How to Price Online Programs

Want an online program for your coaching business?

Awesome!

I bet you are wondering: “How should I price this?”

I hear you! Hi!

As someone who has made millions from online programs myself, this is a question I’ve also often pondered.

So, I’d love to share a story of how I priced one of my first DIY online programs, including my pricing criteria, which you can take and use for yourself!

Ready?

Let’s go!

How to price online programs: Inside stories

One of my first totally online programs that I launched for my first career coaching business The Revolutionary Club – back in the day – was called The Networking Masterclass.

I hadn’t offered a program like it before, with a portal and online videos but zero live support, so it was new to me.

Given that, I was not sure what to charge.

It was a course that could be completed in a couple of hours.

There wasn’t live support.

But there was some admin support we had to do when people bought it – deal with any tech issues etc.

I had first launched this program as a test to my email list, just to see if anyone would pay for this help.

When I launched the test, I priced the program as a “pay what you can afford” and used e-junkie as my shopping cart, since it allowed for people to set their own price.

That felt great to me, as it was a win-win.

I got paid for the course creation and the test (win!), but almost everyone could access the information (win!).

After the test, where I delivered much of the content live, I needed to upgrade it all to get ready for the “real” version of the program.

Real = Automated version that I wanted to sell long-term, without any live delivery.

I added in extra training, I did the highest quality video production I could at the time, and I created a portal.

Then I paused.

What should I charge for my online program?

$97?

$297?

$197?

(I was stuck on 7).

It was fully automated with no support, so I was looking to price it in the hundreds of dollars mark, rather than more.

Here is my 4 part pricing decision criteria…

To figure it out, I came back to for deciding factors:

1) The value of the program.
High, as this program would likely pay off in the thousands for those who applied the teachings to find new jobs, get raises, and start businesses.

2) Ease of delivery for me and the team.
Easy, it was automated with only a small amount of admin but no live support.

3) My beliefs.
A program like this should be affordable, but cost enough that people are more likely to actually do the work, so they get results.

4) Work to create the program.
High, as I had to create slide decks, worksheets, film video, hire a designer, and create a student portal.

Given #1, I thought $97 was too low.

I really wanted it to cost enough that people would take it seriously.

Given #3: I thought $297 was a little high.

I had already seen good results from the test students, but I wanted to make it fairly accessible to professionals.

I also reminded myself I could raise the price down the road if I wanted.

And given #4, the obvious price seemed like $197.

It was enough to offset the cost of creation and maintenance for me, and also account for the ROI for the students who did the work.

That price also felt good to me

But what about those for whom $197 was still too high a cost?

Or those who missed out on the “pay what you can afford” offer?

For them, I put together a small free training and a few extra blogs.

The free training was actually a part of my sales funnel and featured a piece of real content from the program.

It was a nice way to give something to the community that was instantly helpful, and also make folks aware that if they wanted more, the full program was available.

Your next steps with online pricing

Think about your pricing criteria.

And yes, you are welcome to use mine!

But dig in and think about if you are pricing your program in a way that is sustainable, can support you, and will get the best results for your students.

Then…pick something!

Pricing isn’t set in stone.

You can, and should, change your prices down the road when you add more value or updates to the program.

Got a price in mind?

Amazing! Publish it. Then pat yourself on the back.