Get paid for your online course
Your course content is created, you’ve set a price you’re comfortable and confident with but how will your students pay you?
This is the big question you’re set to tackle next and it’s time to weigh up your options. It’s important to find a balance with what works for you (and ensuring you get paid as quickly as possible!) and appeals to your prospective students.
Up front or by instalments?
Generally, you have two choices and you can opt for either of these or both:
your students can either pay in full;
or they can pay by a course payment plan.
Up front payments in full
Paying in full is just that. Whether your course is priced at $47 or $4997, your students will pay that in a one-off payment and have instant access to all of the course content. In a perfect world this is what you would like, you get the course paid in full and the admin is simple. Whether they pay via PayPal, Stripe or Credit Card, your students will enter their details and in one payment, their money is on the way to you. There is also an argument that if a student pays in full, they’re ‘fully’ invested in learning and absorbing the content from day one.
You may have heard the phrase ‘the transformation is in the transaction’? This can apply to both the amount the student pays or how they pay for their course.
But things don’t always work out that way, especially with bigger ticket courses and the realities of your prospective students other financial commitments, so….
Part Payments
Alternatively, you can set up a payment plan to break down the cost of the course over a certain number of weeks or months until it is paid in full.
When might a payment plan work? Breaking your course price down into more manageable payments can be particularly useful when the course is at a higher price point, or if your students are put off by paying the amount in full. In fact, it could be the deciding factor on whether students sign up or not and many course creators offer payment plans to help entice people to join.
However, payment plans do come with a risk of cancellation or failed payments which is why it’s essential to have clear Payment Terms and Conditions (or online course terms) laid out.
Your prospective students should clearly know what is expected of them when it comes to payment for their course, and they must agree to these Terms prior to signing up.
On your course sales and checkout pages, links to your Payment Terms must be visible and accessible and the student should check a box to agree to them prior to confirming their spot.
What else should be covered in your online course terms?
A great way to incentivise students to pay in full is to offer a discount for doing so, such as a 10% reduction in the total course price. Or you can make the weekly or monthly instalment a little higher to take into account the extra admin and the risk you won’t get that cash.
There is also the risk that a student will join via a payment plan, download your course content, and then cancel any future payments.
Or an unhappy student may ask for a refund of everything they have paid.
How to get online course terms?
How else can you protect yourself from non-paying students? Get in touch so that we can talk about how to price your course and offer payment options that appeal to your students but ultimately protect your business and revenue.
Contact Emma Heuston to arrange a consult now at www.theremoteexpert.com.contact and get a bonus Facebook Group Rules by mentioning this blog!
