How To Price Your Online Course

Pricing your online course can be a bit of a challenge – but there is more to it that witcraft and wizardry.

After many years in this field, I have some top strategies for you that you can apply to work out the perfect pricing model for your online course.

In this video and article, I explain……

But before we do, pricing your online course and nailing your business model with courses included is Step 3 of my 10 Steps of creating an online course.

If you haven’t yet done Steps 1 & 2, you can check those out here:

• Step 1: Pick The Perfect Topic For Your Online Course and
• Step 2: Ensure Your Course Idea has High Market Demand

With those items now complete, it’s time to begin planning what business model you’re going to lead with and the pricing structure of your course.

Now before you start counting all the dollar bills that your course is going to bring in, I want you to take a very strategic and long term approach to the early decisions in this Step 3 of Pricing & Nailing Down Your Business Model.

WATCH THE COURSE PRICING VIDEO HERE:

Never Create Your Course In Isolation From Your Other Offerings

My BIGGEST tip in this step: 

Never create an online course as a stand alone product in isolation from the rest of your business products and services.

Here’s why: 

Although online courses can certainly be profitable in their own right and have the potential to earn you a limitless income stream, it’s what your course leads to AFTER the sale that really creates wealth.

Let me explain.

I have a 7 figure education business and despite the fact that my online courses earn me a significant portion of my income, it’s what the online courses lead my students onto that earn me the most amount of money in my public side of the business – including my 

‘Course Creation Group Coaching Programs’, 

‘Course Creation Bootcamps’ and 

‘Done-For-You Course Creation Services’.

Do you (or could you) have your own coaching, consulting, bootcamp or services that could be a ‘next level’ offer after your students have purchased an online course from you?

These AFTER programs and services are what bring in the majority of my 7-figure income for me, and without my online courses being the first sale, my business model would be nowhere near as successful as it is. 

Why Does This Work So Well?

Having your online course as your ‘bottom of funnel’ offering (even if it is a higher priced course), is an incredible strategy if you have other higher priced offerings in your business model.

In an online course, people get to experience you and your expertise and see for themselves that you know what you say you know.  

This affirms great trust in you; and if they liked your course, you become the only person that they will go to for ‘the next level’ of support without needing to question your capability (or pricing).

What I also see happen daily from my own online courses; is that when you teach the detailed nuts and bolts of your topic, people gain a whole new level of appreciation for the expertise and specialist skills behind the teaching. This makes many people shift from wanting to ‘do it themselves’, to wanting an expert to ‘do it for them’.

Instead of having to sell your services ever again, you’ll have your students queuing up at your door begging for your high-end assistance.  

Sarah Cordiner’s “Online Course Value Pricing Model”

Now it’s time to also take a look at what kind, of course, you are offering, as this has a significant impact on the way you will price your course.

Will it just be a collection of information and tips; or will it completely change their life?

Great businesses understand that all of their consumers are different and want to consume your information in different ways.  

Just as some love to hear your educational content in an audio formats such as Podcasts and MP3s, some like to watch the same content as videos, others prefer to read, some like to be face to face in a room with you, others just like it done for them and others like to have their hand held personally by you and learn how it’s done one on one.  

As they select each of these different types of content, they move through an increasing price bracket.  

I will not give actual figures for each of these stages because there is no ‘right’ answer and there are too many variables per industry and offering.  

However, here is an overview of how the price of your courses, products and services could be affected based on where in my ‘Value Pricing Model’ that they fit.

Here is my ‘Online Course Value Pricing Model’©:

Information: $0-$$

Implementation: $$-$$$

Transformation: $$$-$,$$$

Done For You: $,$$$-$$,$$$

Done With You: $$,$$$-$$$,$$$

Do not be ‘literal’ with the number of dollar signs I have used next to each one.  

This is illustrative of ‘lowest price’ to ‘highest price’, not necessarily actual dollar digits to charge at each stage.

In each of these stages there are specific types of content you share, a certain level of depth you would go into in the training and different methods (and combinations of methods) that you would use in delivering the content.

In my ‘Concept To Course’ program, I take you through each of these stages in great detail so that you can effectively apply my model to your own business for maximum profitability and client service.

What’s Your Model?

So the lesson here is: online courses make you a lot more money when you have carefully planned a business model around each course that you publish.  

As you begin to think about your own business model, don’t just create a course in your area of expertise.

With a few simple strategic moves, you can create an entire suite of high income generating products and services, all on the same topic of your course and multiply your income from one creative effort!

And if you’re having trouble thinking ahead of possible additional offers, don’t worry.

It doesn’t matter what industry you are in or how niche your topic is – this applies to everyone.

The 5 Types Of Online Course

Next, you need to determine which of the 5 types of online course is the right one for your business model (and your learners).

The type of course you create also has a big impact on your pricing.

First thing’s first, I recommend you take this quick FREE quiz to determine which of the 5 types of courses is best for you and your specific business model.  

Taken the quiz??

Ok, here are quick explanations of each one:

Type 1: The Free Lead Magnet Mini-Course

If you are creating a lead magnet course, your goal is to create a short, simple, quick mini-course or mini-challenge that has the primary purpose of growing your email list and followers.

This is a great option for people who are new in business, just starting out in a new area of expertise or just getting into the space of online course creation.

If you need to get new prospects, followers, email subscribers and start getting yourself out there as an expert in your niche, then the LEAD MAGNET MINI COURSE is the best option for you.

The best bit is that this is the easiest type of course to create – it only needs to be 3-5 videos long! Of course, it can certainly be longer for those of you who want to include more.

A great way to start is to write down 5 simple tips in your area of expertise, record a quick 2-5 minute video for each one on your mobile phone, and offer it for free in exchange for your target audience email addresses.

A lead magnet or mini course is usually free of charge, or very low priced (between $5-$47), as its main purpose is to get new leads, followers and prospective customers onto your email list and into your sphere of influence.

Type 2: The Kickstarter Course

This type of online course is best for people who are fairly well established in their business, or have been doing what they do for a little while and as such have a little credibility and some content that can quickly be developed and repurposed into a short course.

It is a great solution for experts who are constantly being asked by people if ‘they can pick your brains’ and you are starting to get tired of the freebies, the time-suckers and feeling guilty about turning down those who cannot afford your current products or services.

However, it is also a great option for those new to business and want to launch their products, services and expertise with an immediate bang, demonstrating their expertise right off the bat.

The Kickstarter Course is a highly effective way to generate new leads (grow your list), but also to start generating income from stuff that you have been otherwise giving away for free before.

The Kickstarter Course is a short course of around 1 hour to 90mins long, that usually costs your students anywhere between $15-$297 and gives them an all-round introduction to your topic and lots of simple, practical steps to give them quick results in your subject area.

You can get started by writing down 20 tips in your area of expertise, and filming a short video of around 2-3 mins for each one – and voila, you will have the basis from which to build a short, income-generating course that will get you more leads and more money!

Type 3: The Authority Flagship Course

This type of online course is for those who want to be seen as a leader in their industry, and to become a well-known name in your field of expertise.

Authority Flagship Courses are often turned into Books, eBooks, Keynote presentations and high-ticket immersion programs and as such are for those who want to excel as a leading expert in a specific niche as a high-end personal or business brand.

This type of online course is a deep-dive, in-depth masterclass that will give your learner the how-to on everything they need to know to get transformational results in your area of expertise.

This type of online course will need to include detailed tutorial videos and activities at a minimum, to ensure that your learners get results.

Authority Flagship Courses can range from 1-5 hours long and are often delivered in weekly modules (eg ‘4 weeks to xx result’), and often sit in the ‘high-ticket’ cost range (anything from $147-$3,000) depending on your market.

Type 4: The Supportive Coach-Led Course

This type of online course is great for those who love to help, inspire and support others; and who like personal connection, contact and human interaction when they work with others.

The Supportive Coach-led Course is a hybrid of self-study learning combined with ‘live’ contact from you as the leader.

This type of online course is best for those who like to serve smaller groups of people at a time, and in a more personal way, giving more ‘live’ support via video calls, livestreams and an active social media community group, rather than JUST self-directed video learning.

These types of courses can be short Kickstarter courses (1 week of guided learning to achieve ‘x’ result) or longer transformational programs (1-12months), and usually include an element of self- study video content that your students will engage with each day, week or month (depending on the length of your program) with regular live coaching Q&A calls from you personally (either delivered as a group, or individually).

These types of programs can vary in price, but often edge towards the higher income range of anything between $497-$3,000, as they include your personal expertise and live coaching, along with the maximum support of a social learning community.

Type 5: The Membership Online Academy

The Membership Academy is the best type of online course set-up to go for, for those who want to impact lots of people at the same time, reach a large market, generate sustained monthly income and grow a large membership following.

This type of online course set-up is excellent for those who either have a number of different types of topics to teach, and/or have been in their field for a long time and have developed lots of content and expertise.

To succeed in the Membership Online Academy model, you need to have at least 2+ courses, each around 1 hour long or more.

You can then charge your students a one-off price to access the courses one by one; OR charge them a recurring monthly fee for access to all of the courses inside your academy.

You can break your academy up into totally different categories to attract different types of students, or you can have a niche academy that caters to all different levels of learning within one particular field.

Membership prices can vary depending on your topics and how many courses your members get access to, and whether or not there are regular updates, course additions and live training elements; but consider charging anything from $10-$97 per month, per member.

It doesn’t take long to build up a member base and start earning an extremely high regular passive income from a membership model.

I bet you have more than 100 connections across your social media, right? 

If ONLY 100 people were paying you $47 a month, you’d be making $4,700 a month passively. Not bad, huh?

That’s Not All

So there you go, Step 3 of my 10 Steps Of Course Creation are in the bag!

But the pricing tips in this email are far from all of the considerations and pricing strategies that you must consider when creating and pricing your online course.

There are lots of other things to consider; such as:

• different ways of charging (eg one-off, payment plans and subscriptions); 
• there is your experience to consider; the benchmarking against the competition; 
• the value of your additional course assets and much more

……..all of which I go into a deep-dive depth with my students in my ‘Concept To Course: 3 Day Course Creation Group Coaching Program’.

If you want to create and publish your own profitable online course in just 30 days, and ensure that you price your courses in a way that maximises the profitability of not only your courses, but also for your ENTIRE BUSINESS, then do NOT miss getting one of the limited 30 places in my next group.