Oh boy.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for me to eat some crow.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s REALLY<\/strong>\u00a0difficult for me to do because I have a fear\u00a0of certain birds. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Anyway\u2026<\/p>\n There are articles all over the Web about why discounting your products is bad.<\/p>\n I ignored them and thought that was odd advice.<\/p>\n Some of you warned me about Udemy.<\/p>\n I ignored that too.<\/p>\n My goal was to make my courses affordable for people to learn<\/strong>, and many of you praised me for that.<\/p>\n But I didn\u2019t really understand the long-term limitations\u00a0of a pricing\u00a0structure like Udemy\u2019s.<\/p>\n If you have not launched your product yet and\/or are considering Udemy to sell your online courses,\u00a0please pay attention<\/strong>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a podcast for this post.\u00a0If you\u2019d like to listen, scroll to the bottom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The\u00a0ongoing discount strategy is NOT<\/strong> good for the long run,\u00a0and it often creates a\u00a0proverbial ceiling when it comes to what some<\/strong> people will pay.<\/p>\n [clickToTweet tweet=\u201dOffering too-frequent discounts trains people to buy only when there\u2019s a sale.\u201d quote=\u201dOffering too-frequent discounts trains people to buy only when there\u2019s a sale.\u201d]<\/p>\n When a large discount is the #1 motivating factor for purchasing, you attract a lot of people who\u2026<\/p>\n As a result, you have to sell a lot of cheap products\u00a0to make worthwhile\u00a0money<\/strong>, and you often end up with a less engaged student due to the low risk\/investment.<\/p>\n Of course this is not ALWAYS<\/strong> the case, but I have a good sample size of Udemy stats to study and the results are\u00a0clear\u2026<\/p>\n When I opted out of the Udemy promotions last Summer, it was amazing to see the increase\u00a0in course engagement\/completion and how the average\u00a0ratings\u00a0improved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The bottom line is\u2026<\/p>\n [clickToTweet tweet=\u201dDon\u2019t price low. Pack your product with value, and charge what it\u2019s worth.\u201d quote=\u201dDon\u2019t price low. Pack your product with value, and charge what it\u2019s worth.\u201d]<\/p>\n If you care more about the volume of students, and are not concerned with the amount you earn per sale, then Udemy is\u00a0fine.<\/p>\n Just understand that your income will largely depend on how much Udemy promotes your course (if you cannot drive sales yourself). And many of your students will never pay more than a certain price.<\/p>\n Notice I didn\u2019t say \u201cALL<\/strong>\u201d but \u201cMANY<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n There are instructors on Udemy who are doing very well and are happy with their model. So I would never say it\u2019s bad for everyone.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just not for ME<\/strong> anymore, and I won\u2019t be uploading there again.<\/p>\n Even though I\u2019ve opted out of the discounts, there is still an unspoken expectation for\u00a0what my courses SHOULD<\/strong> sell for because they are on a notoriously discounted platform.<\/p>\n I know this to be true because I\u2019ve gotten messages in my inbox from people begging for coupons.<\/p>\n One guy was so relentless, I had to block him after the 10th message in a 3 day period.<\/p>\n Another guy criticized me because my courses weren\u2019t part of the promotions.<\/p>\n Oh the NERVE<\/strong> of me for not<\/strong>\u00a0selling a 3 hour course for 15 bucks! \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n I had two emails this morning from someone asking for a coupon.<\/p>\n And when people on Udemy ask for a coupon, they don\u2019t want $5 or $10 off.<\/p>\n They want 75 to 90% off.<\/p>\n This is exactly why Udemy is a bad choice for people who want to sell courses over a certain amount. That discount expectation is a killer.<\/p>\n They tried to fix this last year with a limited discount structure, but it flopped badly.<\/p>\n Just like JCPenneys discovered when trying\u00a0something similar, they realized people need to FEEL<\/strong> they\u2019re getting a discount.<\/p>\n Udemy knew they had to change it back so they could keep profits up. It may not benefit all the instructors, but it benefits THEIR <\/strong>bottom line.<\/p>\n So it really doesn\u2019t matter what you price your course if you\u2019re opted in to the discounts.<\/p>\n In most people\u2019s eyes the value is always under $25<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That expectation is always there, and if you don\u2019t offer that, you may look sleazy or like you\u2019re trying to rip someone off.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter how detailed your course is\u00a0or that it\u2019s\u00a03 hours long. It \u201cshould\u201d be cheap because it\u2019s on Udemy.<\/p>\n Students wait\u00a0for the next\u00a0promotion, and it\u2019s typically just a few weeks\u00a0away.<\/strong><\/p>\n And who could blame them? Why wouldn\u2019t<\/strong> they wait for a discount? That\u2019s the precedent Udemy set.<\/p>\n I\u2019m just glad we can opt out.<\/p>\n I do get full-price marketplace sales (referred by Udemy) quite often for my affiliate course, but I bet they are from new students who haven\u2019t figured out the \u201cUdemy system\u201d yet.<\/p>\n I also hate how their pricing looks scammy. \u201cOh, let me price my 30 minute course at $200 when I know it will sell for $20.\u201d<\/p>\n Nope.<\/p>\n When you opt out, YOU<\/strong> control your prices.<\/p>\n The decision to start cheap will always hurt my course sales\u00a0in some way because I set a low price expectation.<\/p>\n So if you want to control how much your course will sell for, you should consider other options like Teachable (where my future courses will be uploaded).<\/p>\n My 2create courses will stay on Udemy (minus the\u00a0Udemy promos, of course) for now, and existing students will always have access to them even if I stop selling there. It\u2019s part of their terms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The truth is, only a small percentage of Udemy instructors earn a substantial amount of money\u00a0selling courses cheap.<\/p>\n If you happen to have a top course in an in-demand niche, you could make five figures per month selling courses at $10 or $15 due to Udemy promoting your course for you.<\/p>\n Just remember that if you rely on Udemy for your sales, a competitor could come along with a better course and Udemy may promote their course over yours.<\/p>\n Many instructors\u00a0feel trapped and obligated<\/strong> to participate in\u00a0the Promotions because without them, they would hardly make anything due to the fact the students look for the discounts and they don\u2019t\u00a0have an audience.<\/p>\n Well I don\u2019t feel obligated at all \u2014 even if that means I earn less.<\/p>\n I have no regrets about opting out of the Promotions last year.<\/p>\n I would much rather have 5 students who pay $100 than 100 students who pay $10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When people invest more into a course, they are far more likely to complete it, act on the content and buy ANOTHER<\/strong> course for the same price or more.<\/p>\n If you attract more students that really\u00a0NEED<\/strong> your course and not just motivated by a discount, you\u2019ll make more in the long run.<\/p>\n So you have to sell fewer courses to reach your income goals<\/strong>, and you\u2019re\u00a0getting paid for your work.<\/p>\n So how do you deal with people who complain about price?<\/p>\n If people are used to discounts, no doubt those comments\u00a0will come.\u00a0I get this all the time now that I opted out of the Promotions.<\/p>\n You simply explain that you invested a lot of time into creating your product, and your price is set to reflect that.<\/p>\n Why should you disregard the work you put into creating something just because someone doesn\u2019t want to pay?<\/p>\n A higher price will help communicate the\u00a0value of those who are ready to commit time and money, and drive those away who aren\u2019t<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n I\u2019m no longer afraid of driving people away like I was before.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about learning to create a product that people NEED<\/strong> and WANT<\/strong> instead of\u00a0trying to target anyone and everyone by dangling a cheap price in their face.<\/p>\n Creating a private Facebook group for my Spreadshirt (and future POD T-shirt design students) has been a learning tool for me as a course creator.<\/p>\n It\u2019s helped me learn where I need to improve with structuring my courses.<\/strong><\/p>\n I am listening to the problems that people have and noticed a common theme with the challenges many of you\u00a0face that I wouldn\u2019t have picked up on without the group.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had several A-HA moments! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n This gives me direction with my upcoming 101 print on demand course.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s not just about jacking up your prices.\u00a0You also have to improve, deliver and give people what they need and want.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a two-way street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So having a group where you can interact with your potential students is great because you can learn about what they want and where they struggle most.<\/p>\n I will certainly use\u00a0this info\u00a0for my future courses.<\/p>\n I\u2019m working hard to ensure the courses are setup for optimal learning and easy implementation.<\/p>\n I have to do my part\u00a0too.<\/p>\n This may be hard to believe, but I don\u2019t care about high enrollment numbers\u00a0right now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If I did, I\u2019d still be opted in to the Udemy promotions.<\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s about removing\u00a0that cheap course expectation and finding the right price point that\u2026<\/p>\n And you know what?<\/p>\n I STILL<\/strong> don\u2019t have the perfect formula for pricing a product. I\u2019m\u00a0going to be testing\u00a0and welcome you to share what you\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n But I can tell you this\u2026<\/p>\n Giving products away for cheap is NOT<\/strong> the answer for me.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve benefited from my discounts then you\u00a0might not like this. It might look greedy or that I\u2019ve changed.<\/p>\n Well you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n I have changed.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve learned that it makes no business sense to price below the value for the long run.<\/p>\n As you can see, I\u2019m such a work in progress<\/strong> when it comes to all this selling\u00a0stuff, but I wanted to share what I\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n This topic was so important that I decided to also do a podcast. You can listen below or right-click this link and download the mp3 file here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Why](\"https:\/\/blog.2createawebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/udemy.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Constant Discounting Creates a Price Ceiling<\/h2>\n
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Should You Avoid Udemy?<\/h2>\n
![\"Begging\"](\"https:\/\/blog.2createawebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/please.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019m Done.<\/h2>\n
Think Long Term When\u00a0Setting Prices<\/h2>\n
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\u201cI Can\u2019t Afford That Price!\u201d<\/h2>\n
Private Groups Are Beneficial<\/h2>\n
Quantity Doesn\u2019t Matter<\/h2>\n
![\"True](\"https:\/\/blog.2createawebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/truDat.png\")
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Listen To The Podcast<\/h2>\n