What do we think is happening in the online course world in 2024? Anita Siek and I share our predictions

The online learning arena has no doubt boomed over the last 2-3 years. Diving into 2024, what can we expect? What are we predicting? What's working and what's not? In this episode, I’m joining my good friend, fellow online course creator Anita Siek where we have a good chat about:

– What we're predicting for the online course world in 2024.
– Debating whether we should charge more for payment plans or not.
– Whether low ticket offers still have a place as a strategic funnel strategy.
– How we’re setting our businesses up for success in 2024 and beyond.

 

What we're predicting for the online course world in 2023.

“Where do you feel like the online course world is going this year?”

This could be completely wrong, but I have a feeling that we're going to see people buying fewer of the $47 things that they see in an Instagram ad. And I can see them investing more money, but more intentionally into slightly more action-oriented courses.

Once they've actually got skin in the game and they take action rather than just collecting all of these $50 resources that they never touch. I think that's one big shift we're going to see this year. We've all seen the fact that the $50 course is not going to change your life. It's not going to change your business.

So I think people wise up to that. I hope they're going to get more intentional about where they are spending their time and who they are listening to, and learning to be a little bit more discerning about what kind of marketing they're consuming, what kind of content they're consuming from people and who they're consuming.

 

Debating whether we should charge more for payment plans or not.

I used to have a $27 product for this very reason and when I was chatting with a sales coach about this a couple of years ago, looking at what that next level of my business was going to look like, she said to me, Steph, the people who are buying a $27 product are not the people who are buying $2000. And she told the people who are buying that $27 product, they're buying it and they're putting it on the shelf, they're not taking action on it. And then when they see you opening doors for your $2,000 course, it's a reminder for them that they haven't done your $27 product yet, or they've done the $27 product and they thought it was going to change their lives, but because it's only $27, it didn't.

And it leaves them with a few thoughts that I'm not going to sign up for this other course until I finish this one and get the results from this one. 

So that was the reasoning behind why I retired the $27 product.

 

“What are your thoughts on charging more when it comes to a payment plan?” 

In finance, they teach you about the net present value of money, and they teach you about discount rates and all of the things. And essentially money that you receive in the future is worth less than the money you receive now. Especially in a world where there is inflation, right? And if the inflation rate goes up, well, your money 12 months from now is worth less than what it's worth now. 

So that's the first thing you've got to cover in your payment plans is the money that you are receiving in that 12-month payment plan is worth less than $200 in today's terms to your business. 

The second thing is great if somebody doesn't have the cash for your course, there are other ways that they can get that money other than a payment plan. So they can go and pay for it on a credit card. 

So I think, if a credit card interest rate is 20%, well, I mean, I think charging a 10 or 15% premium for a payment plan on your course, I don't think that is unreasonable. 

 

Do low ticket offers still have a place as a strategic funnel strategy?

“What about pricing in terms of online products and online digital products? How do you look at pricing for your actual products?”

I always started at a lower price point than what I know it was going to end up at. And that's a way for me to reward the people who have been on my email list, who've been following me, who are going to just buy anything that I put out.

So, in that first launch, I might have a price increase for a couple of days. So the people who are early birds who are super serious, who are going to take action, have rewarded them. And then I might bump the price up a bit more, and then maybe the next time I run it, I know what kind of results people have got. I know I've made tweaks, and I've taken feedback on board. 

I know that it's worth more. And it's also like a bit of a confidence boost when you're thinking, I can back myself because I know this is worth more than what I paid for it. Then I start to put the price up but something that I think's really shifted in my mindset in the last year or so is actually I would rather work with fewer people at a higher price point.

 

How we’re setting our businesses up for success in 2024 and beyond.

I had left something very major in my business to the very last minute, and I was feeling stressed about it, and I had this thought of this next level business owner, this next level that I'm trying to get to, the person who runs that business does not do their webinar slides the day before the webinar. So that was something I'm going to change is that last-minute behaviour. 

 

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