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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 useful tips to increase course revenue by upselling to current students.

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Your energy and heart into developing incredible online courses for your existing learners. Your students have said that they enjoy the content you provide and now it's time for taking things up a notch with brand new and exciting content.

The difficulty is getting your existing students to be interested in the new course. If you must track down a new target audience every time you create your course, you'll have to devote an enormous amount of time and effort on marketing.

But, on the other hand those who have already purchased a course from you recognize you and trust your site, and are more likely to buy on your website in the future.

The key to making the process work is the process of upselling. This effective strategy will aid in increasing revenue, and give the most value for your students.

Believe it or not, it's simpler than you think to apply this method without coming across as overly aggressive or insincere.

Today, we'll share a few successful techniques and tricks to use to sell your course to the existing learners.

By the end of this blog, you'll know what you need to return to your site and make significant changes to your strategy.

Let's get started!

Know More About Your Target People

Before you can start upselling before you can start selling, it's important to get to know who you're communicating with.

Find out which courses they are taking, which topics seem to spark the most interest, as well as what topics they would like to explore next.

Screenshot of Monster Insights WordPress Google Analytics Plugin

Also, we suggest you ask your learners directly about their ideas for what they'd like to see next.

Use survey questions for your courses, feedback forms via email, as well as customer support conversations as opportunities to gain insight into your audience and their expectations from the content you provide.

The key is to focus on the right questions which result in actionable answers.

All of this data will help you make informed choices when trying to narrow down a list of potential topics or determine who would be the most benefit of your course.

Structure Marketing for Learners who are already in the classroom

When you have a clear understanding of your target audience It's now time to design marketing strategies which are in line with their needs as well as their goals and issues.

The following strategies will help to showcase the new course and generate excitement by demonstrating how they will resonate with current students.

Leverage Email Marketing

It is important to segment your audience before you start sending out messages. Segmenting essentially means dividing the people you are reaching out to into groups, based on the particular aspects specific to your company.

In this case, you should consider segmenting your lists based on the courses that you have taken, the rate of completion, as well as engagement levels.

This allows you to design targeted ads that cater directly to each group's needs This means that they're more likely to result in conversion.

This is a great opportunity to personalize the offers that you're sending out to your users.

Crafting compelling subject lines and personalized content that highlights how the new course builds on the lessons they've learned previously will lead to more participation and more sales.

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

RELATED What You Need to Consider Segmenting Your Lists of Email •

Offer Exclusive Previews or Beta Access

Everyone loves feeling special. The ability to give your audience a sneak peek at your new program before going live may entice them and result in them taking actions.

It was our experience that granting a select group of users access only to the site helped to create anticipation and generate more day-one sales.

This could be a great way to convert existing students into paying customers. You might consider offering only a few beta spots at a discounted cost on a first come, first-serve basis.

For the sake of giving students a lower price, ask for more detailed feedback so that you can optimize your new course before it goes live.

This strategy not only helps in enhancing your courses but it also helps create a sense of ownership among those who were the first to take on your program.

Create a Loyalty Program

You could offer points for courses completed and previous purchase, and these points can then be redeemed for discounts on new orders. This type of sales loop will encourage people to continue shopping on your website.

As an example, after purchasing three classes, students could move up from bronze to silver. This means an increase in discount for future course plans.

Benefits that are exclusive to more prestigious levels, such as 1:1 training sessions, as well as access to bonuses courses can be a guaranteed approach to attract people's attention in an opportunity to upsell.

Harness the Power of Social Proof

Nothing is more persuasive than successful testimonials. The presentation of testimonials from students who've enjoyed your courses in the past will help you sell to new people However, it's also an efficient way of grabbing the attention of other clients who are already clients.

The concept of social proof is known as the concept of social proof. It is basically when individuals are more likely believe in you and your product in the event that they can see other people and organizations also are able to trust you.

If someone truly enjoyed your baking course but isn't sure if they want to enroll in the professional-level cooking class that you offer as an upsell, a couple of carefully-placed reviews could easily influence the decision.

They can see that others, perhaps beginners, found an educational value and believe that they'll also.

Intelligent Pricing and Packaging

When it comes to upselling, the way in which you package and price your digital courses can have a serious effect on your performance. There are several methods to keep at hand if you wish to nail this aspect of your upsell strategy for current learners:

  • Create a Cross-Sell strategy Develop a Cross-Sell strategy After the completion of an educational program, recommend your course as the best method to keep learning. It should be clear that your new lesson builds upon what students have learned to ensure your existing customers can see the benefit.

Improve Your Upsell Flow

Let's take a look a few actionable ways to optimize your upsell flow and turn more potential customers to customers who are already in your database.

It's all about timing in the world of upselling. If you can reach users at precisely the right time, such as when they have completed an online course, you'll have greater likelihood of getting an upsell.

If the pupil found an advantage in the initial course and wants to learn more, they'll take up your offer instantaneously.

It is possible to present the offer by email, or even on the final page of the course.

Our advice is to make sure that your email you send is automatic and activated by the student completing the course so there isn't a huge gap between the time they finish up the last course and getting your email.

The seasonal holidays are a good opportunity to launch new products in particular if they're included together with other goods and reduced.

If you're at a point in which you'll need feedback for your new course, this strategy will be extremely helpful. The majority of people will provide positive feedback in the event that your course has value and they get it for less than the full price.

It is also possible to ask learners to add your new course to their cart when they're in the process of shopping for something that's been out for a while.

Simply put, Order Bumps let you request visitors to prefer to add an item to their cart before they pay - and it works wonders for course creators and membership sites.

Make Your Value Proposition Stand Out

Also, create a compelling image that demonstrates the immediate positives that customers could experience if you offer a new course.

Could it assist them to get an appointment? Start a successful side hustle? Learn something new? Gain confidence in social settings? Concentrate on the tangible benefits so your target group of people has an incentive to get involved.

What sounds better: a robotized list of modules with ETA and costs or an in-depth and informative article that describes how you, as a learner will see positive results from each module? Most people would choose the latter option.

We also suggest addressing the most common concerns head-on. If, for instance, time is an issue, make sure to emphasize how the class fits into hectic schedules.

If it's about money be sure to highlight the value of your investments or value that can be found in your teaching skills. Your job is to show that the advantages outweigh these different concerns.

Don't forget that your current learners are already trusting you.

You can make the most of these relationships by being transparent and explaining why you created this new course, and why it is addressing their needs and will help you achieve your goal or overcome a roadblock.

Enhance and measure

You can't improve what you don't measure. When it comes to upselling, tracking the right parameters is crucial to understand what works and what doesn't.

It is important to begin with monitoring your conversion rate and the proportion of current students who buy the new course. This can help you figure out whether people are actually accepting the upsell offer.

We also suggest keeping in mind your average purchase value (AOV). If customers that are returning to buy more courses, your strategy will likely pay off.

It is the goal to raise how much people are spending just a bit, and still offer them benefits to warrant the expense.

It's also important to be aware of your average value for customer lifetime (CLV), which represents how much a person spends with you over time.

Successful upselling should increase how much a student spends with you over time. If you're seeing your CLV go up, you're on the right track!

Conduct A/B Testing

In addition to analyzing your outcomes It is also important to consider ways to improve with Testing A/B. A/B testing is when you test two variations of an offer, campaign or another type of marketing content to find which one produces the greatest outcomes.

For example, you could alter the headline on your upsell landing page with half of your customers and see if your new version outperforms your original choice.

You can also test upselling customers on two separate occasions when they complete a course, while the second group will get an email next early morning.

The aim is to create a plan that resonates with your visitors and motivates users to continue engaging on your website.

Be aware that improving your product can be a continual process. It is important to keep A/B testing even once you've found something that works well.

If you're not experimenting and testing, you may be losing chances to connect with your target audience. Keep this in mind and make sure you review your performance metrics, examine the results of your tests, and prepare to make changes based on the information you gather.

Final Reflections

The process of selling to learners already on your site is about building rapport increasing revenue and making sure that people always discover something fresh and useful when they browse your site.

The strategies and best practices that we have shared today have helped us upsell over the years and we're confident that they can help your business, too.

It requires time, patience and perseverance to master the art of upselling. However, we are confident that you have all the necessary information to get started or to take your current plan to the next step.

Got any tips on upselling your online course to existing clients? Send them to the community in the comment section below.

Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter for additional tips to increase the revenue of your online class or membership website.

Syed Balkhi       Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With more than 10 years' expertise, he's the most renowned WordPress specialist in the field. Learn more about Syed as well as his portfolio of firms by being a part of his social media networks.