KonMari's advice for designing an online course that ignites joy |

May 12, 2022

Marie Kondo is on a mission to help people organize their life by organizing their homes. The method she uses to clean stems from one issue: Does this object spark joy? An Emmy nominated Tokyo native started her first business as a consultant at just 19 years old, as she was still a student at the University. The business has grown to become the KonMari empire, with the award-winning pair of Netflix series as well as four (count  four!) best-selling books.

After the success of that book, Marie and her KonMari team have come up with an online course which provides the essentials to KonMari Method to life. KonMari Method to reality. "Most know KonMari as a character from our Netflix show or from Marie's most-read book, but this training course offers viewers an easy access to Marie and her method. This is the closest thing as a face-to-face consultant," says KonMari's Director of Publishing and Corporate Planning, Kay Amano. The ten-episode " Fundamentals of Tidying" course is driven by OTT - and features Marie herself, who walks viewers through every detail of the process of tidying.

The course, that is being purchased by thousands of organizational enthusiasts, is an invaluable source for anyone who want to create more happiness within their own lives. But it's also a helpful guide for every type of course design, whether you're teaching guitar or training new employees.

Find out more Marie Kondo's tips to design an online course that well, sparks joy.

1. Keep it short and digestible

One of the most important aspects that is a key component of KonMari Method is breaking down things down into small pieces so that people don't feel overwhelmed. The KonMari team translates this approach into their instructional videos, keeping the videos brief, digestible and categorized. The course is watched in less than two-thirds of the time needed to read the book, and the videos run less than ten minutes per video.

"If you choose to listen to the book the book will take 4 1/2 hours per book. With our course, we could condense the content down to 75 minutes. That's how we originally set out on this journey, in order so that we had visual guides which are simple, easy to digest, bite sized content so that people are able to go through the entire Tidying journey."   - Kay Amano, Director of Publishing and Corporate Planning

The course is also optimized to be highly browsable which means that viewers are able to choose their preferred "chapter" of their lives that they need assistance with in the present.

Summary:No matter what kind of course you're creating, maintaining it easy to use and short is essential to entice viewers. Try to keep runtimes short and make sure that each video is focused on a specific topic or topic.

2. Make sure that the people get what they would like

KonMari created its online course by asking existing customers what stage they were at in their tidying journey, the amount they'd be willing to spend for a visual guide as well as what exactly they most wanted to know about tidying. The company also reached out their social media community using online feedback from fans.

"We also did lots of listening to social media. We had people constantly DMing us or posting comments on our blog posts, asked, "How can I go about doing this? How can I accomplish that This made us realize the needs of our readers and required."   - Kay Amano

Learn from it:When developing a course of your own, take time to study your intended audience's requirements. Making use of email surveys, social listening, and even conversations with 1:1 people is essential to ensure that you're creating something that meets a need.

3. Make it visual

The KonMari Method is laid out in great detail in the many books and collections, however for people who prefer visuals, writing pages of words don't cut it. "The 2nd book contained a couple of illustrationsbut did not provide any depth beyond the folding methods she uses," says Kay. "A number of people asked, 'How do I store this? How do I fold this? I'd like to see this in action.' That's when we decided to launch the program, so that students to understand the fundamentals."

The lesson to take away:When designing a course on your own, remember to think "show, not tell" as often as you can. "This kind of visual can be a lot more effective than reading a text," says Takeo Yagi Director of Operations, Takeo Yagi. Operations.

4. Prioritize accessibility

In her role as the world-renowned "Queen of Clean," Marie speaks with a worldwide public. Her best-selling books have been translated into more than 40 languages and she has many admirers in various nations whose main language might have a different language than English as well as Japanese.

Marie speaks Japanese along with English subtitles in the "Fundamentals of Tidying" video course, which permits KonMari's KonMari team to offer translators to those in more than 100 countries that have bought the course.

"Because we can't export internationally at the moment This course will be an excellent choice for our audience. It can reach our international clients when our tangible offerings can't. It allows us to go beyond in the U.S."   -- Patti Ni, Director of Growth Marketing

Summary:Whether you're catering to worldwide audiences or not, making available tools like audio descriptions and subtitles is crucial for expanding your audience and improving your accessibility.

5. Offer supplementary information

The KonMari team thinks of their tidying course as an addition to the other services they provide. "Everything begins with having a good understanding of Marie. That's through Instagram as well as our Netflix program," says Takeo. "The next is the book , which will teach you what is the KonMari Method. If you're trying the Method by themselves we have a course to help. But we also offer consultants to those who have tried at it on their own but need some help. Every step is linked to the next one, and it's clearly defined."

In addition to the course being viewed as part of the bigger KonMari journey, the team also uses OTT's "Extras" feature to provide additional content for free along with their program. With support available at all stages of their journey, KonMari is able to create trust and buy-in among their customers and keep them engaged to remain loyal customers.

"It's really important to embrace both the reasons and not only the way," says Kay. "This training really does both. 'Here's how you do it, but it's the reason you should follow it all the way from starting to 10. It's a big part of the lesson and it's applicable to every single thing we do in the business."

Takeaway:Your video course is the main dish, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't offer a few tantalizing options to complement it. Consider what else the viewers may require during the course of their trip, and then provide it!