47: Why Your Course Isn’t Selling (and What’s Working Now)

Hi, I'm Lydia. In 2020, I resigned from my corporate job and took a big leap of faith. I launched a business I had been dreaming about for a long time. I had so many questions when I first started and zero people on my email list. But I was committed to one thing taking massive imperfect action. Within 18 months, I had thousands of students in my courses and coaching programs and was able to retire my husband from his 30 year career to work with me. I'm still pinching myself that we get to run a six figure business while living a life we love. But the truth is this overnight success did not happen overnight. For more than two decades, I let imposter syndrome, fear of failure and perfectionism hold me back from my passions and purpose. What is it that you've been wanting to launch? In the Launch Perspective Podcast, we share the mindset and the step by step strategies that will help you launch and scale the online business of your dreams so you can live life with more freedom and impact. It's time for a new perspective. Welcome to the show. A lot of course creators in 2025 are struggling to figure out how courses sell today compared to how they sold a few years ago. What worked in 2020 doesn't necessarily work in 2025. We've entered what many experts are calling a trust recession. Have you heard of that phrase? It means people are more skeptical, ad costs are higher, and the explosion of AI tools totally have changed how people consume content. But think about it. People can get a free AI tool and get answers to almost anything. So if they're going to buy from you, it has to be for something that I can't replicate. And that's your experience, your leadership, and the transformation you help them achieve. That's why the online education space has totally shifted from being an information economy to a trust and transformation economy. People don't want more information, right? They want more implementation, connection and results. And that's where positioning becomes everything. If you want to stand out in the market, it's not just about what you sell. It's about how you position your offer as the experience that actually helps people move forward. Now, many of you probably have Evergreen courses and Evergreen courses, they've had their moment, right? And they can still serve a purpose. But if your business has only been dependent on evergreen sales, I'd love to know, have you seen a drop off? Because I follow many course creators and let me tell you, most people have seen a huge drop off in Evergreen courses. I have as well. Most people buy with good intentions, but then they get distracted, they lose motivation, and some never even log in. So it's not because your course isn't good. Your course is probably fabulous. But humans need connection, accountability and clarity to take action. When there's no community, no live support and no momentum, it's just easy for people to fall behind. And when they fall behind, they don't gain confidence in that course. They don't come back with great testimonials. And honestly, that's why I believe what's working today and what's going to be the future of digital learning is cohort style experiences. So, interestingly enough, when I launched my business back in 2020, I didn't even know what the term cohort meant. All I knew is that I wanted to sell my course before it was built. So if you don't know my story, I hosted a free five day challenge. It was called Banish Business Clutter. And I invited my audience to join me in that free challenge. And at the end of that challenge, I invited people to join my very first course, the Digital Clutter Cure. Now, I knew this course was going to be 497597 in the future, but I launched it at an introductory price of $97. I didn't have fancy pages, no prerecorded content, no ads. It was literally just a welcome post and a promise that I would guide through the digital Clutter cure step by step. 95 students said yes. And that was the launch of my digital business. So every Monday they would get a new lesson from me. And every Thursday we'd meet for a live Q and A and coaching call. That was was simple. It was real. I showed up live and I made extremely close friends connections. Over those six weeks, all the students went through the journey together. They learned, they took action, they got results. I got to deliver the course live, which meant I wasn't spending hours prerecording content. I actually got to sell the course before it launched. And that course built my entire business. I did a live launch of that course seven times in two years. And it generated, all on its own, over $200,000. Now, it wasn't perfect. Honestly. The first cohort experience was pretty much a guessing game. But because I kept launching it every three to four months, every time I did a cohort experience is with a new group of students. And it just got better and better. And every time there was an update to the program, I would grant access to those who had already purchased before. So they were thrilled to get the updates. But each and every time, I would have a cohort experience. Now, past students also would have the opportunity to go through the cohort version, meaning access to the lives in the new group, access to our Facebook community, and they could pay an alumni fee for doing that. So it just worked so well because I was bringing on new people, working with them step by step, and giving additional opportunities for alumni to go through the course multiple times if that is what they needed. So the reason though, why I think it really worked is people weren't just consuming lessons, they were experiencing transformation together. If you think about it, digital clutter is a tough thing to do, right? As in, a lot of things are tough to do when you do them alone, but when you do them with a group and you're working on actions together, it's so much more motivating and encouraging. And you have a place to share wins and a place to ask questions and get support when needed. So having that clarity, that accountability, and that support every step of the way, I truly believe that is what made my course is so successful back in 2020 and 2021, and this was before I really knew the power or even the verbiage cohort style experiences. In fact, the word experience is a word that I've been using more recently. I feel like it's a hot word right now. People want to have an experience of something. And so that is how it went for me in 2020, and I'm still doing cohort style experiences today. But here's the interesting part. So after live launching that course with Cohort experiences for two years in 2022, I turned that same course into an evergreen product. The results were night and day. So I went from bringing in an average of 100k a year to now bringing in $20,000 a year with this evergreen digital course. Now, I did also stop doing live launches. So if you can imagine, it's like having something on a shelf that no one sees, right? Without a live launch, without a cohort experience, I would just have random sales every once in a while, most often when I would run promos or campaigns. And so it was just not the same result. And that kind of decline in revenue was for a lot, of course, creators would be a terrible experience for me. The reason why I made it evergreen is because I started to shift and pivot a little bit of my business. I started shifting to a different focus and topic because challenges had gone so well for me those first two years. The next big course I created after the digital clutter cure was called Challenge Launch Roadmap. And that was a very robust signature program. I showed students literally the A to Z of launching with a four to five day challenge. And guess what? I created it as a cohort experience. It gave me the ability to sell it to founders before it was even built. Those 20 founders went through it with me over an eight week period. And then I did an official live launch of it when it was all ready. So the digital clutter cure, still a great course, still available on Evergreen, but again, without that live element, that group momentum, that sense of progress together, people just lose interest. So Evergreen can work. But if you want real impact, consistent income, that cohort experience is going to outperform it every single time. So challenge launch roadmap. I launched that in 2022. It put in about $68,000 in a six month period. It was an experience rather than just buying content that made a difference in selling that program. We met weekly. They were implementing what they learned and they had that community and accountability. Another cohort style experience was held even more recently. Last fall, 2024, I did a cohort style experience for my Kajabi program. So I've been a Kajabi expert and a Kajabi partner for many years now. And I love teaching kajabi. I have had an evergreen Kajabi course for years, but I realized people were getting stuck in the implementation part. So last fall, Kajabi ran a special promo and I thought, well, what a good time to do a cohort experience of my kajabi course. The course was already created, but I'm like, what if I went through it with my students together? And so I called it the Kajabi co working experience. And I hosted it as a six week live experience, inviting them to watch one of the modules a week. And then another time a week, we would meet live and I would do implementation sessions. We do breakout groups. There were so many fun things we did. And this was not designed to generate revenue in and of itself because I gifted it to those who joined Kajabi with me as a partner. So those people joined Kajabi. I gifted them this six week experience for free because I always was gifting my Kajabi course for free anyway. I just committed to this six week experience and guess what? It did. Just by telling people about this experience that they would receive, I had 92 new Kajabi partners join with me in about three weeks of time. That means 92 people joined through my affiliate link. And I've been receiving recurring income ever since. So the ripple effect of a cohort model can be used in a variety of ways. The relationships and the results it creates, it just opens up so many doors of opportunity. So what do I mean exactly when I say a cohort style course? It's an experience where you guide your students through a structured journey together. You either have a roadmap, a framework, a blueprint, a method, and this might be four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, but there's a clear start and a clear end and each week builds on the one before it. So you have live sessions, time for feedback, accountability, basically real progress milestones. The key is to not overwhelm your students. Courses. With 50 lessons and, you know, 25 modules, that is not what people are looking for today. It's about walking them through a focused framework that helps them move from point A to point B. They're powerful. This cohort experience because it combines clarity, connection, community, and it's focused on transformation, not information. The way you position this kind of offer, it matters more than ever. If your sales page or your messaging sounds like every other course out there, people are going to scroll right past it. So here's what I learned about positioning your course in this kind of trust driven market that we're in today. And number one is to lead with transformation, not information. Don't tell people what you'll teach, tell them what they'll achieve. So instead of saying learn how to grow your audience, say, build an audience that buys from you consistently. Step two, you need to simplify. Create a framework that people can understand. Because confused minds don't buy. They want something that feels doable. A 12 module course feels like a mountain, right? But a 3 part or 6 part framework feels achievable. The idea is to give them quick wins that create confidence because confidence leads to completion, right? Step three, emphasize that community and life support. Don't just sell it as a list of lessons, sell the experience. Use phrases like go through it with me. Work side by side with others who share your same goals. Get live coaching and feedback as you implement. These are powerful phrases to share when you're doing a cohort experience. And then step four, show them the finish line. People buy clarity and when they can visualize the result that they're going to achieve in 30 days or six or eight weeks, they're much more likely to take action. So I will be honest here. Everything I just said to you was very hard for me because as a teacher, my instinct is always to give more, to load my courses with everything I know because I want my students to succeed. But I've Definitely learned more information doesn't equal more transformation. In fact, the more you give, the more you risk overwhelming your students. And when they feel overwhelmed, they just stop taking action. It literally paralyzes them. So that's why in every program I create now, I resist that temptation to teach it all. Instead focus on teaching what truly matters, those handful of steps that get them real results. People don't want to learn and they don't need to learn everything you know, they just need to know what works. So I want to share a story about how this cohort experience has transformed my business. So after live launching for those two years, I spent the next two years trying out some new programs and eventually launching a membership. My Ignite membership is my main revenue source now. And it actually is another form of a cohort style experience. And unlike other course creators that have seen a massive drop in revenue in 2025, surprisingly and gratefully, we've seen a 50% increase in sales in 2025 over the last three years. So that is pretty significant. And even though Ignite is not technically a course, it follows the same structure as a cohort. We do live masterclasses, we do live Q and A calls, we have live implementation, co working sessions. Everyone in the group's working towards a common goal and that sense of progress and accountability, it's what's making a difference for them and it's what's driving revenue right now. So even if you don't have a course, if you run a membership, a group, coaching program, or a mastermind, all of these same principles apply. Transformation happens when you create connection, accountability and community. That's what sells in 2025. So if your core sales have slowed, you're tired of creating more and more content that no one finishes, this is the time to shift your focus, stop trying to out teach everyone, and start positioning your offer around transformation. Create a framework that's simple, clear and doable. Build an experience that walks people through the journey and invite them to something that feels personal, real and connected. AI cannot replicate you. It can't replicate the community you build or the transformation you guide them through. Now, if you're ready to create an offer that reflects all of this, your expertise, connection and value, I want to invite you to my upcoming workshop, how to package position and price your six figure offer. I have been so excited about this workshop because I'm going to be giving my step by step framework on how to create your cohort experience. Now this is being delivered live and you'll get lifetime access to the replay so even if you're listening to this episode after the live workshop's been held, good news. We will be making the workshop available as an instant access replay. So you can jump in at any time. But I invite you to grab your seat because in this workshop we're going to be showing you exactly how to create the cohort style course, how to position it, and how to price it for profit. Next level growth does not come from just creating more lessons and creating more evergreen courses. It comes from better positioning. It comes from a clear transformation and a connected community that believes in what you deliver. So remember this, the audience you have does not want another course. They want a guide, they want a journey, and they want a transformation. You have everything you need to lead them down this transformation. And honestly, it's so rewarding. One of my favorite things about cohort experiences are the relationships that I've built. I truly believe that the success of the launch of my membership came because of the cohort style experiences I led in my business early on. At the time, I didn't know it was a cohort. At the time, I didn't call them experiences. I just happened to launch courses that had live elements and I would walk my students through those programs. Those are the students who are still with me today. They're the ones who joined my membership. They're the ones who participate in my programs. They're the ones that came to my Live Ignite retreat. And so I want you to know, while it seems like it's a big investment of your time, it's an investment that gives a very high return. So don't be discouraged if your course sales are down. Instead, think about how you can take the courses you've already created and turn them into cohort style experiences. These experiences are going to give a better transformation for your students. They're going to create so many relationships that will pay you back again and again. Want to access any of the programs or resources that I've shared on today's show? Be sure to check out drop the information and links in the show notes. Thanks so much and we'll see you next time. Thanks so much for joining me today on the Launch Perspective podcast. Looking for more? Head over to launchperspective.com for show notes and quick links to the content and tools that we shared today. Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes or ask a question that I answer on the show? You can do this and more@launchperspective.com com see you there.