Three Things You Need to Do Following Your Online Course Launch (When You Didn't Reach Your Sales Goals)

You've heard it millions of instances before. "How to start the 6-figure course".

That's exactly what you're looking for, isn't it? An online course launch that could generate a full years worth of income all in one shot.

Launching an online course is a fine art and requires a lot of moving pieces that require patience, trial and error to achieve perfection. It's not as easy like following a blueprint.

It's not like I need to say it because I'm certain that at the time you launched your online course you followed the method to the letter and then didn't reach your sales goals.

Perhaps, even more troublingly, no one purchased anything at all.

The worst feeling, isn't it?

It's like you've spent all your time effort and expense to get nothing in return.

It's like you feel your plan has been a total failure!

Don't be adamant about relegating your program into"the "failed product" graveyard in the meanwhile, as even if you don't meet your sales goal, it does not mean that your program is not a success!

On the contrary it's what you do post launch of the product that will determine whether or not it is going to the difference between its success or failure.

Since just after launch time is the best opportunity to profit from the excitement surrounding the launch, and make extra money after the cart is shut and you are ready for the next event.

  3 Things to Consider Following the Launch of Your Online Course  

Often we take the launch of an online course which did not go according to plan as personal criticism of us. It's not.

It's important to realize is that your course launch doesn't revolve around you. It's about the ideal client and it could take a whole bunch of different reasons that they did not purchase the course.

It could be that it was not at the right moment.

Okay, they might have signed up for the opt-in form or participated in your webinar due to being truly interested in the subject however it might not be of interest to them right now. The next time it launches, it may be so that it's not if you've lost them as an potential client.

This could mean that the students didn't think they'd need something as comprehensive as your training. It's a good thing, if this is the case you'll still have them interested in your topic.

Maybe you didn't quite know your ideal buyer and your marketing copy did not connect with them on a profound enough level to make them convert.

Good news is that all these things could be transformed into opportunities by doing these 3 things:

  Create a Down Sale  

If someone doesn't purchase your course doesn't mean that they'll not buy from you at all.

Why? It's because they don't understand that they trust, respect and admire your character enough.

That's why the down sale offer can come in.

The down-sell offers are an opportunity to sample your full product at a lower price point you can pitch to people who went through the launch process but weren't able to purchase.

Here are a few instances of a down sell:

1. Self-study version of your live-streamed group session
 
 The users would have access to all the same modules without the live and support group component.

  2. The basic modules of your course

For instance, if your course has one that has six modules, then the down sell may include the initial two modules to help students to get going.

  3. A coaching call

One of the drawbacks to so many people launching courses is that sometimes individuals simply experience "Learning Tiredness" and really just want some 1:1 advice. A coaching call or a bundle of calls is an ideal downsell.

After you've made your decision on your down sell offer the time is now to send an email out to your list.

You must make sure that you only send the item to people who did not purchase.

A few days after the course has ended, you should send an extremely casual email telling the recipient, "Hey, I know you weren't a part of the course but there's no regrets I'm here to help you out with this simple version of the course to help begin your journey."

The addition of a down sale could add hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to your total launch sales making it a real deal. isn't a lot of work on your part.

The simplest method is to just duplicate the course, then within the duplicate, eliminate all modules and lessons not in the course.

Or if in the case of providing a coaching session as your down-sell you can create this in just a several minutes with something similar to Acuity that manages all payment requests including your schedule, calls bookings and reminder emails.

However, the sales don't stop at the down-sell. If someone buys the down-sell it is possible to sell them on the complete course later on after they've been able to have a look at the amazing content your down-sell is!

  People who Didn't Spend Money  

It's been a while since you've put out your down-sell but there's still a whole group of buyers in your database who did not buy, and you must figure out the reasons.

To make certain that your next venture will be more successful, you're likely to need to tweak some aspects and the most qualified individuals to inquire about what is needed to be changed are those who haven't bought.

That's where a survey can be useful. You can set surveys in just 5 minutes using platforms like Monkey Survey. Monkey.

It is then time to distribute the survey via an email to anyone who didn't buy your core program or down-sell about a week after the mailer with the down-sell offer goes out.

There are three KEY items you should learn from the people who went through the launch, so you can improve your launch next time around.

  1. What is your biggest challenge in relation to [INSERT YOUR TOPIC HERE] ]?

The purpose of this question is to determine if your marketing and positioning for your launch was focused on their biggest issue. If the responses are in a majority the problem your course was seeking to resolve, and the answer is yes, then you drew the right audience in your sequence of launch.

But, if their answers differ, it is time to take an examination of your position and a possible disconnect between the lead magnet for your launch and the topic of your course.
 If the lead-in magnet for your launch didn't have a direct connection to the core challenge your course was solving then you're likely to have attracted individuals who weren't the best fit for your launch sequence.

  2. Which of the following BEST describe you?

The goal is to discover what type of people, and in which situations, you're drawing so that you can really focus on the message later.

If, for instance, your course was for working Moms your categories could be:

a) I have a child at home
 b) There is a child who attends pre-school 2 times per week
 C) I have children in the school for 5 days each week.

When you launch your next campaign, it is possible to adapt your messages according to the situation or challenges the user is having to face.

  3. Why did you not consider joining the course?

It is here that you will get to the real route of the issue. Was it the price or did it have to do with timing? Or was it they just signed in for the webinar out of curiosity?

  Configure an Sales Funnel  

It's great news if you've launched your business, it indicates that you've most of the components of a successful sales funnel in place.

The only thing you have to do is adjust your content to the evergreen environment and then tweak according to the findings of the survey. The whole system set up for selling evergreen in as little a seven days.

  1. Change the Webinar into an Automated Webinar

  2. Include Evergreen Scarcity on Your Selling page

Scarcity is one of the most effective ways to boost sales. Just because there isn't a LIVE deadline for closing your cart isn't a reason to not include scarcity in your funnel.

There are a couple of methods to accomplish this. Create an evergreen cart that closes meaning that if they don't sign up within the time period you specify (48-72 Hours) they can't sign up to your course.

You could also get a limited time discount.

How do you achieve this evergreen scarcity? By making use of countdown timers which automatically redirect to another webpage once the timer expires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvgVGx62BH8

You're worried about who will use your course beyond the hours of opening and closing times or obtaining the limited time discount beyond the period you're in, do not.

The majority of countdown timer plugins and platforms use cookies to track the people who have been on the page which means that when the timer runs finished, the user will not be able to get access to the special deal provided you set up a redirect URL which either will take them to the full price version or a cart closed page.

3. Create Your Automated Sequence of Emails

Use what you learned through your research results to make changes to the content of your launch emails for a stronger experience.

Now you have to get to market your new evergreen opt-in and course!

Keep in mind that even if a launch does not go according to plan, it doesn't mean your course has failed. Do these 3 things after your launch and not only can you increase the amount of money you earn from your launch but also increase the number of launches you launch next!

Are you prepared to investigate your course launch and turn it into an evergreen sales funnel?

Check out this FREE email course Launch to the Sales Funnel

Sasha Peakall is The Sales Funnel Strategist, Copywriter and analytics nut. She assists creative, goal driven women in business troubleshoot course launches and turn their sales funnels into revenue-generating ones which sell courses automatically. Learn how you can transition from stress of launching to successful passive income through her course, from Launching to Sales Funnel.

  This post was originally published in the year 2017. The new content was released on October 20, 2023.