Choosing between online courses and face-to-face training is no longer an academic debate — it’s a business decision. If your goal is the best return on investment (ROI) for skills development, “done-for-you course creation” is showing up on procurement shortlists across the UK. Below I break down the hard numbers, the hidden costs, and practical ways a done-for-you approach can tip the ROI scales in your favour.
ROI isn’t just “how much did we spend” vs “did people pass a test?” It’s about speed to capability, reach, repeatability, and the ongoing cost of updates. Online courses scale — you build once and deliver many times — which is the core reason outsourced or “done-for-you course creation” is attractive to organisations that want measurable outcomes fast. Recent industry analysis shows the UK online education & training sector continuing to grow, reflecting that businesses and learners are buying scalability and flexibility.
Several UK studies and market reports point to steady growth in online learning penetration, with millions turning to digital formats for both professional and academic development. One UK industry summary puts the user base in the low-to-mid tens of millions and predicts continued uptake over the next five years.
For workplace learning specifically, surveys report that a significant share of organisations now deliver at least some training online (many moved quickly during the pandemic and kept digital channels). One sector analysis noted that roughly a quarter of organisations deliver training entirely digitally, with another large tranche using a mix of online and in-person methods — evidence that blended delivery (and therefore the need for quick, well-designed digital content) is mainstream.
Some industry reports suggest online formats can boost knowledge retention when designed well — microlearning, spaced retrieval, and interactive activities are more straightforward to implement at scale in a digital course than in an ad-hoc classroom delivery. Certain compilations of e-learning statistics cite retention increases of up to ~60% for well-designed online modules versus typical 8–10% figures sometimes quoted for one-off classroom sessions — an efficiency that directly converts to higher ROI per pound spent on training content. (As with all meta-figures, results depend heavily on instructional design quality.)
Cost savings vs classroom training
Retention increase (well-designed online vs classroom)
UK organisations delivering blended learning
UK organisations delivering wholly online training
That said, online learning can suffer higher attrition/dropout if content or scheduling doesn’t fit learner realities: time-management issues and lower perceived instructor presence (a valid concern which Goster courses uniquely address) are recurring reasons for online dropout identified by research comparing modalities. Good done-for-you providers bake engagement strategies into the course (checkpoints, facilitator support, short modules) to mitigate those risks.
Face-to-face training carries recurring logistical costs: venue hire, travel, printed materials, and instructor time — and these recur every time the cohort runs. E-learning converts many of those recurring costs to fixed, upfront costs plus low marginal per-learner fees. Analyses of cost differences emphasise that e-learning’s benchmarking and tracking also make ROI easier to calculate. If you’re outsourcing course production — i.e., buying done-for-you course creation — you often shave production time and avoid costly in-house trial-and-error.
Face-to-face strengths are obvious — interaction, networking, hands-on practice — but in the UK business environment they also carry real drawbacks that depress ROI:
Higher per-learner cost (travel, rooms, instructor hours) compared with a digital module you can reuse.
Limited reach — you can only teach as many people as fit a room or a schedule; scaling requires repeat runs.
Longer time to deploy new content (book trainers, arrange venues) — slower response to skills gaps.
These structural limits are why many UK L&D teams now mix modalities and increasingly rely on external “done-for-you course creation” to get high-quality content to learners faster and cheaper. This might make it worth a quick 15 minute discovery conversation.
Face-to-face still outperforms for certain needs: complex psychomotor skills, delicate leadership coaching, or tasks requiring real-time judgement under observation. The sweet spot for ROI is often blended learning: put core knowledge in high-quality, scalable online modules (ideally via done-for-you course creation), and reserve face-to-face time for simulation, practice, and human feedback.
Define the business metric (time to competency, error rate, promotion rate) before you brief a provider.
Choose modular design — micro-units are cheaper to update and easier to measure.
Insist on measurement — pre/post checks, completion analytics and manager-observed behaviours.
Plan for updates — a done-for-you package should include a clear update schedule so content stays current at a predictable cost.
Blend where appropriate — reserve face-to-face spend for what only humans can do.
When bought well, done-for-you course creation converts your L&D spend into a repeatable asset rather than a recurring supply chain problem.
If your organisation needs reach, predictable costs, and fast updates — and you want measurable learning tied to business metrics — online learning built by a specialist like Goster Group (done-for-you course creation) usually delivers higher ROI for your organisation. If your priority is human practice and live coaching, face-to-face will remain essential — but even then, combining both often produces the best cost-per-impact ratio. Evidence from UK market reports and L&D surveys supports a pragmatic, blended approach.
Tandfonline — Online vs. face-to-face: a long-term study
IBISWorld — Online Education & Training in the UK (industry report and forecasts).
HESA —Higher education student statistics 2023/24 (context on HE enrolments).
eLearning Marketplace— The impact of e-learning growth on workplace learning (CIPD uptake summary).
Larmer Brown— Cost Benefits of eLearning versus Classroom Training (practical cost breakdowns).
In this chat, we’ll show how we can turn your content into a branded, scalable course—no obligation.