#118 - Cohort vs Evergreen - Which is Best for Your Course?

Don't just copy what you've seen others do. Make sure that you even if you go, oh, that seems like it's a really great idea, just step back and go, what does it actually mean? Bigger picture, what does it mean?

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your host, serial entrepreneur, 6 and 7 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben. Where every week we're here talking nerdy and sharing the things that actually work to help you do what you do online. But better, easier and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

Hello. Hello everybody. Welcome to the Doing it online podcast, episode 118. I am your host Kate here from hellofunnels Co. And today we're going to talk about courses and creating amazing courses. The kind of courses that sell with ease, that you can scale, that create amazing, amazing results for your clients and that you really enjoy actually delivering and creating as well. And we're going to be talking today about one of the decisions that you sort of have to make with your course and that is whether or not your, your course, your program, you know, I'm going to call it various things throughout this just, you know what I mean, Whether or not it's going to be cohort based or live intakes or it's going to be evergreen, which is actually going to be the best for you, which is going to be the best for how you're wanting to run your business, how you're wanting to grow and for your clients. There's actually quite a bit to weigh up here. It's going to be super juicy. Whether you are thinking about creating an online course or you already have an online course and it's set up one way and you're thinking maybe it would be better if it was the other. This episode is for you. You. Alrighty guys, I know when you are thinking about creating your online programs, or as I said, you already have an online program and how to grow it, that trying to think about what is going to be best, like trying to make those decisions now for something that it's kind of something that's going to impact you for years to come and it can be a bit daunting and it's definitely much easier if you get that decision right up front or early on, it's much easier, easier to make the switch than it is to make it later on, but it's not impossible. So as I said today, we're going to go through some of the pros and cons and the Common mistakes and pitfalls that people make with the different types of programs. Now one of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they are just making decisions like this, like how are they going to structure their program is that they just go out and they just copy what they've seen others do. They're like, oh, everybody does it live, so I'm just going to do it live. But they don't actually stop and think about what does that mean, how is that going to impact my business, how's it going to impact me, how is that going to impact how I sell, how I plan my year? There's a lot of things that do factor into this, and this is why we are such big believers here at LO Funnels and inside our programs, is that you have to stop and you have to make the pro. You have to stop and take a second and we make everyone do this. And yes, it's more than a second, it's probably more like 20 minutes, but and get intentional about figuring out what it is you actually want from your business. Like how you want your business to be running in five years time, 10 years time, the work you want to be doing, who you want to be working with, all of that kind of stuff. Like really paint a super clear picture of that. And yes, a picture may change over time and that's fine, but you need to have that picture in mind because it's going to impact decisions like this. Like if you get it, if you choose one way, not the other, the way your business is going to look in 5 years, 10 years time is very, very different. I'm not saying either of them is wrong, but it's just, is it going to be right for you just going out and going, oh, everyone does this, this must be the right way to do.

Does generally, not generally, but it often means you can be making a decision that's not going to be that right one for you. And I know this firsthand because I've had several businesses now and you know, it is one of those things that you sort of, you learn with time. You learn by making the mistakes. And sort of, that's why I'm here is hopefully to help you make fewer mistakes. Because you can learn from my work. Don't just copy what you've seen others do. Make sure that you, even if you go, oh, that seems like it's a really great idea, just step back and go, what does it actually mean? Bigger picture, what does it mean? And we'll talk about that in more detail as we go through it. The other thing as a common misbelief is that I think people think that they have to do live cohorts, live rounds, whatever you want to call it, live intakes to get good results for their clients. They. And that's actually not true. I've seen, I love evergreen programs. I run my own. I run both cohort based and evergreen program. I have seen the pros and cons of each, but it's actually not. You can get, as long as you've structured it properly, just as good a result with an evergreen program as with a cohort based program. And it really just comes down to what actually makes the most sense for you for how you're going to run your business and running when you show up in your business and also for your clients. Like sometimes it does make more sense for your client to have a cohort based program. Like sometimes they do need that little bit of extra motivation that you get when you're coming through a program all together, all at the same time. Sometimes they need that set container of okay, we're starting on this date, we're ending on this date. You got to get it done by then. Sometimes that's really motivational, other times it backfires. It's knowing it's trying to know, step into your client's shoes and think about what's going best for them, what's going to make most sense for them, and also not forgetting to step into your own. One of the cons, sorry, of a live funnel, sorry, a live round, is that it makes it much harder to have an evergreen funnel for that program. If you want, you are thinking you want to have an evergreen funnel. And you know me, that's, that's my jam. I think everyone should have an evergreen funnel, although not necessarily for every program. But if you do think that this is, would be a great offer to put on Evergreen, you would love to be able to be selling it all year round. Then it's going to be a lot easier to do that if when people get the offer and you're like, yay, here's the offer. You can buy now, you can start tomorrow or today versus awesome. You want to join this? Great. You can start in three months. Like most people are going to be like, yeah, nah, that's not, I don't want to wait that long. I'll go find something else. Like I said, pros, cons, what's going to be best for you? How do you want your business to run? Do you want to be able to have funnels? Do you want to be able to make sales all year round or would you rather do launches? Does it make more sense for your client? It's just weighing all of these up. Another really common mistake I see people making when they're planning out this course or planning out any course or any program is they create what we call a kitchen sink course. This is where. And again, this comes back to a lot of feelings of worthiness, a lot of imposter syndrome, a lot of just like, oh my gosh, people won't buy from me unless I give them everything. And I have to prove my value by showing them just exactly how much I know about everything on every particular topic related to this. And they create a really, really complex, over the top kind of course. And then it wouldn't matter if you did it evergreen or cohort based, because people forget that even if it's going over 12 weeks or it is going to be evergreen. What people actually want here is they don't want more work. The more modules you give them, the more PDFs, more videos. That is work. That's something that they have to consume, they have to figure out, right? So no one wants more work people. What they want is to be able to get from A to B in the shortest, most likely for success route possible. And that's your job as a program creator. To go there at A, I want to get them to B. How do I get them there quickly? And you can do that. As I said, both whether it's live or whether it's evergreen, it just is going to look slightly different. Let's talk now, more pros and cons. When it comes to doing things in cohorts, we're doing them live. And just to make sure that when I say the word cohort or live, you are understanding what I'm saying. Like a cohort is when you say, hey, we're starting this program, it starts on the 10th, it runs for eight weeks and then it ends on X date. And it's like it's a very set container. It has a start and an end. Everyone starts at the same time, everyone ends at the same time. That's cohort. And you may have a couple of those throughout the year. Evergreen is when people can join up at any time, start at any time, and therefore their end date will, will be X months or whatever from their start. And so it's. You have people coming in all at different points. That's again, just want to make sure everyone's on the same page. Now that cohort model, that live model it usually actually requires a bit more energy from you, actually quite a bit more energy from you. And sometimes that's okay. Some people love that and that's good. Other people, it's. It becomes too much and it become, can become something that ends up burning you out. To have a live cohort, to have people starting at the same time, you generally need a live launch. Like I said, you can't really do a funnel. It doesn't work that well. You might be able to get a few people in that way, but you're not going to get enough. So you need to have a big live launch, and that's a lot of energy, a lot of time. And then it's like that live launch ends, cart closes, and then the program starts. And you got to have all the energy to then deliver. And because everyone is starting at the same time, one sort of universal truth about, you know, delivering online programs is that usually when people first start, that is when they need the most care. That's when they need the most time because they're figuring it out. They, they don't really know, you know, how this program works yet. They haven't made any other friends in the program yet. So like, you're going to be their person that they're asking. They can ask all the questions, they want to come in, they want to get started. That's when they're most motivated, that's when they're taking the most action. Usually people, when they first start, require the most care, the most time, the most attention. If you've got a whole bunch of people starting at the same time, then that is a big block of time and attention all at once. Usually following immediately after another big high energy block. It can be draining. It's not some people, it just does not work for them. Another con that I would put in the cohort kind of bucket, and please don't think I'm against cohorts here. Like I said, I've got one, I have one of each. And they both have their own pluses and minuses. But one thing I've definitely found since we started adding a cohort based model, and that is our certification program, is that all of a sudden everything becomes less flexible. Because when you start planning out your calendar, like previously, we'd be like, okay, we're going to do a couple of promos through the year for our program and then people come in and then it's evergreens. Then everything sort of can be quite flexible beyond that other than those promo periods. But when you have launches and Then cohorts all of a sudden like our program's 12 weeks, you have a launch before that that's like really six weeks. Once you get it sort of set up and all that stuff like that's do that a few times a year. There's not much other space in your calendar and you can't all of a sudden it's trying to fit things in. It can feel really crowded and if you don't like that, then maybe don't do cohorts now. Evergreen launches and Evergreen programs. The cons of an evergreen program is that it is more. It is like, it's like a pro and a con, but it's more steady that you're going to have people being drip fed in where they. You might get a lot of like excitement and everyone sort of coming in together at the same time. With a cohort based when it's evergreen, you've got a few people coming in here, a few people coming in there. While that steadiness can actually be great as far as your own energy and planning out things, you have team and whatnot. Like it keeps it on a nice even keel. You then need to look at having touch points added in to make sure those new people still feel that motivation, that excitement up front, still get chances to connect with other people inside the program. So we do things like mastermind days and live planning sessions and we have live challenges inside the program and stuff as well to just help keep that momentum, help give them chances to interact. But it's done in a way that is steady and that works better for us and our team. The other thing with Evergreen is that you need to make sure that it is well with either really. You always want to make sure that you're setting the expectations, setting the container right up front. If something is evergreen, you want to make sure people realize that it's evergreen, that they're going to be coming in, that people are going to be there all at different times. And that's actually great. That's actually another I want to put in a pro is when you do have an evergreen program because there are going to be people further along the journey as when new people come in, your community is actually able to help support other newer people in the community because there are people who are six months in and they've got a brand new person asking a question. And so while yes, your team of course is going to be coming in and answering when your team isn't online or misses, the community can help to answer and help to sort of almost Mentor each other along as well, which can be really nice. The other pro that you have from having this more evergreen model is that if the support and community is something that you do get bubbling along really nicely and people are getting a lot of value out of it, then probably when they get to the end of whatever their container is, there's going to be a good percentage who want to stay. You can offer a continuity program where it's like, yes, there's no new training, but if you want to stay in this community, if you want to keep getting your questions answered, keep coming to any live events that you have, you can. It's. You sign up for the continuity program. That's sort of a lot more difficult to do with a cohort based thing because then you end up having a cohort based thing and an evergreen thing. When it's just Evergreen adding that continuity, it's actually just. They're just having exactly what's the same as what they already had. You don't need to add any new trainings, new sessions, anything. It's quite simple to deliver from your end and they still get that great value. Now, one of the final points that I want to add, when you are weighing up and hopefully from listening to this, you're kind of going, oh, actually it is making much more sense for me to do it this way or that way. And that's really is my intention from this episode for you to go. Neither is wrong. All right. It's like what makes the most sense for you and again for your client. But one more thing to think about is that when you have a live or cohort based is, like I said, people have this belief that, oh, that's how people get best results because they get kind of swept up in momentum and they all go through the program and every week you have a call on that topic and it's going to be more valuable. Right. But what people forget is, is that whether they start on Evergreen or whether they start live, people, very few people will actually stick to the schedule that you set them because life happens. Majority of the people going through your program are going to be falling behind. They're not going to be sticking to that schedule. And when you're doing something cohort based, then that actually can be quite demotivating for people. Like once they feel like they're too behind, they're like, oh, well, I'm never going to catch up. Why bother, right? Versus Evergreen. Their schedule is their own. And yes, you probably would encourage them to do things at certain times, but because Everyone is in there working on different things at different times. There is no falling behind. They don't have, well, they don't have that big push at the start of everyone doing things together. They also then don't have that lull and lag at the end or as they go further into the program where they're like, I've fallen behind, I'm no good at this. I'm just going to give up. Like there are certain personality types, I'm kind of one of them, that once you do fall behind or something, you're like, oh, I'll come back to that later. And then they just ignore it and never do. Don't think that people are going to move through something better just because it's live, because it's actually not the case. I hope this has given you lots of food for thought, guys. I hope this has helped you to, like I said, intuitively or just kind of be able to weigh up even if you need to get down like piece of paper and start writing out those pros and cons again for your particular program and your particular client. Hopefully it's made it clear for you which is the right option. And I actually have an awesome little new freebie for you guys that if you actually want to grab our exact worksheets from inside our Ecourse Empire program, this is what we use with our clients to actually help them map out and create amazing high value courses that their students absolutely love. We actually have that worksheet available for you. It's all yours. All you have to do is head to HelloFunnels Co PMC. That's PMC like for plan my course. The link is below in the show notes as well. If you can't understand my accent, go grab it. Grab that worksheet. It's going to help you again to map all this out and hope, hopefully make it really clear what is that best option for your program, for your clients and for you. And so you can go and create a really amazing, valuable course. Get it out into the world. Start making sales. Go grab that now guys. Hope you love it. If you do, hit us up on Instagram, let us know and I'll see you all next week.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing It Online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your own six or seven figure funnel, let Kate show you exactly how today@Stealmyfunnel.com.