Jen Nikolaeva
Revenue growth and marketing · 7 MIN · 21.11.2024
Pricing strategies: how to price your online course?
All your learning materials are in place, the team is ready for the marketing campaign, and there’s only one thing left — to put a price tag on your creation. But how do you price your courses?
Underprice your course, and it will decrease its value in the eyes of potential buyers, resulting in no sales. Overprice your course — no one will buy it either. Where’s the middle ground? Let’s take a tour of pricing strategies for online courses.
Underprice your course, and it will decrease its value in the eyes of potential buyers, resulting in no sales. Overprice your course — no one will buy it either. Where’s the middle ground? Let’s take a tour of pricing strategies for online courses.
What are pricing strategies?
A pricing strategy is an approach businesses use to set the price for their products or services. The goal of the strategy is to attract customers, generate profits, and maintain competitiveness in the market.
Source: Scott Graham, unsplash.com
Here are a few examples of pricing strategies and their suitability for online courses:
Value-based pricing
highly suitable
Online courses often promise specific outcomes or transformations such as learning a new skill or achieving a professional certification. This allows you to price courses higher if they solve significant problems or deliver high value. To implement this strategy, conduct market research to understand your audience's needs and willingness to pay. Highlight unique value propositions: exclusive content, expert instruction, or guaranteed results.
Prices are set based on the perceived value of the course to the customer rather than on the cost of production.
Competition-based pricing
suitable
This helps you position your course in comparison to your competitors: slightly lower pricing to attract price-sensitive customers or vice versa — higher prices to indicate superior value. To use this strategy, analyse competitors' courses in terms of content quality, depth, instructor expertise, and pricing. Identify gaps in the market where you can offer better value.
Prices are determined based on competitors' pricing strategies and the market rate for similar courses.
Penetration pricing
suitable for new entrants
This approach is effective for new EdTech businesses or platforms trying to build an audience. Lower prices can help you attract more sign-ups and help establish a user base. Communicate that the low price is an introductory offer and plan for gradual price increases as the course gains popularity and reviews.
Setting a low initial price to enter a competitive market and attract students quickly.
Bundle pricing
highly suitable
This approach helps you offer more content for a lower price to your students This encourages learners to explore additional topics. To implement this strategy, create themed bundles such as “Ultimate well-being” for wellness courses. Highlight the savings compared to purchasing courses individually.
Selling multiple courses or modules together at a combined price lower than the total of individual prices.
Freemium pricing
perfect for lead generation
This approach implies offering something for free, for example, the 1st lesson of the course. It can help you attract many potential students with free content. The upselling potential can help you convert free users to paying customers.
Provide free content that demonstrates your expertise and showcases your potential paying students the value your course brings.
Subscription pricing
highly suitable
Subscription pricing is mostly suitable if you regularly add new content or courses. Otherwise, there’s no value in subscriptions. In order to use this strategy, offer your students access to the library of your courses or learning paths. To increase the value, you can add a community feature and ongoing support.
Charging students a fee (monthly or annually) for access to your courses.
How to price your online course?
With all those strategies in mind, we need to understand how to price courses correctly. There are a few simple steps to keep in mind:
Recognise the value of your course
Underpricing and overpricing are pretty dangerous. The first one may not only decrease the course value in students’ eyes but also attract demotivated and less committed students. The second one will just scare your potential buyers.
Consider starting with a minimum price range of €100 per course, taking into consideration the effort put into creating it, your expertise and the value you bring to the table.
Analyse factors influencing course prices
Potential students who are willing to pay a certain price for your courses (your target audience), your course’s depth and the quality of your content, both production and value-wise. Research your competitors and create your own value proposition that will differentiate you from others.
Pick a pricing strategy that suits you best
When choosing the pricing strategy for your online course, it is important to pick methods that align with your business goals, target audience, and the unique value your course delivers.
If you struggle to choose, start by implementing a value-based pricing approach and testing how it goes. Don’t be afraid of experimenting with different pricing models to discover what resonates best with your audience.
Understand your business goals and set clear financial goals
Understand your financial objectives. Are you aiming for maximum profit or building a brand presence? Decide whether you want to position your course as a premium offering or a more accessible option.
Consider how pricing fits into your long-term business plans, such as scaling and expanding course catalogues or even entering new markets.
Consider how pricing fits into your long-term business plans, such as scaling and expanding course catalogues or even entering new markets.
Recognise the value of your course
Underpricing and overpricing are pretty dangerous. The first one may not only decrease the course value in students’ eyes but also attract demotivated and less committed students. The second one will just scare your potential buyers.
Consider starting with a minimum price range of €100 per course, taking into consideration the effort put into creating it, your expertise and the value you bring to the table.
Analyse factors influencing course prices
Potential students who are willing to pay a certain price for your courses (your target audience), your course’s depth and the quality of your content, both production and value-wise. Research your competitors and create your own value proposition that will differentiate you from others.
Pick a pricing strategy that suits you best
When choosing the pricing strategy for your online course, it is important to pick methods that align with your business goals, target audience, and the unique value your course delivers.
If you struggle to choose, start by implementing a value-based pricing approach and testing how it goes. Don’t be afraid of experimenting with different pricing models to discover what resonates best with your audience.
Understand your business goals and set clear financial goals
Understand your financial objectives. Are you aiming for maximum profit or building a brand presence? Decide whether you want to position your course as a premium offering or a more accessible option.
Consider how pricing fits into your long-term business plans, such as scaling and expanding course catalogues or even entering new markets.
Consider how pricing fits into your long-term business plans, such as scaling and expanding course catalogues or even entering new markets.
Pricing strategy for the course “Mindful Living”
Let’s say we created a course on wellness and meditation.
Source: Jared Rice, unsplash.com
This course is designed for people who want to reduce stress, think more clearly, and feel better overall by learning mindfulness and meditation.
The course consists of:
The course consists of:
- video lessons;
- guided meditations;
- downloadable materials;
- access to an online community where students can support each other.
Strategy for choosing a pricing plan
- Value of the course
- It covers both wellness and meditation in detail.
- Taught by an experienced meditation instructor with certifications from all over the world.
- Includes unique content: personalised meditation plans and wellness tips.
- Helps students achieve big changes: less stress, better mental health, and improved quality of life.
- Target audience
- Adults aged 25-50 who feel stressed out.
- Professionals looking for better work-life balance.
- People interested in personal growth and overall health.
- They value self-improvement and are ready to invest in high-quality courses.
- Pricing factors
- High-quality videos, audio, downloadable takeaway sheets, personalised meditation plans.
- Interactive elements like quizzes and assignments.
- Access to a supportive online community.
- Similar courses cost between €150 and €300.
- Competitors might offer basic content without personalised support.
- Business goals
- Make your course known as a top-quality option in the wellness field.
- Build a strong brand and loyal student base.
- Aim to earn €50,000 in the first year.
- Financial side
- Cover costs like creating the course, marketing, platform fees, and paying the instructors.
- Make enough profit to support future courses and growth.
- Choosing the pricing strategy
- Value-based pricing for the main strategy
- Bundle and freemium pricing for additional strategy.
Setting the price for the course
We offer 1st lesson on meditation for free for everyone who signs up for our email newsletter. Based on research, we start at €249 for our standard course and €299 for a bundle.
- The standard course
- All learning materials on the course;
- guided meditations;
- community forums;
- online support.
- The bundle
Contains all the features of the standard option, plus:- an extra book on nutrition;
- two live sessions with coaches/instructors;
- a personalised meditation plan.
And we’re set! We now have basically two products and prices for them.
When deciding how much to charge for your online course, you need to balance a few important things. By carefully thinking about these factors and setting a price that shows how valuable your course really is, you can attract the right students and make the money you're aiming for.
When deciding how much to charge for your online course, you need to balance a few important things. By carefully thinking about these factors and setting a price that shows how valuable your course really is, you can attract the right students and make the money you're aiming for.
Remember, pricing isn't something you decide once and forget about — it's something you might need to change over time. Keep an eye on what your students need and what's happening in the market to make sure your pricing stays fair and competitive.
- Jen NikolaevaLearning Experience Designer and EdTech Producer
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