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How can you promote your new courses to your existing learners

Sep 6, 2024

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A renowned WordPress expert Syed Balkhi shares tools and practical tips for increasing sales to current students.

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Your energy and heart into creating amazing online courses for your current students. Your audience has expressed that they love your content however, you're now ready to take things to the next level with brand new and exciting material.

The challenge is to get your students to invest in your new course. If you have to track the new audience each time you design a course, you'll spend an enormous amount of time and effort on marketing.

But, on the other hand people who've already bought your course recognize you and trust you, and are likely to purchase at your store and again.

The most important factor in making this happen is selling more. This strategy is a powerful one that can aid in increasing revenue, and offer the most value for your students.

It's true, it's easier than you think to apply this method and still not come across as pushy or salesy.

Today, we'll show you a few proven techniques and tips that you can employ to promote your course to the existing learners.

At the conclusion of this post, you'll have the information you require for you to revisit your site to make important changes to your strategy.

Let's take a dive!

Know More About Your Target People

Before you start selling, you need to really understand who you're talking to.

Determine what classes they're taking, which areas seem to evoke the most interest, as well as what they want to see in the future.

Screenshot of Monster Insights WordPress Google Analytics Plugin

Also, we suggest you ask your learners directly about what they want to see next.

Make use of course surveys, feedback forms via email, and customer support chats as ways to understand your audience and the expectations they have for your content.

The key is to ask targeted questions that result in actionable answers.

All of this data can help you make educated choices when trying to reduce the list of possibilities or decide which audience would benefit most of your course.

The Structure Marketing Methodology for Learners Already in School

After you've identified your customer It's now time to develop marketing strategies that align with their interests as well as their goals and issues.

These strategies can help present your upcoming courses and generate excitement using methods that are resonant with current students.

Leverage Email Marketing

You'll want to segment before you start sending out messages. It is basically dividing the people you are reaching out to into groups based on particular aspects specific for your particular business.

If you are in this situation, you should consider segmenting your lists based on the courses taken, completion rates, as well as engagement levels.

This allows you to create targeted campaigns that speak specifically to the needs of each audience, which means they are more likely to result in conversion.

You can also use this opportunity to personalize the offers that you're sending out to your users.

Crafting compelling subject lines and customized content that emphasizes the ways your course will build on what they've already learned will lead to more engagement and the sale.

To give you a sense of context, utilizing personalized subject lines alone can boost your rate of open by 22 percent.

RELATED Why You Should Segment Your Mailing Lists >>

Offer Exclusive Previews or Beta Access

Everyone loves feeling special. Offering your existing audience glimpses of your brand new course before it goes live could entice them and prompt them to take steps.

We've observed that giving a limited number of users exclusive access resulted in increased anticipation and generate more day-one sales.

It is possible to use this to convert existing students into paying customers. You might consider offering a limited number of beta slots at a reduced rate on a first-come, one-time basis.

For the sake of giving students the opportunity to pay less, you can ask for detailed feedback so you can enhance your training before launching it.

This approach not only assists to improve your course, but also builds an ethos of belonging among the first few people to adopt your course.

Set up a loyalty Program

You could offer points to customers who have completed their courses or previous purchase, and these points can then be exchanged for discount on future purchases. The kind of sale loop can encourage customers to keep purchasing from your store.

In the case of three courses, a learner may move from bronze level to silver. This means more savings on the next course plans.

Benefits that are exclusive to the higher levels of service, like one-on-one training sessions or the ability to take advantage of bonus courses is an effective way to get people interested in an upsell.

Harness the power of Social Proof

Nothing is more persuasive than successful tales. Showcasing testimonials from students who've benefited from your previous courses will help you sell to people who are new However, it's also an powerful tool for capturing the attention of other current clients.

This is known as the concept of social proof. Social proof simply means that customers are more likely believe in you and your product when they know that other people and organizations also are able to trust you.

If a person really liked your baking course but isn't convinced to take the expert-level cooking course in your upsell, a handful of good reviews could easily influence the decision.

They can see that others might have, including beginners, discovered value in the lesson and think that they would, too.

Innovative Pricing and Packaging Pricing and Packaging

In the case of upselling, the way in which you price and package your digital course will have an enormous effect on your performance. Below are some methods to keep in mind if you want to nail this aspect of your upsell plan for students who are already taking classes:

  • Design a Cross-Sell Plan Create a Cross-Sell Strategy At the end of a course, suggest your next lesson as a great opportunity to learn more. It should be clear that the new program builds on the lessons they've learned, so current users can appreciate the benefits.

Improve Your Upsell Flow

Let's take a look several practical strategies to optimize your upsell flow and turn more potential customers into existing customers.

Timing is everything in the world of upselling. If you are able to contact users at precisely the right moment, for instance when they have completed the course, you stand a an increased chances of landing an upsell.

If the student found an advantage in the initial class and would like to study more, they'll take up your offer instantaneously.

You can present this deal by email, or even on the last page of the course.

Our advice is to make sure the email you send is automatic and is triggered when they complete the course so there isn't a big gap between them wrapping with the final lesson and receiving the message.

It's been our experience that seasonal events are a good occasion to promote new items, especially if they're bundled with other products and deeply discounted.

If you're in the position in which you'll need feedback for your new course, this method could be very helpful. It is more likely that people provide positive feedback when the course is worth their time and is priced less than the full price.

It is also possible to ask learners to add your new course into their carts whenever they're in the middle of buying something that has been available for a long time.

In essence, Order Bumps let you request visitors to like to add a specific product to their cart prior to they checkout - and it works wonders for course creators as well as membership websites.

Make Your Value Proposition Stand Out

So, paint a vivid picture that shows the direct advantages customers will experience when they buy your new training course.

Can it aid them in securing an appointment? Start a successful side hustle? Develop an entirely new skill? Improve in social situations? Concentrate on the tangible advantages so that your audience has a reason to get involved.

What sounds better: a automated list of modules, ETA and costs; or a detailed and informative post explaining how you, as a learner can expect positive results from each module? Virtually every person would pick either option.

Also, we suggest that you address the most the most common concerns head-on. If, for instance, time is a concern, highlight how the course fits to hectic schedules.

If it's about money be sure to highlight the value of your investment, or the value of the knowledge you're imparting. Your job is to show that these benefits are greater than diverse concerns.

Don't forget that your current learners already trust you.

Make the most of this relationship through being open and transparent about the reason behind this course, and why it is addressing the needs of your clients and can help to achieve a goal or overcome a roadblock.

Measure and Improve

You can't improve what you don't know about. When it comes to upselling monitoring the appropriate measures is essential to know what is working and what's not.

It is important to begin with keeping track of your conversion rate in particular the percentage of existing students who purchase your new class. This can assist you in determining whether people are actually accepting the upsell offer.

We also suggest keeping the eye on your average order value (AOV). If customers that are returning back and buying multiple new courses, your strategy could be paying dividends.

The aim is to boost the amount of money people invest just a bit, while offering them enough benefits to warrant the expense.

It's also important to be aware of the average lifetime value of your customer (CLV) This is the amount of time a customer spends with you over duration of.

Effective upselling can increase the your student interacts on your behalf over the course of time. If your CLV is climbing up, you're on the right track!

Conduct A/B Testing

Aside from measuring your results, you should also consider ways to improve with Testing A/B. A/B testing is the process of testing two different versions of a campaign, offer or another type of marketing content to find which version gets the best outcomes.

You could, for instance, alter the headline on the page that promotes upsells for half your audience and see if your new variant is more effective than your previous.

Similar to that, you could test upselling customers on two separate occasions, once as soon as they finish a class, and the other customer will be notified the following early morning.

It is important to come up with a plan that resonates with your visitors and motivates them to keep engaging with your site.

Please remember that improvement can be a continual process. The goal is to continue with A/B testing even once you've found an option that is successful.

If you're not testing then you're missing out on opportunities to reach your audience. With that in mind, make sure you review your metrics, analyze your results from tests and be ready to make changes based on your findings.

Final Thoughts

Selling to current learners helps to build rapport with existing customers to increase revenue. It's also about making sure that people always discover something valuable and new every time they browse your site.

The strategies and best practices shared here today have helped us upsell over the years and we're confident that these strategies will aid you too.

It takes time, patience and determination to succeed at selling, however we're sure that you have all the necessary information to start your journey or move your plan to the next step.

Are you able to offer a better way of selling your online courses to existing customers? Send them to the community in the comments section below.

And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get more tips on increasing your revenue for your online class or membership site.

Syed Balkhi       Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner which is the biggest free WordPress resource website. With more than 10 years of experience, he's the leading WordPress expert in the industry. Learn more about Syed and his portfolio of businesses by being a part of his social media networks.