Knowing how to price your online course is a very common yet oftentimes difficult challenge for content creators. But understanding how to sell online courses and putting a price tag on your knowledge doesn’t have to be intimidating. By valuing yourself, your course, and the work you put into course creation, you’ll be able to come up with a fair price that your audience will be more than willing to pay for.
So exactly how much should you charge? We’ve created a three-step guide to online course pricing to help you figure it out.
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Make your baseline price higher than you think. We’re just going to lay it out: Consider pricing your online course at a minimum of $100. Because you’ve validated your idea, acquired an audience, and developed your course, you already know it’s valuable. A good baseline price for a course is $100, if not more.
So, why have a baseline price of at least $100?
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With premium pricing, more is absolutely more. Would you believe us if we said it’s as simple as: Charging less means you make less money.
It’s normal to worry about scaring off potential clients with a higher priced course, but playing it safe can actually be dangerous in business as it may not accurately reflect the work content creators put into their offerings. Plus, if you price too low, students might not appreciate it as much or be as motivated to follow through with it.
In addition to the overhead needed to create the course, such as video production equipment, you can also factor in soft costs, like the time you put into creating your course, how much you would charge a client for that much of your time, how much you invested in learning the information you’re teaching, etc. Your time and expertise are valuable. While there is a ton of free information available, don’t underestimate the value of the information you curate, organize, and package for your students. It will save them time and energy, and make their lives easier in the long run.
It can be difficult to measure the true value of your course, which gets easily entangled with financial gains. When considering what makes your idea or offering valuable to others, go beyond what you’re selling and consider why you’re selling it.
For instance, you might be an art teacher, who beyond different painting techniques, empowers students to explore their creativity with confidence and playfulness. Or you may be a yoga teacher who doesn’t just demo the fundamentals of poses but also offers tools for increasing mindfulness and building resilience, too. Set your prices bearing in mind all students get out of the course, rather than just the course itself.
Meanwhile, you can always reduce the price via course sales or promotions after your go-to-market strategy is finished, but unless you’re prepared to enhance your original offering, it can be harder to raise the price of a course once you’ve announced it to your audience.
While online courses don’t always have to have a high price tag, premium pricing will help you in the long run and has a number of benefits.
How much can you really charge for your online courses? It’s up to you, but arming yourself with some pre-pricing knowledge can be indispensable.
Try this…
Before anything else, you should come up with income goals for your online course. Whatever you’re hoping to accomplish with your business, come up with a goal number.
In real life:
Let’s say you’re hoping to make $5,000 with your online course. With that in mind, if you keep your price point at $100, you need 50 people to buy your course to reach your goal.
But, what if you decide to offer at a higher price point of $250? In that case, you only need 20 people to enroll. And if you price your online course at $500, you only need to sell to 10 people. See where we’re going?
By putting these goals into place, you can establish a clearer picture of just how many people you need to be selling to in order to consider your launch successful.
Generally, you can assume that at least two percent of your email list will purchase it, so you use that as a solid starting point.
In real life:
If you have 1,000 people on your list, 20 people will likely purchase. If you want to make $4,000, you need to sell your course for at least $200 to meet your goal
Now that you’re armed with some basic knowledge on how to price your online course and more importantly, why you should be aiming for a premium price, close the deal for your students with an offer they really can’t pass up.
Pricing tiers make your course accessible to a larger number of students and to students who may not be interested in all of the bonuses you’re offering.
To create your pricing tiers, first decide on which pieces of bonus content you want to offer. Consider which ones make the most sense for your audience and which ones will have the largest ROI. Once you’ve decided on your bonus content, decide how much each piece is worth.
Although not every student may be able to shell out a lump sum upfront, it might be more manageable if your course offers smaller payments spaced out over a few months. What’s more, you can typically have higher price tags on plans that are paid out over time.
Your knowledge inherently has value, but as your prices increase, so too should your offerings. Some of the best ways to enhance your course content and add value don’t have to be overly complicated. Just learning some basic tricks for how to market online courses can help.
Remember: Setting your rates is upholding a boundary. It teaches clients how to treat you and respect what you have to offer. So price accordingly.
Premium pricing will help you in the long run and has a number of benefits. Consider pricing your online course at a minimum of $100. Once you’ve validated your idea, acquired an audience, and developed your course, you already know it’s valuable. A good baseline price for a course is $100, if not more.
Create income goals: Before anything else, you should come up with income goals for your online course. Whatever you’re hoping to accomplish with your business, come up with a goal number. Figure out how many people are likely to buy your course: Generally, you can assume that at least two percent of your email list will convert, so you use that as a solid starting point.
People sell courses from a wide range of price points. Some start around $40-50 (though, like we mentioned, we recommend keeping your price at a minimum of $100) while others go up to $1,000 or more.
Sections of this post are adapted from previous content written by Morgan Timm and Katie Davidson.
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