Are you afraid of raising your prices because it might scare off potential customers?
If so, you shouldn’t be.
When you raise your prices, it gives you the ability to earn more money, hire more help, and take time off…
In this post, our CEO Nathalie Lussier is sharing her experiences and expertise around how raising your prices can positively impact you and your business, how to evaluate your existing pricing model, and lastly, the marketing strategies you can leverage when raising your prices.
Is it Time To Raise Prices?
Here’s what happened when I first raised the price for my online course…
I remember the first time I decided to raise the price of my online course.
I had launched and sold my course for $99. I was working with the launch model. I was going through phases of open enrollment, which meant a lot of marketing efforts before and during the open enrollment window. If you’ve ever launched an online course, you probably know how exhausting this model can become over time.
I had a lot of people coming in, and I was getting great feedback from the course participants. I knew they were getting a lot of value from my online course.
When I started thinking about raising the price though, I was hesitant. I already felt like I was asking a lot of money for it. But I knew I wanted to reinvest in my business.
I bit the bullet and took action!
I doubled the price. I did see slightly fewer sales, but overall I was able to earn more money. I was able to provide more value to my course participants, and it gave me the flexibility to run promotions.
So it really gave me a lot of options to grow my course and business, with about the same amount of time I was already putting into that course.
In the end, raising the price of my online course allowed me to:
- better support course participants
- earn more money
- have the flexibility to run promotions
- reinvest in this course and other areas of my business
- change the model to an evergreen option instead of working in launch cycles
Is it time to raise the price for your online course now?
Whenever you first priced your course, you probably took many things into consideration, such as the quality and quantity of content, perceived value, and the competitive market, among other factors. There’s a lot of research on how to price membership sites and online courses.
But now that you’ve had your online course up and running for a while, you should evaluate your pricing to make sure you’re charging enough.
Guidelines to evaluate your pricing structure
When evaluating your existing pricing, one of the key factors to consider is what your margins look like.
Your margins need to be large enough to give you the ability to spend your time supporting your members, hire more staff, and give you the ability to continually reinvest in your business.
If your margins get too low, the overall satisfaction that your members are getting from your online course will start to decline.
Use these three guidelines to know whether or not it’s time to raise the price for your online course or membership:
1. Evaluate your online course pricing every 6-12 months
Reevaluate the price for your online course every 6 to 12 months.
You want to make sure that the price you’re charging matches the value you’re providing. If you haven’t changed your prices since you launched, or for over a year, it may be time to raise them.
2. Getting people results
If you’re hearing lots of positive feedback from course participants, that’s a great sign! And a good indicator that it’s time to raise your prices.
Receiving positive feedback from course participants means the perceived value is high! It means that course participants are happy with what they’re receiving. It means that your marketing message matches what they’re receiving in the course. These are all fantastic signs! Great job!
To keep providing this level of value, you’ll need to increase your prices to maintain it. If you want to reach more people and have a bigger impact, then you have to charge for it.
3. Not getting people results
Now, hear me out on this one, if you’re not getting people results, then your online course or membership may be priced too low.
The less money that people put on the line, the less likely they are to stay connected and go through your course.
Think about it with a gym membership: if you pay $9 per month for a gym membership, there’s not much commitment there. On the other hand, if you pay $135 per month for group training sessions, you’re far more committed and more likely to follow through.
The more your course participants invest, the more likely they are to stay committed and follow through to the transformation that you promised.
If you have a lower-priced course, you can consider creating a new tier for that same course. A high-ticket tier could include additional content, one on one or one to many coaching or consults, more specific training sessions, and so much more.
Here are a few other questions to ask yourself when pricing your online course:
- Has the online course been priced the same since it was first released?
- When was the last price increase?
- Have you added more content, or increased the value of your course but kept the price the same?
- What is the perceived value of your online course?
- Have you heard feedback that your online course is “such a steal“, “what a great deal“, “I couldn’t believe the price“?
How To Raise Prices For Your Online Courses
Now, you could just update the price on your website and call it a day. That’s one strategy.
There’s a better way though! It’s more beneficial to make it an exciting marketing event. With this strategy, you’ll create a buzz around the price increase, and scoop up people who’ve been on the fence.
You can let people on your email list know that the price is going up on a specific date. Let them know that if they want to get in at the current price, they have to join now before the price goes up for good.
If you use social media marketing, dive in on the various platforms and create posts about the price increase.
Recurring Membership Pro-Tip Bonus
If you have a recurring membership, this is a great way to get a lot of members locked in at a lower price. Since they know they have preferential pricing, they’re more likely to stay a member for a long period of time.
This way your current members stay happy knowing they are getting a lower price. And you’re able to bring in new members at this higher price point to increase your margins and reinvest in your business.
If you’ve been thinking about whether an online course or membership (or both) is best for your business, be sure to watch Online Courses vs. Memberships and find out which one is best for you!
Marketing Strategy: Create A Buzz
Here are a few other ideas to create buzz:
- Host a free, live Q&A session about your course
- Add a countdown timer to your emails, order forms, and sales page so that people can see when the price increase will happen
- Reach out to your affiliates to help you market the price increase
- Run ads on social media
- Email your list, and even schedule an email just a few hours before the price goes up
When the Price Increase Goes Live
It’s live! You’ve done it! You’ve increased the price for your online course.
Update your website and sales page with the new increased price. Refresh your marketing so that the online course sales page matches the new price and value.
Make sure that your sales page matches the high-quality content that is in your course.
Be sure to gather testimonials and add them to your website. Ask for specific testimonials that speak to the value of the online course. You’ll want to use testimonials that resolve the “too expensive” objection for potential clients.
As your new group of course participants comes in, be sure to take great care of them at this new price point.
After all, your students and course participants can be your biggest supporters.
Here are a few ways to take extra good care of your new members:
- Spend extra time connecting with your new members through a community or forum, or the AccessAlly private notes feature.
- Send them a personal, hand-written thank you note for joining.
- Celebrate them in your private community or on a call and thank them for joining.
Think about the little things you could do that would have a big impact.
These new members will be some of the most supportive and vocal that you’ve had yet.
Have a plan to keep them around!
If you don’t already, consider setting up an affiliate program. Your course participants can join, and you can incentivize them by offering a commission when they promote and sell your online course or membership to other people.
Not feeling ready to raise prices just yet?
If you know you want more people on your email marketing list before you raise your prices, then the 30 Day List Building Challenge is perfect for you!
Head over to the 30-day list building challenge and sign up!
You’ll get more new subscribers on your list in these 30 days than you have in the last 3 months.
It’s free to sign up, and you’ll grow your list quickly and be ready to raise prices before you know it.
