It’s your worst nightmare…
You spend months creating your very own online course to sell to the masses. Perhaps you’ve invested in a course creation service, or you’ve done it all on your own through countless hours of work. Then, when it comes time to launch…
…almost nobody buys the course.
The launch is a failure. All that time and money wasted for nothing.
Sounds terrible, right? Well, this doesn’t have to be the case.
With the right preparation and execution, you can dramatically increase the odds that your course launch is a success.
Your audience will be happy, you’ll be happy, and it’ll be a win-win for everybody.
So, what do you need to do to make your course launch a success?
You can start by following these 3 essential tips…
- Make Sure You Validate Your Course Idea
If you haven’t validated your course idea in some way before creating and launching it, you’re asking for failure.
There are a number of ways you can do this. For example:
Create a lead magnet related to the course and send traffic to it with Facebook ads
Survey your email list and ask what they’re biggest problems are
Create a small chunk of the course (10-20%) and pre-launch it to a segment of your email list
Create blog content around the course. For example, if you created a course around how to get a girlfriend, you could write posts like how to choose the best second date ideas or how to start a conversation.
I’m in the process of launching a course myself, and to validate my course idea I first wrote a book on the subject. The book has gone on to become an Amazon best-seller and sell upwards of 7,000 copies and counting in just 7 months – so it’s fair to say that idea is validated.
(By the way, you can check out my process for launching that Amazon book here)
Validating your course ensures that it’s something that people actually want. So, it’s quite an important step. You can have the best marketing in the world, but if people don’t actually want your product then you won’t even sell one.
- Create Your Launch Strategy
There are plenty of different course launch strategies to follow. Here are a few:
The video launch sequence. This can be a good launch strategy especially if you plan to work with affiliates. Videos are a good way to build trust quickly with an outside audience. You could use a series of 3 videos – in the first, discuss the problem, in the second, discuss the solution, and in the third, it could just be the sales video where you explain that your course is the best way to achieve the solution you’ve laid out.
The email launch. No matter what your launch strategy, you’ll likely be sending out at least a few emails. But with this strategy you plan out a 5-7 day launch, with anywhere from 5-10 emails (usually 2-3 on the last day as time is running out in the launch). Teachable lays out a solid plan for creating the email launch sequence here.
The webinar. Here, you create a 45 minute to an hour long webinar where you discuss the problem and present your course as the solution.
You can use one of these strategies or mix and match them (along with other elements) to create your own special course launch strategy.
- Use Scarcity
Scarcity is the name of the game when it comes to selling your online course. You must create some type of scarcity if you want to have success – otherwise, people will keep procastinating and never buy your product.
So, how can you use scarcity to give your audience a little nudge in the direction of buying your online course?
Here are a two great ways:
Use a countdown timer. Set a day where your online course enrollment will close, and use a countdown timer to count down to that day. This shows your audience that they only have a certain amount of time to buy your course before the window closes. You can also have the timer tick down a deal for your course (i.e. 50% off until X day), or tick down on limited time bonuses (i.e. the bonuses disappear after X day).
Set a limit to the amount of buyers. Let your audience know that you’ll be closing the course enrollment after a certain number of people enroll. So, if they wait too long they know they may lose their chance.
Conclusion
A successful online course launch can transform your business and provide you with a steady stream of income for years to come. However, many people try and fail to create a profitable online course. You don’t have to be one of those people.
By following the tips here, you can improve the odds that your online course launch is a profitable success!
Have you had a course launch yet? What’s worked for you, and what hasn’t? Let us know in the comments below!