By now you’ve probably heard about someone who created an online course, started selling it, and made a living doing it.
The question is, how can you do it effectively? And profitably?
Well…
Over the last 5 years, I built Social Triggers from scratch into a multi-million dollar online business.
And as you know, much of this revenue was was generated by creating and selling online courses.
Needless to say, I learned a things about how to do it – and I know MANY of them will surprise you.
So, today, on my blog, I’d like to reveal 5 big insights I learned.
More specifically, I’ll show you.
1. Why I offer payment plans (the secret? yes, it helps increase sales, but it also does this ONE thing).
2. The BIG secret behind why people “Open and close” enrollment for online courses (People think it’s just about “scarcity.” Not true. There’s another BIG reason why people do it…).
3. Should you give all your content out at once or should you drip it out? Believe it or not, there’s a right answer. And it affects your bottom line AND your students success rate.
4. The psychology of a new customer (and how to ensure they don’t fall into the dark pit of despair after they buy your course).
5. A simple way to increase the revenue of your next launch by 25% (or more).
So, let’s dive in…
#1 The Power of Extended Payment Plans
I recently stumbled on a sales page for a premium online course. The cost was $2,000 or two payments of $1,000.
I laughed.
Here’s why:
A payment plan makes your premium online course more accessible to people who don’t have the money “up front.” But if your prospect doesn’t have $2,000… they probably don’t have $1,000 either.
So, what are you really accomplishing with a “two payments of $1,000?”
You’re not increasing sales. You’re not making it easier on your customers. You’re not reaching a new segment of the market.
In reality, all you’re really doing is giving yourself the headache of collecting two payments when people could have easily have afforded the single payment.
And that’s why longer, extended payment plans are great. As you bring the monthly payment lower, you can reach a new segment of customers that you couldn’t reach with the larger, one time payment.
Plus, here’s the benefit that most people don’t talk about: payment plans help you create predictable revenue. And if you want to scale your business to multiple six figures – and seven figures – predictable revenue is important because you can make smart hiring decisions without worrying where the money will come from.
So, the next time you launch your course, try an extended payment plan. Maybe try 5 payments of $400. Or Even 10 payments of $200. The goal is to reach a new demographic of customers you can’t reach otherwise and Im willing to bet you can increase your conversion rates.
How Zippy Courses Makes This Easy: Creating payment plans used to be a real big pain. Not anymore. In the new Zippy Courses “All-In-One” Platform, you can create multiple payment plans in just a few seconds.
#2 The Power Of “Opening” And “Closing” Enrollment
Let me share a staggering number with you…
75%.
That’s how many sales often come in for my online courses during the last 24 hours before I “close the cart” for an online course.
SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT.
In the last 24 hours.
It’s pretty ridiculous. But as you know, one of the main reasons why people don’t buy is because they like to procrastinate. But when you “close enrollment” for your online course, you help light a fire under people and get them moving.
Plus…
There’s an added benefit here too: when you sell online courses during specific enrollment periods, you often generate a larger group of students going through your course at the same time.
This is GREAT for your students. When you sell something on evergreen, you might get 1 or 2 people going through your class at any given time. But when you create a larger enrollment group, you give your students the opportunity to form connections amongst their peer group, and that’s GREAT for the user learning experience.
So, yes, it’s good for sales. And it’s also good for your students. It’s truly win-win.
How Zippy Courses Makes This Easy: You can open and close enrollment for your online course with Zippy Courses, again, in just a few seconds. It’s as easy as creating what we call a “Launch Window” attached to your product, and this “launch window” determines when something is on sale and when it’s no longer for sale.
#3 The Power of “Dripping” Your Content (vs Releasing It All At Once)
My friend told me that his refund rate was much higher than he liked. I asked him why, and he told me he didn’t know. So I recommended that he run quick survey on the people who bought his product and refunded it.
What did he find?
The #1 reason why people refunded his product was because they felt overwhelmed by all the stuff they needed to do.
And that made sense.
Here’s why: He sold a 10 module online course and he gave his students all 10 modules as soon as they purchased the course. And then, people would log in to their membership area, see all 10 modules, click around to 5 or 6 videos and think, “THIS IS SO OVERWHELMING.” And they’d leave the membership site and ask for a refund.
All because he offered too much content too fast.
So, I told him to drip his content out. And it will help focus your students on “what’s important now.” And it will help eliminate overwhelm. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. As he helped eliminate overwhelm, his refund rate started to drop.
How Zippy Courses Makes This Easy: In the new Zippy Courses “All-In-One” Platform, you can drip course content out with ease. Some “membership software” requires you to create special configurations and special coding to drip out content. But in Zippy Courses, it’s as easy as clicking a few buttons during the “Course Scheduling” part of the “course builder.”
#4 The Power Of Strategic “Follow Up” Emails After People Buy Your Course
I bought an online course from a well-known course creator. It was expensive too. About $1,000. But after I bought the course, I noticed something: I got an email with information about how to login to my course…
…but I never heard from this course creator again. Yes, he went on to try and sell me more things, but he never sent any emails specifically related to the course I just bought.
This is DUMB.
When people buy a premium online course, “getting the sale” is just part of the problem. You also need to KEEP the sale. And you need to make sure your customer is happy with the purchase.
And that’s why strategic followup emails are so important. You can manage customer expectations when they need it most.
As an example, if you join a course from Social Triggers, I often email you once a week about each module that I release. But, after about 2 or 3 weeks, in those emails talking about each module often start including phrases like: “If you fall behind, don’t worry. Now that you’re a member, you get lifetime access to the training material.”
Why?
When people buy online courses, it’s natural that they fall behind after a few weeks. And when they start falling behind, they start feeling bad and they think about giving up. However, when you reassure them that it’s okay that they’re falling behind… and that they still have plenty of time to catch up… it keeps people focused on their main goal.
It also helps prevent people from refunding the product prematurely.
So, again, it’s good for business. And it’s good for the student, too.
How Zippy Courses Makes This Easy: And as you might imagine, you can configure these “followup” emails VERY quickly inside the New Zippy Courses “All-In-One” Platform. Take a look:
#5 How to Increase Sales By 25% With Multiple Tiers
What do I mean by multiple tiers?
Quite simply: instead of just selling one course at one price… you should create one course with multiple tiers at different prices.
As an example, you might sell an online course for $500. You should also consider creating a $1000 level of that same course.
(In this more expensive level, you can offer additional training material, live group coaching calls, one-on-one consulting, whatever you like to make the value worth more).
And you’ll watch your revenue soar.
Here’s why:
When you sell an online course with multiple options, you’ll often see a breakdown that looks something like this: 75% of people will buy the cheap option. And 25% will buy the more expensive option.
So…
Run the numbers:
Let’s say you sell 100 copies of your course. If you only offer one option at $500, you’ll collect $50,000 in revenue. However, if you sell 75 people into the $500 option and 25 people into the $1000 option, your total revenue skyrockets to $62,500. A solid 25% increase.
Why does this work so well?
In my experience, there are always people who buy the nice toilet paper at the store. And these people want more service, more training, and a more premium experience. And if you fail to offer one, you’re leaving a tremendous amount or revenue on the table.
How Zippy Courses Makes This Easy: You can create multiple tiers of an online course in SECONDS. It’s really just as easy as clicking one button, and setting one little configuration. Take a look:
As a matter of fact: I’m willing to bet it will take you less than 30 seconds. That’s how easy the new Zippy Courses is to use.
Now I Have A Quick Question…
#1 Which tip did you love most and why?
#2 Did you learn anything interesting about creating and selling online courses?
from
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