Every online course creator reaches a point in their business when it’s time to raise the prices of their online courses. As your brand grows and you build up your reputation as an expert in your field, your pricing will have to increase as well. If you’ve reached a point in your business where you feel ready to raise your prices and charge more to help people reach their goals, then you’ll want to know five key things to do before to make sure your transition goes smoothly.
How to raise your prices without losing customers
Step 1: Do your market research
The first step before you raise your prices is to do market research. The chances are that you already know your market as you had to do market research before launching your business. However, it’s always good to renew your knowledge and make sure that you know the newest market trends of your industry.
So, look at other creators at the level you aspire to be and compare their programs with yours. And also, look at what they’re charging and why. The goal of this exercise is not to compare yourself with other creators but rather to better understand what you need to offer to increase your rates.
Once you know how much other entrepreneurs are charging and what the difference is between their course material and yours, you can begin working on the next step.
Step 2: Get clear on your revenue goals
Before you raise your prices, you need to get clear on your revenue and income goals. Once you set yourself a goal (always make sure that it’s a little bit more than feels achievable) and calculate how much you’d like to make from your business, you’ll be able to better decide what your prices should be to achieve that revenue goal easier.
For example: Let’s say you’d like to make $100,000 per year from your online pilates courses. Right now, you charge $100 per course, but you’d like to charge more because you have a decade of experience as a pilates instructor and believe that your course can change people’s lives.
To reach that $100,000 per year goal, you’d need to sell 1,000 courses per year. Depending on the size of your business, the number might look intimidating. If you increased your prices to $250 per course, you’d only need to sell 400 courses per year to reach your revenue goal. If your business has a few thousand followers and email subscribers, selling 400 courses per year is not as intimidating as selling 1,000.
As you can see, having a clear revenue goal in mind makes it easier to calculate how much you should charge with the current size and resources of your business.
Step 3: Create a plan for your business
Once you’ve done your market research and got clear on how much money you want to make with your online courses, the next step before you raise your prices is to create a plan. To successfully execute a price increase, you’ll want to ensure that your current audience understands why the increase is happening.
Having an execution plan will help you explain to your current and prospective audience how your business is changing going forward. So, you might want to go over your curriculum and update it or refresh it. If you have something new and valuable to add, add extra modules.
Once you know what your new curriculum will look like, you’ll also want to create a small re-launch for your course. You’ll want to plan a marketing campaign to inform your current audience how the course is changing. And it’s also the best time to attract a new audience with the refreshed online course.
Step 4: Let your audience know in advance
Before you raise your prices, a crucial step is letting your current audience know about the increase way in advance. You might want to announce it up to a few months before the increase happens. And, if you want to take it a step further, you can run a campaign where you encourage people to buy the course now before the prices go up.
This sales tactic can be very effective in bringing in new business because people will be more inclined to buy when they have a chance at a discounted product. And, despite the common fear that increasing your prices means losing customers, announcing the pricing increase can attract better students who are more inclined to start and finish the course due to the higher up-front investment.
Higher course price encourages students to finish the course, which leads to better course completion rates and helps your business in the long term.
Step 5: Prepare for the small re-launch
Raising your prices is an occasion worth celebrating. So, prepare for a small re-launch that will allow you to present the refreshed online course to your audience. Also, this is the perfect time to target a new audience that’s willing to pay a higher price for a quality product.
So, for your re-launch week, consider doing these things:
- Run email marketing campaign: Utilize your email list and send special sales emails to your list explaining everything they need to know about your refreshed course and why they should enroll.
- Post on social media: Create a dedicated social media campaign that showcases your online course to new potential students via fun short videos, engaging posts, and stories.
- Consider guest podcasting: Your course re-launch is the best time to take advantage of guest podcasting and introduce yourself and your business to new audiences this way.
- Involve your community: ask your past and current students to share their experiences and stories on how taking your course changed their lives and helped them achieve their goals. Social proof is a strong selling force, so don’t be shy to ask.
Know your worth
It’s natural to be worried about increasing your online course prices. There are always risks involved, and you might see that some people will leave. However, you’re an expert in your field and your knowledge and time are worth the price you put on it.
So, don’t let the fear of the unknown discourage you and charge what you’re worth with your online courses. Always remember that your ideal audience will be happy to pay the higher price because they’re looking to buy from you.
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