The online course industry is growing like gangbustas, so I hope you’re on the train, or at least considering a ticket.
It’s a great way to share your expertise as a service provider, scale your business, and create meaningful milestones for people who need skills that you currently possess.
But I know you’re reading this post because of the title.
It was a good one, I know.
I thought of it in the middle of the night while nursing William…for the 45,002,300 time.
The idea of launching anything, never mind something so personal as your very own info-product, is scary.
And when it’s your first time? GAH!
So.Much.Pressure.
- What if it flops?
- What if people ask for refunds?
- What if it’s not good enough?
- What if I price it too high/low?
The last couple of clients that have worked with me to launch their courses…have used this four letter word too {or some mild variation of it}…and it’s like magic.
I don’t say that lightly since the Internet is full of magical claims. But this word…is.
- It helps you feel more confident in your launch.
- It helps people BUY MORE.
- It helps take off the immense pressure of all those what-ifs.
- It gives you freedom to pivot as the market responds.
Now that second bullet point might have your attention. The four letter word that helps people buy more?
Yes. More.
The word is…
….
….
BETA.
Here’s how and why it works
#1 It helps you feel more confident in your launch
No matter how amazing the material and great your expertise, the first time you do anything is nerve-wracking. Now, I know there are all those people that will tell you to fake-it-til-you-make-it, but I think OWNING your first time around makes you MORE believable and respected than pretending the course is something it’s not.
When you own your BETA, you feel more confident that people know exactly what they are getting. No fancy marketing tactics. Just the honest to goodness truth. Plus, you only get one BETA. Just like that first kiss. It’s special and magical in its own right, and when you look at it that way, your confidence goes up. No pretending.
#2 It helps people BUY MORE
In the good ol’ world of sales, there is two primary emotions that copywriters and advertisers like to target in order to drive up profits.
- FOMO – The Fear of Missing Out
- Scarcity – The idea that the deal or offer is going away soon
The problem is that FOMO and scarcity MUST BE BELIEVABLE, or you get that slimy feeling. No one likes to be sold to, and if you read a piece of marketing material and it smells like a used car salesman, it’s most likely dripping with fake FOMO and Scarcity.
Well guess what…BETA is your free pass to HONEST FOMO and scarcity. It’s like your course knows you’re stressed out about launching, so it helps you by building in these two realities…right into its very nature.
FOMO with BETA is real. Because BETA versions usually mean you’re going to be more involved with your students. It might mean you get feedback from them to make the course better. It means that these founding members will have a larger sharehold or chunk of the tribe because they are getting in on the ground floor.
Real scarcity, the believable kind, is powerful. A BETA launch will be less expensive than a regular launch because your price is legitimately lower for a reason. People who buy a BETA round know it’s not perfect, they know they will get every iteration of the course as it gets better, and in exchange for their patience, you are keeping the price lower.
#3 It helps take off the immense pressure of all those what-ifs
- What if it isn’t meaty enough content? Just add more!
- What if people want something I didn’t go into deeply? Consider adding it!
- What if people LOVE it and I underpriced myself? Raise the price next time!
- What if there are glitches with the technology? Change it!
- What if people are confused and need more support? Offer it up!
BETA means…things will change according to feedback. People know this…and frankly, I think they love it. They love having the chance to get their personal needs and questions answered. Most people who buy into a BETA round feel absolutely giddy when the course launches again, because now they have access to better and better versions of the course for an insane value.
You can use this in your marketing…and it’s true and believable, and your students will thank you.
#4 It gives you freedom to pivot as the market responds
How fast you can adjust and respond to new opportunity, new technology, new questions? Makes the difference between wild success and well..meh.
I started a course called Blog to Profit, and by the end of the BETA round? It was an entire academy. You can bet that the students who got in, were so excited to be a part of that! And even better? As I pivoted this BETA version, I was able to capture more opportunity. More sales.
Had I not been perfectly open about the BETA nature, it would have been a lot harder.
One last thing…
BETA means that you can test the market before you waste 1000’s of hours developing a course. All of my BETA launches were pre-sells…which means, people bought a product that was not created yet.
Every first go round of my courses are LIVE. This may not work for you, and that’s okay, but it works great for me. I get to build the course with real live people who can give me feedback, help me to make it better, and keep me on track with what the needs truly are.
It means I sell something before I’ve spent too much time making it, so when I do – I KNOW that there is a market ready.
And with this method? I usually end up with three or four new ideas based on my students. New courses, new ways to help students, new ways to generate revenue.
My last two clients made $15k and $20k respectively on their BETA launches with TINY lists.
Another client of mine is launching a BETA membership – but choosing to use the phrase “founding membership” rather than BETA and is on target to make a quarter of a million dollars by the end of 2016.
It’s a four letter word that rock my launches, now will it rock yours?