Learning a new language not only makes us rich in terms of culture, but it can literally add money into our pockets. And the best part is, you aren’t required to be a language expert or a teacher in order to do that. You see, there are plenty of online resources to do affiliate marketing without having to own any products yourself.
In today’s Pimsleur language program review, I’m going to introduce a unique product and highlight some of its key selling points. By the end of this article, you’ll know how to start an affiliate business in this profitable niche.
What Is Pimsleur
The name actually derived from a linguist professor called Dr Paul Pimsleur who spearheaded language learning research in the 1950s. He was the founder of one of the largest language laboratories in the U.S. and had written many publications in the field of language acquisition processes.
What he found is that there’s a proven way to learning a new language effectively, and it has a lot to do with how our brains are wired. So he designed the Pimsleur Method ™, and it has been the basis for the entire language programs we’ll be discussing today. According to the expert, the best approach to a new language is through these four stages;
- Graduated-interval recall – Repeating a new word at longer intervals (i.e. 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes and so on) helps our long-term memory remember better.
- Anticipation – Prompting a challenge and a correct response to real-life conversations is likely to get students to think and recall a targeted phrase more quickly.
- Core Vocabulary – Limiting vocabulary only to its essentials can help students to focus on the language framework instead of trying to learn too many words at one time.
- Organic Learning – Focusing first on understanding and speaking will train the mind to “think” in that language. And then, learning vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation will come more naturally.
Using this simple method, Pimsleur created an audio-based learning platform that uses common speeches as the foundation for listening and speaking new languages. It offers 51 language programs and like most online language courses out there, most lessons are delivered in English.
Every program starts from Level 1 (the basic) and gradually move upwards. Each level contains 30 lessons and each lesson runs for about 30 minutes. After each lesson, there are usually some exercises and interactive challenges to help with revision and recollection of what was learned. There are no exams whatsoever, but there are goals you can unlock to access more learning resources as you progress.
How Much Does It Cost?
The Pimsleur language program comes with two types of pricing plans. The first is the one-off payment with lifetime access where users can purchase all levels, single-level or lessons in bundles.
- Level 1-5 = $575
- Single level = From $119 to $150
- Five lessons = $21.95 per bundle
The second one is a subscription plan that cost about $21 per month. It allows the sharing of the account up to 3 household members and full access to ALL the language programs. A 7-day free trial with full access is also available, but this is only offered through online reviews and not from the main website.
The Pimsleur Affiliate Program
The Pimsleur affiliate program lets you make a commission percentage within a 30 days’ window by promoting its language courses online. Here’s how it works; whenever someone signs up for a free trial or order a subscription through the app, you’ll get $5 per order. Meanwhile, for every successful product purchase, the commission is locked at 15% per sale. So if someone buys a complete course worth $575, you’ll earn about $86.
The affiliate program is managed by Impact so make sure you have an account with the network first. Since this is a language program, anyone who has any experience with foreign languages or simply likes to learn about a new culture should consider applying for the program. Once approved, you can grab the various ads and links provided by Pimsleur and start promoting through blogs, videos and social media.
What’s Good About Pimsleur
In order to get people to buy Pimsleur, it’s important to know the strength of the product and how it relates to your audience. Here are some features that will make the product stands out.
(1) Some of the most popular languages in the world are featured in the program, covering more than one level and come with complete skills and practice sections. These languages are;
- Arabic Eastern
- Standard Arabic
- Chinese Mandarin
- French
- German
- Modern Greek
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Norwegian
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Tagalog
While some people like to learn different languages for fun, most actually need it for survival; living abroad, working for a multinational company or travelling to a particular country. So having a platform that offers these options will give you a wider audience size for sure.
(2) Because it’s purely an audio program, users can easily learn on their mobile app (or download and play offline) while commuting or when their hands are preoccupied with something else. Now, I’m not advocating multitasking here, but aren’t we all guilty of that nowadays?
This feature fits right into a busy person’s schedule, allowing them to free up their hands and just focus on the listening/speaking part. And it doesn’t even take up too much of their time. Just 30 minutes a day for 30 days, and they’re on their way to learning something new.
(3) In my opinion, the minimalistic approach to visual, virtual interaction and vocabulary actually makes it a good platform for total beginners who’re easily distracted. This is actually Pimsleur Method in action to help with memory training.
When we take our eyes away from the screen, we can actually train our brains to work better in learning and understanding something. In a world of constant distraction, I know this so-called theory is hard to swallow, but Dr Paul’s research proved that it works. Kindergarten to high school students have used the method effectively so has the FBI. If you like to learn more about the concept of his teaching, you can check out his book on Scribd, entitled How to Learn a Foreign Language.
(4) Online language learning is set to become a $21-billion-dollar niche by 2027, thanks to the rise of remote learning, globalization and mobile usage so it’s definitely a niche worth investing if you’re interested in starting an affiliate business. Besides Pimsleur, there are also other language products you can look into.
(5) Just to prove my point, here are some search terms that are already trending on Google. For example, people who are interested in Spanish could also be searching for…
People who are interested in Korean may also search along the lines of…
And people who are looking for a language app may be searching for the following;
Enter any search term on Google which you think it’s relevant to Pimsleur’s features, and the list would just go on and on. These phrases are invaluable because they are actually potential keywords affiliates can use to attract a certain type of audience in the market; Spanish learners, Korean learners and audio learners for example.
Of course, I would suggest running them through with a keyword tool first to find out which has higher search volumes and low competition before using it. Do you have a key phrase in mind right now? Why not check with the Jaaxy keyword tool?
The Potential Downsides of Pimsleur
(1) Pimsleur’s simple approach to learning may not always be ideal. Too formal, too slow and lack of visual interaction have been some of the complaints expressed by past users. This is likely due to the lack of understanding of how the method works as some people find the repetition process and limiting vocabularies to be rather boring.
(2) On the pricing side, Pimsleur is slightly higher than the average learning program. This is good news for affiliates but when it comes to the consumers, it can be a sensitive choice. At a higher price point, users are going to expect much more than just audio; maybe more visual interaction, more cool features and such. But Pimsleur isn’t built that way so this may lead to some confusion and even frustration for new users.
(3) Many competitors are offering the exact opposite features from Pimsleur and some even have better pricing points too. For example, Duolingo is very visual, Rocket Languages is more interactive and FluentU uses everyday informal videos to make learning more relevant. On Udemy, there are many good language tutors who will not only teach you how to speak but also read and write, a big component that’s largely missing from Pimsleur.
(4) In terms of affiliation, I found that the acceptance rate is only 29%. That means, the company won’t simply approve anyone to become an affiliate and probably have some strict criteria for whom they think would be appropriate to promote their language programs.
In Summary
Overall, I think Pimsleur is a solid language program, backed by science which is geared towards the beginner’s level. It has a very professional outlook which is likely to appeal to mature users who prefer a less cluttered learning environment. The audio-focused feature will also benefit busy people.
As an affiliate, you should identify a potential audience and then market by its strength. One of the best ways to do this is through blogging because firstly, having your own platform lets you leverage from a plethora of targeted keywords, engage meaningfully with the readers so they can learn the benefits of using Pimsleur. Secondly, it will certainly improve your chances of being approved as an affiliate.
By integrating the free trial into your blog, users will have a fair chance of testing the programs first before making any purchase. At the same time, you can also be affiliated with other language programs, geared towards intermediate and advanced learners in order to diversify your online income. Who doesn’t like that, right?
So if you haven’t got a blog yet, you can easily get one using SiteRubix. It’s built on the free WordPress platform that is so commonly used by bloggers nowadays. After that, remember to head over to my recommended training platform to learn how to set up your blog, create content with keywords and become a successful affiliate in this booming niche.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Pimsleur language programs and its opportunities. Let me know in the comment section below if you’ve got anything else to add. Talk soon!
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