How Should I Price My Online Video Course?

The importance of pricing your online video course is one of the most critical aspects for successful sales. It's not the only aspect that affects success, but the decision of your potential client to purchase can be strongly affected by the price of your course.  

In this article, you'll learn tips & tricks related to successful video course pricing.

How important is pricing?

The pricing of your course is very important. However, professional and expert teachers often underestimate the consequences of pricing strategy. The reality is that the right pricing can bring you more clients, and thus more income. Here are three reasons getting the course price right is important:

1. You need to justify your effort

Creating a professional video course can take a good amount of preparation and time, so it's important to think about how much you would be willing to pay for your expertise and then make an estimate of the market, or number of students that would be interested. Do the math to determine if you feel your efforts will be justified. 

2. Save your money

Your investment is not only time; you probably will or did spend money on tools, preparation, production and platform. Therefore, the right pricing will be able to bring a return on your investment. 

3. Attracting clients

You have to be real about your course and consider several factors. If the potential buyer thinks it's too cheap, they will question the quality of the course. If it's too much, they'll hunt for a better deal. So getting it just right will increase the number of people purchasing your course.    

Important factors to consider when pricing

Consider the following factors as you determine prices your courses.

Your experience and authority in the field

“Name” and “experience” still matter. It is likely that more people will be willing to pay more than $100 for a simple course if it is offered by an authority on the subject because there are name and trust factors involved. 

There is also a factor of proven quality, and for beginners in their industry, it will likely be harder to sell high-priced courses. However, fight the urge to set a rock-bottom price for your course; we'll elaborate on why not do this later. 

Investment of time and effort 

“Time is money” is the quote that applies to this situation. Before pricing the course, consider how much time, money, and effort you have put towards creating it. Do not underestimate your efforts, energy, and time because those are assets that you own and do not want to waste. 

Your assets in the course

Your assets in the course that are provided to your students can be:

• Syllabus: which makes everything clear for the student 
• The video towards which you have put time, energy and effort to film, edit and review.
• Unique presentations students will get access to during the course 
• E-books or downloadable workbooks.

There may be other things provided that you created for your students and are considered assets. So when you price your video course, make sure you have counted how much high-quality materials you provide your students with. 

Learning outcomes

When pricing your course, take into consideration expected learning outcomes. This really matters. First, identify your primary objective, then learning objectives and learning outcomes. Take a look at everything. That should help you get a better idea of what your students will gain from your course. 

5 tips for pricing online video courses

Finally, let’s take a look at some practical tips which will help you price your courses. 

Tip 1: Know Your Market 

Knowing your market is critical in the process of pricing your video course correctly. When you're aware of who your target student is, including their income range, you'll be able to have a better idea on what they would consider affordable to get the knowledge you offer in the course. So, first things first:

• Identify your target student
• Determine your audience needs and wants 
• Design a course that will meet their expectations 
• Price the course accordingly to the value 

Tip 2: Price according to Value 

There are courses that have real value and those which do not. The value of your course solely depends on you.   

Choose the right topic at which you excel to provide an accurate, high-quality learning experience. Make sure you include downloadable materials like a pdf and have a list of readings, audio books, or e-books to help your students understand the material fully. If possible, provide interactive live group question and answer sessions, quizzes and tests. 

Also, we recommend providing a digital certificate (which we can provide) to students that successfully complete the video course; it can motivate them to complete the course and add the certificate to their resume or profile. 

Tip 3: Calculate your Costs & ROI (Return on Investment)

In order to price your video course right and develop a working strategy of pricing your courses, you'll need to have an idea of what you invested. For course creation, you most likely spent not only your time, but your money on video production and marketing your course. 

Fight the urge to simply guess and post a low price. Calculate your costs. Afterwards, establish a goal (ie. I want 100 students in 2 months) and see at which point you will earn back the money spent and start making a profit. That will help you to adjust the price in a way that will be beneficial both for you and your students. 

Tip 4: Higher Price equates to Higher Value  

Consumers of educational content tend to perceive the higher price as more valuable. While not always true about the product, it's a proven psychological fact. Of course, no one likes what they view as overpriced courses, but pricing your online course at only $20 is definitely a bad idea. 

Low prices will not guarantee more sales; it may even negatively affect your reputation as potential students think you do not provide enough valuable material. 

Tip 5: Know your competitors 

Knowing your competitors is a critical factor that will affect your pricing and marketing strategies; before making your final pricing decisions, check out similar courses or courses in your industry or niche. Look carefully at their price range, bundling and discount strategies. 
 

Video course pricing strategy

There are several broad pricing strategies to consider:

Competitive pricing

With this pricing strategy, you set your price based on your competitors' pricing in your market or niche, regardless of your cost to produce the course. You should know your competitors price and differentiate your course in some way to win market share.

Penetration pricing

Penetration pricing is generally setting a low initial price to gain market share in a niche market to get early adopters enthusiastically sharing the deal. This strategy is a good one if you're planning an ongoing live video group meeting course to grow the initial group.

Economy pricing

This pricing strategy is typically setting a low price due to low production costs. This might be used when you're making a video course yourself using a screen recorder to teach how to use a website or something similarly easy and cheap to produce.

Promotional pricing

Familiar to almost everyone, promotional pricing is a temporary price reduction for a limited time. Typically this might be during holidays or special times of year and might include a coupon or digital savings code.

Sandwich pricing

In sandwich pricing, you sandwich your competitors' price between your courses, typically with one course have less information, therefore priced lower than your competitor, and another course being more extensive, thus priced higher  and providing more training or expertise than your competitor's course.

Value pricing

Many people choose this strategy and try to raise the perceived value of their courses with special offers and inflated regular prices. It depends upon the consumer believing that the original price is worth what it purports to be worth. With this strategy, you set a price you simply believe consumers are willing to pay.

Pricing myths

Low prices equal higher conversion rates, and return on investment will be achieved a lot faster that way.

Have you heard that? This statement is as wrong as 1+2=4. The math is just plain wrong. Let's take a look at some myths that ruin pricing strategies. 

If you build it, they will come.

Launching an online video course and thinking all you could have done is done, and the only thing left is waiting for customers to show up and buy your course is a big mistake. The internet is vast and constantly changing with new products, deals, social media, misinformation and constant global business promotion. You've got to market your video course to your target audience. Buyers won't just come out of thin air; they have to be aware that the course you created exists. 

Earn money while you sleep!

Online learning is currently one of the most in-demand industries due to the pandemic as people realized the benefits of online learning. Even though people are outside again, online learning is here to stay and growing. However, there is a myth that if you create an online course, you will earn lots of money just by publishing a few courses and depending on them.   

Again, big mistake. Online courses are not a passive income business; it's a business that requires attention and marketing. Try to publish new courses annually if possible, and update existing ones when necessary. Participating in online niche communities is an amazing way to drive higher traffic to your courses and increase brand awareness. 

You need a completed course to start selling it

Many people wait a long time before they launch their first course. Don't wait for everything in your life to be perfect. Your first course doesn't have to be perfect. It has to offer good perceived value and high quality, but waiting for months to perfect it is not a good idea. According to statistics, the most successful courses are the 3rd or 4th ones. 

It's probably true that the longer you wait, the more money you lose while your competitors grow. Keep in mind that you can publish the first few lessons of a course and start selling and learning what works best. When students buy, you'll be able to promote the new courses directly to an engaged and interested audience. In fact, you can even pre-sell a course. 

Low price means more sales

We mentioned this myth, but let's elaborate a bit. Highly discounted courses are unlikely to attract new customers, especially when it comes to learning. Ivy League colleges charge a lot because they offer high value and are perceived as the best learning experience for the students resulting in higher-paying jobs.

Higher prices when it comes to educational materials indicate higher value, but of course, you've to take other factors such as authority and experience into account when making a pricing decision. 

Summary

Pricing your digital video courses correctly is crucial for success. In this article, we discussed nearly everything that can help you to make a final decision. Remember that your effort is worth a high return on investment. Get started and keep on going!