How this certification business scaled to 16k+ learners with the right tech stack

In this edition:

• Z-Health is a continuing education platform for health and movement professionals. Its brain-based approach to pain, movement, and performance has attracted 16,000+ learners across 30+ courses and programs.

• In 2020, Z-Health moved its full certification program online – and after migrating to Thinkific, it’s seen a 30-40% increase in course completion rates

• Below, Director of Operations Tara Kalajian shares how they achieved this growth

1. Package your certification courses into a high-value bundle

For years, Z-Health sold each of its 11 certification courses individually, requiring constant outreach to move learners through the full program one course at a time.

With Thinkific’s built-in commerce tools, Z-Health bundled four courses into a single $6,000 offer, with payment plan options of $500/month over 12 months or $1,000/month over six months. This simplified the path to purchase, and produced some of the best revenue months for the business. As Tara notes, “The bundle options and payment plans have made our offers more clear and more successful.”

2. Use order bumps to increase average order value

Z-Health’s model is built on progression: learners who complete one certification are the most qualified candidates for the next. But historically, converting that momentum into the next purchase required a separate outreach effort.

Now, Z-Health uses order bumps at checkout. This means the next logical course surfaces automatically when a learner is already committed, increasing order value without requiring a separate sales conversation.

3. Use payment plans to make high-ticket offers more accessible

Z-Health had always offered flexible payment arrangements to make its courses accessible, but the overhead was real: tracking custom deals, chasing payments, and managing access manually was time-consuming.

According to Tara, moving to Thinkific’s native payment plan functionality has made the entire process structured and automated: “We have eliminated repetitive administrative tasks, which has allowed our team to focus on bigger, more expansive projects for the business.”

4. Extend learner lifetime value with a recurring membership

For Z-Health, a completed certification is just the beginning. Its curriculum is designed to be a living reference that practitioners return to repeatedly, between client sessions and as they gain more experience in the field.

To support this, Z-Health has launched a membership giving practitioners ongoing access to new content and live sessions after their initial certification. This creates a predictable revenue stream for the business while keeping its learners engaged – with membership payment and access fully automated within Thinkific.

5. Use progress reminders to drive course completion

Previously, Z-Health had almost no visibility into how learners moved through its material. Drop-offs would happen invisibly with no way to intervene.

Since migrating to Thinkific, Z-Health has used weekly progress reminders to drive an estimated 30-40% increase in course completion rates, with more certification exams submitted every week than at any prior point in the company’s history.

“The level of detail of Thinkific’s analytics and reporting features are giving us real-time access to how the learners are engaging with the material,” Tara shares. “We have been able to pivot quickly on lead magnets to improve conversions, as well as notice where learners are getting stuck and provide support.”

Z-Health's learner dashboard centralizes announcements, events, and course updates – keeping its community connected between certifications and reducing dependence on email.

6. Build your platform around how your learners actually use the content

With 30+ courses and a constantly growing catalog, searchability is an operational challenge. Z-Health needed learners to be able to locate specific content quickly, without having to dig through the entire library.

“We needed a platform that would allow learners to engage with the material in that way – sometimes in the middle of a session, or when you have five minutes between clients,” Tara explains.

This shapes how Z-Health builds its Thinkific environment: Omnisearch lets learners find specific content across its full course catalog in seconds, while a dedicated learner dashboard centralizes announcements and events, reducing dependence on email and keeping the community connected between courses.

7. Choose a platform with customer support that goes beyond troubleshooting

Z-Health came to Thinkific looking for a course delivery platform, but the relationship turned out to be a genuine business partnership.

During onboarding, a launch specialist helped map the full learner journey and identified friction points Z-Health’s team had stopped noticing. The ongoing customer success relationship has kept that momentum going.

As Tara notes, “Having the support of a customer success manager has felt like having someone else on our team – someone who’s looking out for our development and helping us get the most out of the platform.”

Learn more about Z-Health, check out its program offering, and follow the business on Instagram.