A course cohort is a structured way of delivering a course, where learners move through the content together on a shared timeline. Instead of students accessing all lessons immediately or progressing independently, cohort-based courses release content in stages so everyone stays aligned.
This format is commonly used for programs with a defined start date, live calls, group discussions, or time-based transformations. Cohorts help create momentum, accountability, connection between learners, and a sense of shared progress.
This guide is perfect if you're looking to:
Run a live or seasonal course where students move through the content together
Launch a program with a clear start date and structured weekly lessons
Align your course content with live calls, events, or community discussions
Improve student engagement, accountability, and completion rates
Deliver the same course multiple times a year using a repeatable cohort structure
Follow the below steps to create and manage your course cohorts inside Ivorey
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Cohort-based courses rely on controlled content releases so that learners progress together, at the same pace. You can use Drip Mode, at either a module, sub-module or lesson level, to release your course content at specific intervals, choosing between:
Drip Specific Date (Recommended for Cohorts)
This ensures that all students, regardless of when they enroll, get the same content at the same time. This is great for cohort programs where learning is synchronised week-by-week.
Drip Days
This unlocks lessons a set number of days after a student enrolls (e.g. Module 2 becomes available 7 days after joining). This is ideal for evergreen content where students join continuously.
From the Ivorey main menu, go to [Courses] > then along the top menu bar, hover over [Courses] > and click [Products]
Click the 3 dots (⁝) on the course you want to edit > and click [Edit Details]
Select the [Outline] tab on the left-hand sidebar > click the drop-down next to your first module, sub-module or lesson > and select [Drip]
Select [Drip Specific Date] > choose the Date on which you would like this first piece of content to be released to your cohort > click the [Confirm] button > and click the [Save] button
Move through your course, and set the Drip Dates for each Module, Sub-module or Lesson. For example, you might release one Lesson per week or you might release one Sub-module per week which contains four Lessons each, depending on how you've structured your course and you would like your students to move through the content
Note: If you've created an introductory Lesson that you would like students to access immediately, you would set this to Published and set the next Lesson to Drip. This means as soon as a student signs-up and receives their course login, they can access only this introductory Lesson, until the next Lesson is released.
When you're preparing your course for your next round of cohorts, you can repeat the above steps and update the selected release dates
Note: Any changes to the course drip settings will apply to future enrollments only. Current members' drip schedules remain tied to their original start date and are not automatically updated when global course settings change, so be sure to have your dates finalised before enrolling students.
Cohort-based courses work best when learners have a dedicated space to connect, ask questions, and participate together as they move through the program. For this reason, we recommend creating a private community channel for each cohort inside your Community.
This keeps cohort conversations contained, organised, and separate from other programs or intakes, while allowing you to reuse the same Community for multiple cohorts over time.
Inside a cohort-specific channel, you can:
Share announcements and weekly prompts
Host discussions and peer support
Drop resources or reminders tied to lesson releases
Facilitate check-in calls, Q&As, or live discussion sessions
You can host calls in two ways:
Go Live - livestream directly inside the channel for more spontaneous or conversational sessions, learn more here.
Community Events - if you’d like to schedule live calls in advance, allow members to register, and send automated reminders, learn more here.
To create your cohort community channel, please follow the steps in our Create and Manage Community Channels guide.
At this point, you should already have a post-purchase workflow in place for your course, whether you're selling it via a course offer checkout or a sales funnel. For cohort-based programs, this workflow simply needs a few small adjustments so each intake is kept separate and organised.
From the Ivorey main menu, go to [Workflows] > and open the workflow you created for this course
We recommend adding another tag to identify the cohort specifically (e.g. C1 2026)
Before the Email step, add a new step and set the action to "Grant Private Channel Access" > under Group, select the Community the channel is in > and under Private Channels, select the cohort channel you created
If you would like your cohort to also have access to your general Community (not only the private channel), ensure you've added the "Grant Group Access" step and selected your Community
You can edit the tags and selected channel in this workflow for every cohort, before enrollment (no previous student's tags or channel access will be affected)
Cohort programs thrive on rhythm, accountability, and communication. A cohort-specific email sequence helps guide students through the experience week-by-week - without you needing to manually check in.
This sequence is typically triggered by the cohort tag you applied in the previous step (e.g. C1 2026), so it only applies to the correct group. Because this sequence is tied to a cohort-specific tag, you can:
Adjust the email sequence for each new intake
Update dates, messaging, or pacing without impacting past cohorts
Welcome - sets expectations, start dates, and how the program will run (you may have already included this in your post-purchase workflow)
Pre-release reminders - sent before a module or lesson unlocks (e.g. Module 2 unlocks tomorrow)
Lesson release notifications - letting students know new content is available (you may have already set this up in Courses > Settings > Email Settings)
Check-in or encouragement emails - to maintain momentum and reduce drop-off
Homework or reflection prompts - if your program includes implementation tasks
Live call reminders - if you’re hosting sessions via Go Live or Community Events
Wrap-up or next-steps - at the end of the cohort experience
To create your cohort email sequence, please follow the steps in our Create an Email or SMS Sequence guide.
Yes, if your course content is set to Drip Specific Date, the previously released content will be automatically available to any late-comers. This allows them to quickly catch up to the group, and follow along with future lessons.
If you would like this content to not be automatically available, you can adjust the Drip settings to Drip Days, after the first lesson has been released and the majority of students have enrolled. This would mean that any late-comers would only access lessons after a certain number of days after enrolling.
Hit the support chat widget inside Ivorey - we can:
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