Pricing is the most important decision you’ll make when running your online course business. It can literally make or break you.
Imagine pouring your blood, sweat and tears into your course business, over months and months, to finally launch and…
No sales.
Even though you have an audience.
Even though you’ve marketed it well.
Even though people say they want it.
Why?
Because your price is too high. The customer feels like the cost of the program is higher than the value they receive.
OR, imagine the other way…
You got a ton of people to buy your course — BUT, because you were too scared to charge what you’re worth, you don’t make enough money to keep the lights on. So you have to work a ‘real job’ to pay the bills while your course remains your ‘side hustle’.
Bummer. Neither are great outcomes. My goal is to help you avoid them both.
Pricing is both an Art and a Science, and there is absolutely no definitive benchmark on what your course should cost. Most courses are between $47 and $10,000. Big range.
Think about this: even though this isn't a course, why does a Louis Vuitton bag cost $5,000 when a Coach bag — same size, same color, same material — cost $500?
Because of the ‘value’ to the customer. An LV bag makes someone feel more special, and is higher status, than a Coach bag, so it costs more and is 'worth' more. Period.
The funny thing is, the more someone pays for something, the more VALUE it has to them. It’s literally ‘worth’ more just because they paid more!
Value is such a funny thing like that 
So remember, the lower you price your course, the less your customers will value it — simply due to the fact that they paid very little, they value it very little. It’s hard to break this human pattern.
So how do you put a price on the value of your course?
Here are 3 ways NOT to do it. The price is not based on…
- how many hours you’ve invested it in (no one cares)
- how many videos are in the course (no one cares)
- how much experience you have (no one cares)
What people do care about → how valuable the outcome is to them.
The bigger the transformation (outcome) → the higher value the course.
Let me give you an example:
- Learn HTML → low value
- Learn how to build and sell HTML websites → medium value
- Learn how to scale a web development agency to 6-figures → HIGH value
To learn HTML you might be able to charge $200.
To learn how to sell HTML sites you might be able to charge $500.
To learn how to scale a web dev agency you could charge $2,000+
See the difference?
Pricing is a combination of
- The pain of the problem you solve
- The audience you cater to
- The effectiveness & speed of your product
- The amount of hands on help & accountability
Tips on pricing
- Typically, the higher the price, the lower the conversion rate
- The higher the price, the more you need to market and communicate the value
- The lower the price, the less valuable (or quality) your course might seem
- Sometimes raising the price much higher than your competitors can increase the sales of your program because it’s perceived as sooo much better than the other options out there.
How to increase the value (thus price) of your course
Increase the dream outcome
- Instead of learning to build a website, learn to build and sell websites to achieve 6-figures in revenue or more
- Many people are only selling one piece of the puzzle. If you connect more pieces together, you help your students achieve a bigger, and more valuable outcome
Increase the likelihood of success
- Support your students along their learning journey with things like
- Community discussions
- A space to ask for help, support and feedback
- Live coaching calls & Q+A
- Accountability groups
- 1:1 check ins
Decrease the amount of time it takes to achieve the transformation
- Instead of giving your student 10 hours of videos to watch, could you cut it down to 5?
Decrease the effort involved
- Can you provide your students with templates, check lists, swipe documents, examples they can replicate quickly vs starting from scratch?
(^ hat tip to The Value Equation inside $100M offers by Alex Hormozi)
Thought experiments…
There are tons of business courses out there teaching you how to build a 6 and 7 figure business for $5,000-10,000…
You launch a course teaching the same thing but set the price at $99….
What’s your reaction? (mine is: uh.. why is the price so low… seems weird.. must not be very good).
Or this opposite example.. there are lots of courses teaching you how to run Facebook ads for $47. And you launch yours for $997.
Woah, I wonder why it’s so high… do they know something the others don’t? It must be good if they are charging so much.
Pro-tip: Offering a guarantee in your offer can help push people over the edge because you're using risk reversal -- Pay the $997 and get fantastic results, or get 100% of your money back -- you can't lose.
Also remember about this — getting a customer is hard, at any price point. But it takes about the same amount of effort to sell a $1k product as it does a $10k one. So choose your price wisely.
Because it would take 21 customers at $47 to equate ONE customer at $997.
Examples of pricing in the real world
I wanted to leave you with some real world examples so this article isn't only 'theory.
Take a look at some very successful business below that span the price range from 'very expensive' to quite inexpensive.
Write Your Way to Freedom
Transformation: Build a Lucrative Freelance Copywriting Career (with no experience). Go from zero to consistent five-figure months with copywriting.
Price: $6,000
Duration: Evergreen, 1 year coaching program, lifetime course access
Write of Passage
Transformation: Transform you life by writing online. Find your people. 2x your potential. Change your trajectory.
Price: $3,000+
Duration: 5 weeks, cohort based
Transformation: Start writing online in 30 days. Create 30 pieces of published writing, build lifelong friendships, and leave with a new perspective for what is possible online.
Price: $999
Duration: 1 month, cohort based
Transformation: Learn and improve your social skills. Get great at conversations. Meet new people anywhere. Beat social anxiety.
Price: $59/mo or $590/yr
Duration: Evergreen, Monthly subscription
Transformation: A place for data professionals. Engage in discussions around data visualization, data storytelling, data analytics, and more. Book recommendations, job posts, upcoming events, as well as a place to share and have access to helpful resources.
Pricing: $497/yr
Duration: Evergreen, annual membership
Transformation: a community of entrepreneurs and creators who meet weekly to practice storytelling together. No matter what you do for work, being able to communicate simply and clearly will make you better. It’ll help you in all areas of your life including job interviews, sales meetings, social media content, teaching, relationships, etc.
Price: $5/mo
Duration: Evergreen, monthly subscription
Tell me — how much are you pricing your course for?
I’d love to hear from you! I hope this guide was helpful.
Anything else I should add to this guide? What questions to you have? Leave a comment below.
Final reminder — your price is NOT set in stone! It’s an experiment to find what works for you and your market, so test and make changes as needed!
Best of luck,
Jordan