5 Tips To Price Your Online Courses and Make Money

Although sometimes the importance of the pricing process is underestimated, the reality shows that it is one of the most critical aspects. Why? Because the decision of purchase by your potential client is greatly affected by the price of your product or service.  

If you were wondering what the best price for your course is, then you are at the right place! In this article, I will share with you all the tips & tricks related to successful course pricing.  

So, if you are ready, let's start. 

How important is right pricing?

The right pricing of your course is extremely important. However, it is often underestimated. The reality is that the right pricing can bring you more clients. And here I will present to you a few reasons why pricing is important.

Reason 1 - Justifies your efforts

That is correct; the right pricing will save your energy and time. There are a few myths (which we will review in the last paragraph) that affect your pricing decision and make the whole process underestimated, which can negatively affect your motivation. So, the right pricing is critical because your efforts will be justified. 

Reason 2 - Save your money

Indeed your only investment was not time; probably, you spent money on launching, platform as well as on equipment. Therefore, the right pricing will be able to bring a return on investment quickly. 

Reason 3 - Bring you clients

Underpricing courses or overpricing them will not help you get clients; you have to be real about the course and consider several factors. Right pricing will potentially increase the number of people purchasing your course.    

Factors you should consider

There are several factors to take into consideration before pricing your online courses. And down below we presented the main ones:

Your experience and authority in the field

We can say whatever we want, but “Name” and “experience” still do matter. It is most likely that more people will be ready to pay over 100$ for a simple course if it is offered by an authority on the subject because there are name and trust factors involved. 

Besides, there is a factor of proven quality, and for beginners in the industry, it might be harder to sell overpriced courses. However, fight the urge to estimate a low price for your course; we will elaborate on why not do this later on in this article. 

Investment of time and effort 

“Time is money” is the quote that applies to this situation. Before pricing the course, consider how much time, money, and effort you have put towards creating it. Do not underestimate your efforts, energy, and time because those are assets that you own and do not want to waste for anything. 

Your assets in the course

Your assets in the course which you provide to your students can be:

• Syllabus: which makes everything clear for the student 
• Unique video materials created by you towards which you have put some time, energy, and effort to shoot and edit
• Unique presentations students will get access to during the course 
• Audio materials
• E-books

And many other things provided especially created by you for your students are considered assets they gain after the course besides the skills. So, when you price the course, make sure you have counted how much high-quality materials you provide your students with. 

Expected impact on students/learning outcomes

When pricing your course, take into consideration expected learning outcomes. This really does matter a lot. First of all, identify your primary objective, then learning objectives and learning outcomes. Take a look at everything, and that will help you get a better idea of what your students will gain from your course and make the whole process of pricing a lot clearer and easier for you. 

5 tips for pricing online courses

Finally, let’s take a look at the practical tips which will surely help you out. 

Tip 1 - Know Your Market 

Knowing your market is critical in the process of pricing your course correctly. When you are aware of who your target client is, including their income rates, you will be able to have a much better idea on what they are ready to pay to get the knowledge you promise them to. So, first things first:

• Identify your target client 
• Determine the audience needs and wants 
• Design a course that will meet their expectations 
• Price the course accordingly to the value 

Tip 2 - Price according to the Value 

Let’s elaborate on this step a bit more. There are courses that have real value and those which do not. The value of your course solely depends on you.  
 

First of all, choose the right topic at which to excel to provide accurate, high-quality materials. Secondly, make sure you include additional materials and have a list of readings, audio, or e-books to help your students understand the material better. And last but not least, provide interactive live sessions or even pre-recorded classes, make sure to include quizzes and tests. 

Also, a good step will be to include a certificate which students will gain after the course; it can motivate them to prepare well. 

Tip 3 - Calculate Your Costs & Potential Return on Investment 

In order to price the course in the right manner and develop a working strategy of furtherly pricing courses, you need to have an idea of what you invested in the final product. For the course creation, you most likely spent not only your time, but your energy money, be that equipment, purchase of editing software, or website creation. 

Fight the urge to estimate a low price and calculate all your costs. Afterward, establish an approximate goal (e.g., I want to get 100 clients in 2 months),and see at which point you will gain the money spent back and start to make a profit. That will help you to adjust and adapt the price in a way that will be beneficial both for you and your students. 

Tip 4 - Higher Price = Higher Value  

Consumers of educational content tend to perceive the higher price as more valuable, maybe it is not always like that, but mostly it is a proven fact. Of course, no one, unless you're on the top of your fields and well-known to millions, will purchase overpriced courses, but making your course truly worth 50$+ just 9.99$ is definitely a bad idea. 

Low prices will not guarantee jigger sales; it may even negatively affect your reputation, making clients think you do not provide materials valuable enough. 

Tip 5 - Length of Course Vs Value of the Course 

I believe this will be one of the most time-saving tips for you. Once and for all, please remember that length of the course does not matter when it comes to pricing; what matters is the quality of the course and the potential value it will provide learners with. 

So, do not make 2-hour lectures three times a week lasting for six months, when all the information you will be able to provide in 20 minute short classes in 2 months. 

The quality matters, of course; if there are many topics to talk about, it is okay to have lengthy courses. However, most people prefer simple courses that directly provide PRACTICAL skills. 

Tip 6 - Know your competitors 

Knowing who your competitors are is an extremely critical factor that will affect your further strategies related to pricing and marketing; before making your final decision check out similar platforms and similar courses. Look carefully in which price range they are, and which ones get higher sales. 

Tip 7 - Provide assets 

Your course is not only video materials or live sessions; it is also audiobooks, reading lists, e-books, and all the other materials that enhance the learning experience. Those are your assets, and if they are valuable enough, you can add up the price to your course.  
 

Set up pricing strategy

Setting up a working pricing strategy is essential; to do so, you have to take into consideration several factors, including the industry, competitors' pricing, etc. That is why I suggest that we look at several ways and factors that will help you set up an amazing, and most importantly, working pricing strategy.  
 

• Determine your business goals: You can use the SMART goal technique to do so. Knowing your business goals will help you better visualize the further steps you need to take related to pricing, promotion, and expansion. Determination of goals will help you improve cash flow, boost profits, beat the competition, and reach out to new clients. Therefore, make sure that you have a lot of short and long-term goals for your business, alongside strategies and tactics of achieving those. Determination of your business goals will also help you make pricing-related decisions. 
• Conduct market research: As we mentioned above, it is crucial to know who your competitors are and what prices they offer. 
• Analyze your target audience: If you want to offer a price at which purchase is most likely, you have to know what audience you will work with. Who is your target client? What is their approximate annual income rate? What are their needs, wants, and pain points? Answer the following questions, which will assist you in better understanding your audience.  
   

Set up pricing strategy: After completion of all the steps above, you will have enough information to formulate a pricing strategy. There are several pricing strategies on which you can read clicking on those - penetration pricing, economy pricing, promotional pricing, sandwich pricing, competitive pricing, and value pricing.  
 

Pricing myths

"Low prices equal higher conversion rates, and return on investment will be achieved a lot faster that way" ever heard of it? This statement is as wrong as 1+1=3. In this paragraph, we will take a look at the most disturbing myths that ruin the pricing of your course, alongside its value. 

Clients will come out of thin air

Launching an online course and thinking all you could have done is done and the only thing left is waiting is the biggest mistake you can make in this dynamic and competitive industry, where the internet has become the ultimate marketplace you've to "push" the course towards your target audience. Clients won't come out of thin air; they have to be aware that the course you offer exists. 

It is an amazing way for passive income

Online learning is one of the most in-demand industries currently; due to pandemics, people realized all the benefits that come with online learning. And even though there are no lockdowns anymore, many of them still prefer it over traditional learning. However, there is a myth that if you become an online course creator, you will earn lots of money just by publishing a few courses out there, and you can do nothing afterward.  
 

Again, that is a mistake. The creation of online courses is not a passive income business; it is a business that requires your attention and constant growth. You need to publish courses regularly, update existing ones, check out the materials, and a great idea would be to have a blog where you regularly publish articles. Blogging is an amazing instrument to drive higher traffic to your website and increase brand awareness. 

You need a final version of the product to start selling it

Many people wait too long until they launch the first course. Let me tell you a secret: your first course does not have to be perfect. Of course, it has to offer high value and high quality, but waiting for months to eliminate every small mistake is not a very good idea, because the most successful courses according to statistics are 3rd or 4th ones. 

Remember, the longer you wait, the more money you will lose. Also, remember that you can publish the first few lessons of the course which are already ready and start selling. When students buy and start to learn, they will see, e.g., "New lesson every Friday "and the rest of the lectures you will provide later on. 

Low price means more sales

I started this section of the article with this myth. However, I want to elaborate on this a bit more. Highly discounted products are unlikely to attract new customers and low-priced ones, especially when it comes to learning. For example, Ivy League colleges charge a lot because they offer high value and the best learning experience for the students. 

Higher prices when it comes to educational materials indicate higher value, but of course, you've to take other factors such as authority and experience into account when making a pricing decision. 

Summary

Pricing your online courses correctly is crucial for further success. In this article, we discussed nearly everything that can help you to make a final decision. Remember that your effort is worth a high return on investment, and keep on going!