How to sell online courses
To sell online courses may seem like a simple task, after all your “product” is on the internet and you don’t have to worry about inventory space or delivery services.
The promotion stage also promises to be more economical, since you can use resources such as social networks, blogs and other free tools.
All this is true, but making a sale, that is, convincing someone to pay for what you are offering, is not that simple.
For selling online it is necessary, first of all, to have a good product and an attractive sales proposal.
Ways to sell online courses
First of all, make sure you’ve created the best possible course at the moment.
Bear in mind that the beauty of an online course is that you can always perfect it as you gain more experience.
It’s common that your first piece of content doesn’t have the flawless presentation you’d like, but don’t let that stop you.
Focus on creating material that really delivers value to the student and over time work on refining it, whether it’s recording better quality videos, taking more care in the tutorials or adding new content.
But regardless of aesthetics, when your course is ready to bring good results to your customers, it’s time to think about sales.
To start, define revenue goals. Whatever you hope to accomplish with your business, create a goal number.
Find 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 use that as a solid starting point.
The next step, of course, is to focus on publicizing and attracting leads. For this, use your social networks, blog, email marketing, sponsored ads, lead magnets and whatever else you can.
Then plan and come up with the best selling proposition possible, one that is really hard to refuse.
Here are ways to sell online courses that bring good results:
Differentiated plans
Give your customers options.
Offering differentiated plans is a good strategy to capture customer attention and convince them that they can have access to your product for less than expected.
Offer a more basic plan for a lower cost, an intermediate option and a complete, the last with all the resources your course has. Make it clear what the customer gets with each option.
It is common for users to opt for the intermediate option and, even those who opt for the basic plan, if they have a satisfactory experience, it is likely that they will become a regular customer, so offer a quality product regardless of the plan level.
Business plan
When devising your strategy for selling online courses, don’t forget about companies.
Corporate online training has been widely used in the business environment to train employees.
Purchasing a per-employee subscription can be unattractive and costly to employers, so creating a business plan focused on sale of multiple use licenses is a good alternative.
Specify values for packages with ten, twenty, or even fifty use licenses, for example.
Again, focus on offering more benefits to more expensive packages.
Subscription plan
If your plan is to produce more than one online course and release them periodically, offering a subscription plan or discounts for students who enroll in a second course has a very positive user appeal.
Depending on how often you are going to make new materials available, you can create a monthly, semi-annual or annual plan, for example.
If you don’t have a fixed schedule for releasing new content, the option to offer a discount on an upcoming module or material might be the best idea.
In any case, if the customer is satisfied with the course, it is very likely that the idea of gaining new content will encourage him to enroll in this plan.
– Benefits of Recurring Payment for Online Courses
Course bundles
Bundles are simply several courses that are sold together, as a unit, for a different price.
The moral of this strategy is to make the package price more advantageous for the student than if he chose to purchase the courses separately.
For example, if you have two cooking courses that cost $50 each, you could offer both courses in a bundle that students can purchase for $90. This naturally makes the bundle a greater incentive to purchase.
In addition, you also profit, since the average order value increases, generating more revenue for your business.
Add value to your sales proposition
Do you want to boost sales or increase the course price? Add more value to your proposal.
In the case of an online course, there are several simple and practical ways to do this:
Update course content
The beauty of selling online courses is that once the material is created it generates income indefinitely, all you need to do to keep your students engaged and attract new customers is to update it.
Want to charge more? Put news in the course curriculum, be it a new module, video or update of a subject that may have changed.
Make support materials available
In online courses, the student does most of the learning alone, attending classes and studying what was taught in the time available.
Therefore, well-designed support materials such as handouts, presentations, quizzes, among others, are quite attractive for the vast majority.
Other than that, materials that they can use in practice such as spreadsheets, templates and independent software also have a strong appeal at the time of purchase.
You can even provide these extra materials for a separate price, whose acquisition is at the option of the student. Or, you can charge more for the course by highlighting those features that the user will have access to upon signing up.
– How to set up a successful e-learning course
Host a live Q&A
The interaction that a Live broadcast permits is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to sell online courses.
Both in the publicity phase, to attract leads, and for those who have already purchased your course, scheduling these conversations serves as a great stimulus for the user, since he can prove your authority, create a relationship with you and feel calmer to invest in your course.
You can significantly increase the value of your material depending on how often you provide opportunities for your students to ask questions live.
Offer personalized consultant
Every student likes and feels calmer when the teacher remains available in case of doubts, or schedules time for group chats.
However, many consider this interaction fundamental for learning and are willing to pay more for personalized service.
You can offer this exclusive accompaniment by selling a certain number of hours, for example.
And remember, the more hours you put in, the more you make, so it might be a good idea to keep your available hours very flexible.
Create a community
Create a Facebook group or Slack community as an added value to your product.
An online course does not provide the same interaction as a face-to-face course, and many people may feel less motivated by having to study and learn alone.
By creating a community, a channel where everyone can interact, debate, ask questions, contribute and learn from colleagues, you end up with this obstacle.
To sell online courses, show that you are not unapproachable and that you are willing to help your students in any way possible.
Find the right platform to sell online courses
To sell online courses can be more difficult than you first thought, but it’s certainly not an impossible thing.
The tip is to perfect your sales proposal to attract leads and, over time, increase the value of your course by improving its quality.
Fortunately, doing this nowadays is quite simple, since you can record more and more professional videos without having to leave your home and without spending a lot, for example, making this a great ROI for your business.
– Learn how to record videos at home
Other tools, such as Canva, are also at your disposal for create better presentations, tutorials, templates and everything else you might need to improve your course.
With a well-planned and aligned strategy, in a short time you will have your first students and see your income grow.
The next step is to host your course on an e-learning platform that has all the necessary features for virtual learning as well as receiving payments online.
Complete eLearning platform, the Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell and promote courses on the internet.
Serving companies and professionals in more than 60 countries, the platform is a dynamic and customizable Learning Management System.
– Whats is a Learning Management System (LMS)
That means you don’t even have to invest in building your own website. Coursify.me it’s ready for you to insert your course and create a completely personalized sales page for your business.
We have three plan options for you to decide which best suits your needs.
To know more, visit our site, test the platform and start to sell online courses right now.
