a Course Setup Lecture? 

Any mention of instructor offerings available for purchase, or other resources which might be recommended but are not required should instead be shared through the Bonus Lecture. This includes:

• Course coupons or discount codes
• Instructor offerings with associated fees like labs, coaching, books, etc.
• Recommended readings
• Proprietary instructor certificates that require PII

Escalation policy

When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system, or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates), it will be considered a violation of our policies.

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

A Udemy course may have more than one instructor who plays a role in creating and managing the course. This article is intended to guide instructors considering this option toward positive use cases (e.g., co-developing a course can be a great way to add expertise and a fresh perspective), while avoiding problematic use cases (e.g., using the co-instructor feature purely as a way to game Udemy's revenue share from instructor coupons or referral links.

Udemy’s policy on co-instructors

Co-instructor rules:

If you are planning to add a co-instructor to your course, we recommend that it be someone whom you know and trust. Please take extra care and consideration if you are splitting revenue with or giving editing rights to a co-instructor. Keep in mind that Udemy’s contractual relationship is strictly between Udemy and each of the instructors.  Any co-instructor business agreements related to a course remains exclusively between the co-instructors.

• Learn more about adding co-instructors to your courses and managing instructor permissions.

In addition, please consider the following:

• DO add the co-instructor if the individual is bringing in unique expertise in the form of course creation, development, production, teaching or managing the course.
• DO make co-instructors visible on the course if they’re appearing in the course videos and/or engaging with students. At least one of the visible instructors on the course, should be the person students are learning from and interacting with.

Don’t do the following:

• DON’T be co-instructors with the primary goal of exploiting Udemy’s marketing tools or sharing each other’s student base.
• For example, if an instructor wants to pair up with you after you’ve published your course just to market to one another’s students, this is against Udemy policies. Remember, if you’re actually interested in marketing each other’s courses, you can do so by becoming an Affiliate.
• If on the other hand, you want to co-develop or co-manage a course together right from the beginning, that’s exactly why we enable courses to have multiple instructors, and is totally fine.

Escalation process for violations

Remember, abuse of co-instructor relationships impacts everyone. When instructors try to augment their marketing capabilities in this way, we've seen a negative impact on students and higher unsubscribe rates for instructor announcements and Udemy emails. This hurts all instructors in the marketplace, because these students unsubscribe not just from one instructor’s announcements, but from all Udemy emails.

When we see cases where an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates due to co-instructor behavior) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

Everyone makes mistakes, so most first violations will result in a warning. Subsequent violations may result in loss of access to product features (e.g., Course Announcements), account suspension, or in rare cases, account termination.

• Learn more about what happens when there is a violation of our policies.