How To Price Your Hybrid Classes
Dhwani Shah
February 24, 2022
‧
5 min read
Pricing your classes is tricky business. Unlike product pricing, it's not really possible to quantify all the costs that go into providing a service because the expenses that go into providing a service are more subjective.
We all understand the importance of pricing in an economy. How you price your classes directly impacts almost every aspect of your teaching business – the type of marketing you can employ, the type of students you attract, the amount of sales you generate, which in turn allow you to build an image and counter competition effectively.
While it's not always possible to settle at the perfect price to charge for your classes on the first go, it's important to be aware of the repercussions of charging too much or too little.
Charge too much, and you may:
Charge too little, and it may:
While there is no ‘one price fits all’ strategy when it comes to pricing your classes, there are definitely some important factors you need to consider when deciding on the right price for your classes.
Time is money! And your time matters. When deciding the price of your classes, factor in:
While time is money, knowledge is power. Your unique experience and perspective are intangible assets that must be reflected in the worth of your counsel. Bear in mind the painstaking effort you spent acquiring the knowledge and expertise on the subject that you have now. Offering something unique, like an uncommon language, a unique instrument, or a very technical subject, will fetch you a higher price.
Customers enroll for your class for the outcomes that you provide, that may consequently benefit their life. People are willing to spend their money to reap significant rewards such as career advancement, higher income potential, an improved quality of life or personal fulfillment. This can become a marketing narrative.
For example, if the outcome is $1000-1500 increase in income potential, then charging $200-$250 seems extremely fair. You must charge adequately for that value you are adding to the lives of your customers.
It's hard to drive sales with organic promotions alone. It's essential to choose the right marketing mix based on your target audience, the subject matter and the format of your course in order to effectively market and promote your classes. Your marketing activities will typically include running ads and other paid promotions combined with executing email and phone promotions to generate and build on leads. It would be advisable to budget adequately to cover these expenses, which in turn can lead to increased revenue.
Live classes tend to be costlier than online classes because of the need to factor in additional costs required to run in-person classes.
It's necessary to factor in your overhead expenses: which include rent, utilities like water and electricity, equipment, like whiteboards, and maintenance, indirect labor like a receptionist or a janitor, among a few.
Add together the indirect costs to determine the total amount of money you must cover during a time period, and price your classes accordingly.
Teaching in hybrid classrooms when faced with the challenge of engaging both the offline and online students. The strength of your technology plays an important role in optimizing hybrid classes. Every hybrid classroom needs a smart video camera, a video conferencing platform such as Zoom or Google Meet, a class management software like Classcard, and online textbooks or other resources. Incorporate the cost of purchasing and setting these tools up when deciding the price for your hybrid classes.
The costs you incur largely influence how you price your classes and cutting down on these costs can help you increase your profit margins. Here are some simple ways to minimize your costs of running your class-
Reducing operating costs is a quick way to increase profitability. Try taking into account everywhere that you are spending and identify areas where you can cut costs. For example -
While you look for ways to reduce costs, make sure to maintain the quality and efficiency of your operations.
Going paperless can save you lots of money, time, effort, storage and supplies, and also save the environment. And it's really not that difficult in this digital age! Consider switching to a class management system instead to manage administration. You may also switch to e-books and online worksheets – they can be easily shared and updated and maintained/stored.
If you're worried about attracting customers, offering payment options is a better solution than lowering the price of your course.
The average gross profit margin for online courses is around 42% while that for in-person classes is 48%. While there’s no fixed formula for pricing classes, these numbers may help you do the math on how to price your classes based on industry standards. Understand the value you bring to the table and the problems you are solving for your customers and don't hesitate to charge your worth!