Pricing Your Course

Pricing your course is a hard decision, but we can help!

One of the most common questions instructors have is “how should I price my course?” You want to charge enough that it’s worth your time and effort to create a course, while providing enough value to students that they're eager to enroll.

In this article, we'll go over everything you need to know, including our pricing requirements, a formula and different strategies for pricing your class, and important course design considerations that will influence your pricing.

Pricing Requirements

ndgenius sets a minimum price instructors must charge for their courses. We do this for a few reasons. One, creating a class is hard work, and instructors deserve to be compensated fairly for it. By setting a minimum price we avoid a "race to the bottom" where instructors feel pressured to offer lower and lower prices than others on (or off) the platform.

We're also making a statement that the courses we offer are valuable. The reality is, a quality course that's offered at a low price will be perceived as less valuable than if it were priced higher. I learned this lesson when my mother began offering SAT tutoring to high school students in our community. She used a sliding scale based on what families felt they could afford, and offered free tutoring to a number of students. She discovered that when students didn't pay for the classes or paid very little, they often didn't show up for their appointments or showed up unprepared and disinterested. She started charging a modest but significant rate to students who frequently missed sessions. What was the result? Some of those students simply dropped out, but the ones who remained began taking it seriously--because now they had something invested in it, and they perceived that her services were something of value. And my mother's experience isn't unique. Studies have shown a positive correlation between the price of SAT prep classes and students' test scores. In fact, when the same students take the exact same class at a higher price rather than a lower one, they do better on the SAT. Students who pay more are more motivated, less likely to drop out, and more likely to use what they learn in the class, because they have more skin in the game and want to get their money's worth. They also rate the class higher and are more likely to recommend it to others.

Finally, for it to be cost effective for ndgenius to host a course, we need to make a minimum amount of money on it since we pay a monthly fee based on the content we host. Our pricing model also factors in the fact that we are operating in a niche market and don't have access to the wide, global customer base that some other course marketplaces do. Classes that are tailored to tribal interests will get a fraction of the enrollees that classes tailored to a general audience would get, but they are also more valuable to our audience because they're so specific to needs which are not being met in many other places.

Under our pricing policy, You must set your prices to at least the minimum required prices below. However, we strongly encourage you to set them to at least the minimum suggested prices. Remember, these are the lowest prices we recommend, and you could easily design a course at a higher price. See below for strategies for designing a class that justifies the price you select. When in doubt, contact us and we’re happy to help you think through how to best price your course.

Important: When setting your price, factor in that from the time we start promoting your course to when we first open it up for enrollment (and on occasion at other strategic times), we offer up to a 25% discount to customers. We do that to generate excitement, increase enrollment, and increase overall revenue (though there are no guarantees of results). If you don't want to participate in these promotions you have to opt out at the time you submit your course description to us, asking us in writing not to include you in promotions.

*Regular classes are largely based on pre-recorded videos/written modules and may include automated interactive elements, like quizzes. Students can access course materials as soon as they purchase the class and can generally complete classes at their own pace, although some classes are designed to drip content each day or week. Students have limited or no direct access to the instructor. A “Master Class” is a course that includes significant interactive elements and spans a number of days or weeks over set course dates. Master Classes may include live lectures or Q & A’s, group chats, interactive assignments, and direct communication with/feedback from the instructor. Any live sessions are made viewable later for students who are unable to attend.

How to Price Your Course

Now that you know the minimum pricing requirements, how do you go about actually choosing your price? One effective way is to first think about the minimum amount of money you would need for it to be worth it to you to create your course, and then to consider how how many seats you'd need to sell at what price to earn that amount.

A basic formula you can play with is course price, times the number enrolled, divided by 2 (since there’s a 50-50 split with ndgenius), equals amount earned.

Course Price x # of People Enrolled/2 = Amount Earned

Bear in mind you will also need to factor in credit card processing fees, which at the time of this writing are 2.9%, plus $0.30, but we are going to set that aside for now.

Example:

Let’s say you decide it will take at least $1000 to be worth the time and effort it takes to create a course. Let’s look at 2 different ways you could accomplish that.

Approach #1: Sell a large number of courses at a low price

Say you decide to charge $25, which is is the minimum amount ndgenius allows instructors to charge for hobby, health, and culture courses. You would need to sell 80 courses to reach your goal (not factoring in the 25% discount for students who register early--if they all register under the discount, you would need to sell 107 courses). You’ll want to structure the course in a way that you don’t have to give too much personal attention to students—otherwise you’d be spending a good deal of your time helping those 80 to 107 students. In this scenario, let's say you decide to design a self-paced course that students navigate through themselves. It includes 8 pre-recorded lessons, automatically graded quizzes, and assignments students can do on their own to practice. To provide extra value, you include a resource list and a best practices guide that students can download. You also let students know they can ask questions through the course discussion board, and you will respond to questions at least once a week (you only offer this if you will really do it, though--otherwise you're inviting requests for refunds and poor ratings).

Approach #2: Sell a small number of courses at a high price

Now let’s say you set a high price: $2000. You’d only need to sell 1 course at this price to reach your goal (or 2 if the early sign up discount applied). But how would you get anyone to sign up at that price? You’d do it by designing a course that offers $2000 worth of value, and you would focus on attracting students who are very interested in your topic.

Let's say you create a Master Class that offers a highly customized experience for students. You announce you’re limiting the class size to the first 10 people who register so you can give students the individualized attention they will need (which also increases perceived value and a sense of scarcity). You work with each student at the start of the course to set goals for what they want to learn and assign them an accountability partner, and you check in with them throughout the course to make sure they stay on track. You offer a series of 8 pre-recorded sessions that students can watch on their own time over the course of 8 weeks, plus you schedule a weekly live hour-long Q & A where students get to ask you anything about that week's topic. You also use the Q & A's to discover/answer questions students still have about topics you've already covered , and learn what they really want to know about upcoming topics (and you use that info to prepare your next lectures). You give hand-graded assignments with plenty of personalized feedback, and you nurture student discussion online. You make available a number of downloadable resources, like checklists, best practices, resource lists, flow charts, case studies... anything that adds value for students and helps them solve problems they’re having. You also offer each student one hour of 1-on-1 personal coaching at the end of the course, which students can schedule at their convenience.

What happens if you only get one student signed up? You offer the course to them as a 1-on-1 coaching experience. Or you invite a few friends or clients to take the course for free in exchange for an honest evaluation at the end of the course (talk to ndgenius about this first before you offer it to them). Then you take their positive feedback and use it as testimonials to market future courses, and use their constructive criticism to tweak your course so that it will be stronger and attract more people next time.

10 Different Ways to Make $10,000

As you can see from the two different approaches above, there are a range of pricing and design strategies you can use with your course. The below chart helps you quickly visualize 10 different ways you could make $10,000 on your course. As you look it over, consider how hard it would be to attract the number of students needed for each strategy. Then think about what your own income goals are, and what kind of pricing makes the most sense for you. Note that this chart does not factor in the discount for early sign-up.

7 Things to Ask Yourself When Choosing Your Strategy

These questions will help you pick a pricing strategy that's right for you.

1. What is your main motivation for creating the course, and how can you price the class to help you achieve your goals? Your goals may include to make a certain amount of money, to help a certain number of people achieve a specific outcome, to gain new clients (think about the quality of client you want to attract), to build your reputation, and to promote your brand. Then think about what impact different pricing strategies will have on those goals. For example, if you want to help as many people as possible, you’ll want to set a lower price, whereas if you want to attract a select group of potential quality clients, you’d set a higher price.

2. Who is your target audience, and what price range would be reasonable for them? For example, if you are trying to reach rural, lower income tribal members, you probably want to keep the price on the lower end. On the other hand, if your audience is tribal government officials who will be using federal contract funds to pay for your course, you can charge a higher amount.

3. How niche is your topic? If you’re offering something unique that people can’t easily get in other places, you have more leeway to charge higher prices.

4. Is there enough of a potential audience who will buy your course at the price you’re charging that it will be worth it to you? For example, a $35 class on sexual harassment may do well if you can get a few tribal governments and enterprises to purchase it for all of their employees, while there may not be enough people interested in tightrope walking for a $35 course to be worth your while. A good way to gauge interest is to see if there are any Facebook groups dedicated to your topic, and how many people are in them, or to consider if it’s a topic that tribal employers want for their employees.

5. It’s really the outcome of the course that students are buying when they purchase a course (what they will be able to do, think, or feel differently after taking your course). What are the outcomes of your course, and how much are they worth? Factor in tangible things, like “students will be able to write their own social media policy” as well as intangible things like “students will increase their confidence.”

6. It can be very effective to set your course price first, and then design the course around it. For example, say you want to design a $200 course. Ask yourself, “what would I need to include to make a course that’s valued at $200?” What outcome(s) and special perks would make it worth that price?

7. Will you be offering a regular class or a Master Class? Will your class be permanently open for enrollment, or will you only run it during scheduled class dates one or more times a year? Would it make sense for you to offer an ongoing regular class, and then run a higher priced Master Class version of it a periodically (more on this below)?

Using Master Classes Strategically to Maximize Your Results

One strategy for getting the most out of the hard work you put into creating your course is to use a combination of a Master Class version and regular version of your course. Remember, Master Classes include interaction and personalized attention from you, are in "real time" (students all follow along together over a number of days or weeks as you deliver or release lectures), and are set at a higher price point. Regular classes are based on pre-recorded and automated instruction that students can view at any time, so after you've put in the initial work you can just sit back.

Imagine you first develop a Master Class that you create lectures and materials around, and after class ends you use the content you created to make a scaled down, regular version of the class. You keep generating passive income and gaining students with it. Then periodically, say once or twice a year, you re-launch the Master Class version and ndgenius helps you to generate a big buzz around it, making a big deal out of the fact that this popular class is going to be offered as a Master Class where students will be able to get personalized instruction.

If you'd like to talk through with us how to best use this strategy, we're happy to help.

Additional Considerations

Before you finalize your price and create your course content, consider the following:

1. Most instructors undervalue their courses. By a lot. Think of the price that first comes to your mind for your course. Got it? Chances are, you should at least double that price.

2. Instructors often wonder why students would buy their course at all since they could research the information on their own. The reason people who buy courses do so is they don’t want to have to do that research. They want an expert they like and trust (you) to distill the information for them, and guide them through everything they need to know. To build people’s trust in you, and entice them to sign up for your course, it’s a good idea to give away 2-3 “freebies,” like checklists or free videos. Choose freebies that will provide real value and give a sneak peak at what students can expect from your course so that they want more of it.

3. Instructors also sometimes worry that there are others out there providing cheaper courses. This is often true. But what people are paying for when they buy your course is your unique take. You’re able to offer things that others can’t, whether it’s your own perspective, experiences, personality, knowledge, or skills. Plus, through ndgenius you're able to offer a social learning experience between students who have similar needs and interests. Think about what it is that you can you offer that others can’t, and include that in the marketing of your course. Your promotional video will be very useful for this—you get a chance to let your personality shine and highlight what makes you and your course special.

Pricing Your Course