How To Price Your eLearning Courses: 6 Tips For eLearning Professionals
Attaching a price tag to your eLearning courses can be a tricky task. If you charge too much you may be excluding a good percentage of your target audience. If you price your eLearning courses too low, then you may undervaluing your efforts. Finding a happy medium is key, but how do you turn a profit and still keep it affordable for your online learners?
- Size-up the competition.
If others are already selling an eLearning course similar to yours, or even in the same niche, take a closer look at how they have priced their product and how many sales they have to-date. Some eLearning courses selling platforms display the total number of sales for each eLearning course, while others may just show user reviews that give you a good indication of value and overall satisfaction. For example, if many learners mention the fact that the eLearning course may be overpriced, then you may want to take that into consideration when determining your price point. The eLearning courses length, delivery format, and the benefits are also key considerations. - Factor in your up-front costs.
Chances are that your eLearning courses wasn’t free to create. Even if you used free authoring and multimedia tools, you still invested a great deal of time and work into the endeavor. Time is money. Create a spreadsheet for all of the expenses you accrued when developing your eLearning courses and factor it into your price. You should also account for all the costs you haven’t racked up just yet, such as eLearning courses' maintenance and hosting. You wouldn’t want to set it a low price point only to discover that your monthly upkeep costs are putting you in the red. - Opt for a lower price point over FREE.
If you’ve never sold an eLearning course before, free seems like it might be a good starting point. After all, just think of how many learners you can attract if you offer your course free-of-charge for a month. However, offering free courses is usually not the best solution. When learners see a FREE price tag on the screen, they may perceive it as low quality or not worth their time. Those you attract are most likely not going to be motivated enough to learn, or may not be interested in the topic. For instance, you may find that most of your learners are not participating actively or don’t seem to be truly interested in the subject matter. They simply signed up because it didn’t cost them anything. If you charge a lower price to get learners in the virtual door, however, you appeal to those who actually want to explore the topic. They are willing to pay the small up-front fee to access the eLearning course because they need to know the information or wish to improve some aspect of their life. They will be dedicated to the eLearning experience, because they are both monetarily and emotionally invested in the eLearning course. - Content is key to determining cost.
The interactive exercises, multimedia elements, eLearning assessments, written content, and visuals are all key factors when determining your price point. If you create eLearning courses that are highly interactive, complete with scenarios and simulations, it only goes to reason that they should be priced higher than online courses that are text-based. The length of your eLearning courses also plays an important role. For example, an eLearning course that consists of 10 half-hour lessons is worth more than a one-hour eLearning course. This is known as the “perceived value” of the eLearning courses. It is what learners think it is worth and how much they are willing to pay. Conduct a focus group or a survey to get a better idea for what learners are currently looking for and to identify gaps in the market. - Do some research to calculate supply vs. demand.
If your eLearning course is one-of-a-kind and covers a topic that has never been dealt with before, then you may be able to charge a higher price. However, this is only true if there is actually a demand for the eLearning course. For instance, if you develop an eLearning course for how to maintain garden tools, but no one is interested in learning about the subject, then you may want to opt for a lower price point. It’s also essential to find the point where supply and demand meet. An eLearning course that is priced at $25 might attract 100 learners ($2,500), but pricing it at $20 might result in 150 sales ($3,000), which nets you a greater profit. - Test the waters by offering promo codes.
Using promo codes and discounts can be a great way to figure out the perfect price for your eLearning courses. Start off with a larger discount, then lower it gradually while monitoring the total number of sales. If you notice that signups start to decrease, then you know that the price may be too high. Then you can sell your eLearning courses at the most successful price point. For example, if offering a 25% discount netted you the most sales for your $100 course, you may want to offer your eLearning course at $75. Alternatively, you can just keep offering the promo code, as a great deal!
After creating the ideal price point, set revenue goals and be open to making minor adjustments to the final price of your eLearning courses. Once you find that perfect balance, the sky’s the limit for how much you can bring in over time. Better yet, you have the opportunity to turn your audience into lifelong learners, which makes them more likely to purchase your future eLearning courses too.
Looking for additional ways to promote your eLearning courses? Read the article 6 Marketing Tips To Boost Your eLearning Course Sales to discover top tips that can increase the sales of your eLearning courses.
