You’ve spent weeks (perhaps months) crafting a high quality online course and you’re ready to sign up eager learners.
You know there will be many people looking to acquire the valuable skills you have to share… but how do you reach those people and how do you convince them that yours is the best course?
Read on to discover how you can find your target customers, write copy that engages them and drive more sales for your eLearning courses.
- Profile your customer
First off, you need a good idea of who you’re targeting with your course. You might say, “My course is suitable for anyone who wants to learn coding,” but who are those people likely to be? Think about age range, gender, educational and professional background. What level is your course – is it designed for beginners or intermediates?
Once you are clear on this it will assist you to construct the messaging for your course and understand how to best target prospective customers. If you’re unsure where to start, you check out more detailed guidance in our post on Ways to Segment Your Event Audience, and How to Find Your Audience Online.
- Be clear in your messaging
When it comes to learning, people are often anxious about whether the course will meet their needs. If they’re a beginner, they may well worry that they’ll be out of their depth, and these people need encouragement and reassurance in your marketing copy.
On the other hand, those with existing knowledge might be concerned you’ll just be covering old ground and not providing the advancement they seek. Be very clear about the topics the course covers and what students will learn. Give specific examples about what they’ll be able to do after completing the course (often referred to as learning outcomes) i.e. build interactive website elements using JavaScript and design great looking HTML emails.
Moreover, consider how these new skills will benefit the student – will they be able to start a new career, move up a pay grade at work, enjoy a fulfilling hobby or make extra income on the side? Sell the lifestyle associated with these skills, not just the skills themselves.
For some best practice examples, check out this online course on web development, this spiritual self-help course and this professional development course adult education teachers.
- Demonstrate the ROI on time and money
The other key concerns your potential customers are likely to have are the amount of time they will need to spend studying to complete the course, and how much it will cost. Some may also be concerned that online learning will be inferior to traditional in-person tutoring and be unsure how virtual learning actually works.
You need to address all these points, spelling out exactly how much time must be dedicated, how the lessons are structured and delivered and how progress is tracked. What support do you offer for students if they need help along the way?
Highlight how quickly they can see results and how much time and money they can save in comparison with traditional learning.
- Use testimonials
If you have students for your current course or any from past courses, contact them and ask them for a short testimonial about their experience. Including these in your course description will help give prospective learners confidence in your offering.
Going forward, make a habit of sending students a post-course survey and ask them to score you out of five for educational content, value for money, and overall satisfaction. Being able to put a five star rating on your description could make all the difference in today’s review-driven society.
Including FAQs (based on the genuine enquiries you receive) could also help provide the extra information that will get people clicking on ‘buy now’.
- Set up an Eventbrite event page
As well as promoting your course on your own website, you can dramatically increase its exposure by setting up a free Eventbrite event page.
With over 60 million active buyers visiting Eventbrite last year, we’ve got a huge audience of eager ticket buyers that could just be looking for your event. Eventbrite event pages are also well optimised for SEO, meaning anyone searching Google for a specific type of course has a good chance of coming across your page.
What’s more, Eventbrite makes it easy for customers to purchase your course and, as a well-known brand, provides reassurance around the transaction. You can learn more about how Eventbrite will help your online course become a big success by attending one of our live demo’s, or watching the on-demand webinar.
- Use Facebook Events ads
Thanks to Eventbrite’s integration with Facebook, it’s easy to publish your Eventbrite event straight to Facebook (you can do this in your Eventbrite dashboard).
Now you have a Facebook Event, you can take advantage of the platform’s targeted Facebook Event ads. You can define the profile of your target customer, even including specific interests.
You can set up Facebook Event ads by clicking the “Boost Event” button on your event, or the “Get More Responses” or “Sell More Tickets” buttons in the “More” dropdown on your Facebook event.
What’s more, if you install a Facebook pixel on your Eventbrite ticketing page, you can also build custom or “lookalike” audiences to target. Lookalike audiences are made of people who share similar traits and interests with customers who’ve purchased your course. For more information on this, check out our post on how to use Facebook Events to sell more tickets.
- Send reminders
You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel – if you have past customers, people who’ve registered with your mailing list or otherwise shown interest in your courses, don’t miss the opportunity to remarket to them.
Email existing contacts to let them know about your new course and encourage them to tell their friends. You can also use paid retargeting to show Facebook and Twitter ads to people who have previously visited your website. This enables you to capture sales you might have lost from interested individuals who just weren’t ready to purchase before.
Conclusion
You’ve put a lot of time and effort into designing your online course so don’t fail to promote everything it has to offer. Use these tips to craft a compelling course description and get it out to as many potential students as possible.
