So you have created your course and are ready to start selling? You're in the right place! This guide will cover the steps you need to set your course pricing.
In this article:
How to Set an Enrollment Duration
Set Up Your Payment Processor
You must set up your payment processor before you can set a course price. Thinkific supports several different payment processors. All our processors have one-time payment options, but if you want to set up subscriptions or payment plans they are only available through Thinkific Payments or Stripe.
Learn how to set that up here:
As of May 19th 2022, all new Creators located in Canada or the USA who sign up for Free and Basic plans will have Thinkific Payments set as their default payment processor. As of June 10th 2022, all new UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) creators who sign up for Free and Basic plans will also have Thinkific Payments set as their default payment processor. Learn more about this update: Thinkific Payments Updates: What to Know
Choose a Course Price
Choosing the pricing for your course can be tricky. You need to strike a delicate balance in finding a price that people are willing to pay, without devaluing the work you’ve put in and the perceived worth of your content.
Luckily, we have excellent resources on how to price your online course:
How to Price Your Online Course (Complete Guide)- Blog post
How to Price Your Online Course - Comprehensive training course available for free on Pro and Premier plans
Course Pricing Options
You can set pricing at the Course level and at the Bundle level. When pricing your course, you will have several options:
Available options may vary depending on which Thinkific plan you have. Subscription and Payment Plan options are only available on the Pro plan and higher.
Free
Courses set as Free will be available for, well, free! All the student needs to do is create a user account with your site and they’ll be able to have access to the course content without paying anything.
Learn more here: How to Set Your Course to Free
One-Time Payment
Setting a one-time price for your course means that the student will be charged a one-off fee for access to your course (in contrast to recurring payments such as subscriptions and payment plans).
Learn more here: Create a One-Time Payment
Subscription
The subscription payment option allows you to take recurring payments for your course via Thinkific Payments or Stripe. Subscriptions are based on months, but you have the flexibility to charge every month, every year, or anywhere in between!
The student’s billing date will be based on the day of the month that they sign up on. For example, if they sign up for a subscription that recurs every 3 months on January 15th, their next billing date will be April 15th.Subscriptions are ideal for longer courses and work great in conjunction with our drip schedule feature, which allows you to release content over time - maximizing the lifetime revenue from a student by encouraging them to stick around for more.
If you’re looking to run your entire Thinkific site as a subscription site, check out Creating a Membership Site
Learn more here: Create a Subscription Price
Payment Plan
You can use payment plans to split the total price for your course out over several monthly payments via Stripe. Unlike subscriptions, payment plans have an end date. For example, if a student signs up for a three-month payment plan on January 15th, they’ll be charged on January 15th, February 15th, March 15th, and nothing beyond that.
Particularly for courses at a higher price point, payment plans are great for boosting sales by removing potential barriers for your students, such as a lack of available funds, uncertainty about whether the course is for them, etc.
Learn more here: Create a Payment Plan
Additional Pricing
You’re not limited to just one price per course! As part of the Pro plan and higher, you can display multiple additional pricing options on your course landing page, giving students the choice to pick the one that works best for them.
Learn more here: Provide Additional Prices for Your Course
Coupons
After setting your course pricing, you have to option to create coupons for your courses and bundles. This is a great way to promote your content and reward repeat customers.
How to Set an Enrollment Duration
When you set your course pricing, you have the option to limit the amount of days that new sign ups will have access to your course.
Learn more here: How to Set an Enrollment Duration