3 Reasons Your Online Course Or Coaching Program Is Not Selling
As the number of coaches and course creators we work with grows, the question continually being asked over and over again is, “why is my program not selling?” Wanting to know the answer as well, we did a deep dive into the hundreds of online courses and coaching programs on thelifedge.com. The goal was to determine if there was a difference between those that were selling programs successfully and well… everyone else.
There were three main reasons programs failed to convert sales. First, a lack of a following or audience, no one even knows the program exists. Second, the course was hard to find on the site or social media platforms. Lastly, no one took time to build trust and rapport with their audience before smacking their followers with a sales pitch.
Let’s take a little time and unpack this a bit more so you don’t make some of these costly mistakes.
No One Knows You Exist
The first and most obvious reason that coaches and creators were struggling to convert sales was the lack of an audience. You might ask, “what does that look like?” Well, it is little to no website traffic and a lack of any meaningful social media following. Yes, selling a coaching program or course on the internet can be very prosperous. However, this is not The Field Of Dreams with Kevin Costner where “if you build it they will come.” There is not a mob of people waiting for you to launch your course on the internet so they can go buy it.
If you would like to create that mob of people waiting to buy your course check out our post: How to drive traffic to my online course
Now that being said, there are hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of people out there that would buy your program but they are not going to come to you. It is your job to let them know you exist.
How?
The way everyone else does it, through social media and content marketing aka blogging. Yes, it was easier 5 years ago but you did not start then. You started now and marketing your business is not going to be any easier 5 years in the future. Use the free tools you have been given like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok to shout your message from the top of every mountain.
The number one major factor we found that contributed to successful audience growth was consistency. Producing valuable content on a regular schedule. In the past, you used to just focus on one platform.
Not any more!
You need to be using everything you can get your hands on. This is because the internet is a vast place. According to LOCALiQ in 1 internet minute for the year 2022 there are 5.9M google searches, 167M videos watched on TikTok, 44M people viewing Facebook Live streams, 231M emails sent and this is only a fraction of what goes on. Yes there is opportunity for those willing to venture out into the open waters of the world wide web but you must do the work. If not, you will be drowned by the wake of your competitors who are willing to do the hard work to get their name out there.
Let’s make this really simple and do some navigational clean-up.
If you only offer one program, then put a call to action on your home page. Add a description of what’s included and how users will benefit. If you have multiple courses, then build a drop down menu or a landing page that lists them all out.
For your other platforms make sure they direct users to your website. If you are posting about your course, include the link in your bio or if the platform allows it then put the link in the post. Now let’s get something out there really quick. Some of you already do this but you’re still doing it wrong. Do not post every link you have in your Linktree or Seedpro etc. All that does is cause information overload and it is just messy. It is believed that most of your users have an attention span of that shorter than a goldfish, which is less than 9 seconds. Stop wasting those precious seconds showing them every thing you offer, every blog you have written, and podcast you have been on. Just put your 4 or 5 most important links.
Keep it clean, simple and easy to navigate.
No Trust Equals No Sales
This is the most important part but it can be the most difficult one to accomplish. The best way that we saw to achieve trust was to be genuine and transparent. What does that mean?
The everyday user is constantly being exposed to all types of marketing. More of that exposure each day is online courses and programs as we increasingly move to being a more digital society. This is creating smarter users. A smarter user can now sniff out those that just slapped together some content and dropped it into a click funnel. They can tell the difference between someone just selling a program to make money and someone who is genuinely offering their knowledge to help others.
How do you build trust?
Keep everything you do legit. Don’t use scammy sales techniques or buy followers. That never works out in the long run. Stop being a used car salesman where every single post you make is a sales pitch.
Instead, be someone who truly wants to help others. Connect with your audience in the comments or on forums. Create and share free content that actually helps your followers. Give them a reason to buy what you are offering.
This part has to be done in your own personal way, so just be your authentic self.
Remember, to you it may just be a number in a bank account but to the user, it’s their hard earned money. It’s them getting up early or staying up late after the kids went to bed to study your program. Most importantly, it is the impact you are making on their life.
If you want a more in depth view on building trust with your audience, go read, The Best Ways For Online Coaches And Course Creator To Build Trust WIth Their Followers.
Let’s put it all together
Again, the top three reasons your online course or coaching program is not selling:
- Lack of an audience or following
- Users can’t find your course on your site or social media
- You have yet to build trust with your audience
Make sure to take some time and see where you are falling short in these areas. If you lack an audience then go learn everything you can about social media. Don’t forget, it is not good enough to just be on one platform anymore, you need to be on all of them. Put some thought into your site and cross platform navigation. It should be simple and easy to find what you offer. If not, no one is going to buy it. Lastly, be genuine in what you offer. People are getting smarter these days and misleading sales tactics just aren’t going to cut it. Show your audience that you truly care about helping them.
Cheers!
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