Update on Udemy Deals Program: Trialling adjustments to discounting and pricing
Hey Instructors,
We hope you’re doing well! We want to share an update regarding our Udemy Deals Program pricing and discount strategy.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the learning experience for our students and the earning potential for our instructors, we are introducing a new experiment in our pricing models. This experiment is designed to reduce discounting across the platform.
We will be trialling adjustments to our pricing algorithm. This means that we may reduce the frequency and depth of discounts applied to your courses. Our goal is to ensure that your courses are priced in a way that accurately represents their value, while still making them accessible to a wide range of learners.
If you have opted into automatic pricing and discounting, you may notice these changes. If you prefer to manage your own pricing, you can opt out through your instructor dashboard.
To learn more about Udemy Deals Program click here.
We’re committed to enhancing the learning experience for students and the earning potential for instructors. Thank you for your continued dedication to teaching.
Comments
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This is an interesting choice to try. Over the past decade, students have been trained on the cost of a Udemy course. Udemy has been more Walmart than Target.
Successful instructors have had to take a "big picture" view of things in order to accept the tiny amounts you might earn on a single purchase for an extensive course that you provide years of Q&A support for. The quantity of purchases due to deals could balance that out.
At the same time, though, those of us who have been around for awhile observed Udemy for Business subscriptions reduce that marketplace purchase quantity over time. Yet, UfB inclusion often meant more stable revenue month-over-month, so it was not necessarily a losing proposition.
With the announced focus on subscriptions, raising prices is probably fair and will push people towards subscriptions. I think the question will be if Walmart shoppers will rebel over Target prices, and if increased subscriptions balance a reduction in the quantity of marketplace purchases (and if higher prices + lower quantity is at or above revenue for lower prices + higher quantity).
Can Udemy students can be re-trained on expectations of cost? Historically I find higher prices also means increased student expectations on instructor engagement and course quality. That effect may be seen in average course ratings.
Very curious as to the results of this trial.
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Hello @RyanJaress You could explain a little more about the initiative.
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It's a little confusing as to what exactly the changes will be other than slightly less deep discounting and price movement? Or did I miss anything?
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Thank you for sharing, @RyanJaress, I hope it works out.
Personally, I am taking a bit of a break from creating new courses and giving 100% until I see the reverse of the trend of my income decreasing month on month despite of regularly adding new courses.
I know Udemy is doing all it can, and thank you @GenefaMurph976 for keeping us up to date! You're working hard in very challenging circumstances.
Just need to get a spark of motivation to keep going before burning out. Let's hope the new pricing strategy works out!
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Understood @Kamil we all want that same stability and growth so we will continue to find every avenue to achieve that and support the community and overall business.
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@RyanJaress I hope you haven’t forgotten the pricing change experience from March / April 2016 — it was truly a catastrophic moment for many instructors.
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Thanks! It is unclear what the change is. I just went to promotions in my course dashboard and the pricing has remained the same. I suppose this will be put in effect in the near future. In any case it’s all very vague. Thanks for the efforts and indeed I hope this will help since unfortunately sales have dropped drastically last month and this month is far worst. June is not over so perhaps we’ll see a sudden change.
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@GenefaMurph976 Since we are discussing deals and discounts, I think most people still don't understand why we can discount some courses to $9.99 and some only to $12.99 but not below that.
And also, when did our revenue for "organic sales" switch from 50% to 40% ? I don't think that was ever officially announced.
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@RyanJaress. Thank you for the announcement.
Since it's very vague and I don't have access to the old page, could you please elaborate on what specifically changed within the Udemy Deals Program page?Thank you.
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@AlexGenadinik Discounts are governed by a number of factors, list price, country specific policies, demand etc. Im not sure im following the 50% to 40% comment - are you referring to another comment or doc?
@MichaelPog As part of our broader push to grow Udemy’s subscription business, we’re running a series of small, phased pricing experiments over the next few months.
Here’s what you might see:
- We’re testing fewer discounts and less frequent promotions – this will be done at a market level – in other words we are not selecting specific courses, we are starting with test markets, learning and then expanding. We are informing everyone so no one sees a change and doesn’t have the context. Specifically, this means if previously we offered a 50% discount we will now test can we sell that course at 35% discount and still maintain (or even grow) the overall $$ made.
- In some cases, we’ll also be lowering the list prices of certain courses to keep them affordable for learners, even with fewer discounts but to also differentiate the discount and "list" price. This means a course may have been $50.00 (list) and we would run multiple discounts a month, in the test we would lower the price to $45.00 (list) and run fewer discounts a month. Again - we are always trying to maximize the end $$ (or local currency) made and the value to the learner and instructor.
We’re rolling these tests out gradually, and most instructors won’t notice any changes right away. If your courses are included, we’ll be monitoring performance closely and adjusting as needed. We are informing everyone as we want to be as transparent as possible as we make changes.
@FettahBen I wasn't here but the 2016 change lives on in legend if you will and its the reason we are trying small changes and testing our way into changes vs making sweeping assumptions that could negatively impact everyone.
Hope that helps8 -
Thank you so much @RyanJaress @GenefaMurph976 for this update.
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@GenefaMurph976 Besides allowing us to sell online courses, could you also provide a space for us to sell other digital products, like templates or books that bundle with the course? This could help add extra revenue for instructors. I've seen other platforms do this.
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@AlexGenadinik is this the announcement you're looking for? https://teach.udemy.com/business-terms-update-march-2021/
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@FrankKane Yes, I think so. Thank you.
I am also confused why we also get taxed now whereas in the past there was no tax deducted from the sales.
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@AlexGenadinik For that, you can thank foreign governments who decided to start collecting VAT or GST taxes on digital goods, and require Udemy to pay them on behalf of their citizens. Since Udemy did not increase their prices in response, in effect Udemy and instructors end up paying for them. If Udemy is successful in increasing prices, it will at least result in some of those taxes no longer being passed along to us. That's one way to think about it, anyhow.
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@Veasna, M. That is 100% what we are looking into - different content formats and assets that create a better user experience, tap into new learning modes and styles and provide more revenue opportunities for instructors and creators. There are other platforms that do this today - so we know there is demand.
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@GenefaMurph976 That’s great to hear! I really hope this happens soon. I think audio courses could be a great addition too, especially for people who prefer to learn on the go. Happy to share more ideas if it helps!
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More clarity is needed regarding this program—if a course is selected, will instructors be notified?
I’ve raised this concern before: courses launched earlier tend to accumulate a high number of reviews and ratings, which gives them a significant advantage. Meanwhile, newer courses are priced the same, yet struggle to gain visibility or compete fairly, regardless of their content quality. On the Udemy marketplace, a course with 50,000 reviews and one with under 1,000 are often both offered at $9.99. Naturally, students are more inclined to choose the course with more reviews.
To create a more balanced and fair environment, Udemy should consider strategies that support newer courses. One potential solution is to bundle newly launched or “fresh” courses together and offer them at a discounted price. This would help them gain traction and compete on a more level playing field.
The Udemy research team could explore additional strategies to support both long-standing instructors and newcomers. It's important to remember that any online marketplace can become stagnant if content quality or delivery style isn't regularly refreshed and evolved.
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Would welcome it @Veasna, M. we have an audio course player in beta right now
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Until Udemy transitions from a commodity-based platform to one that offers actual value, prices will always have a limit.
On my site, the sales of my courses range from $20 to $200. However, with order bumps (digital products) and upsells (course bundles and/or private mentoring), my cart sales have reached as high as $2,000! How? I offer true value and support unlike anything you can do on Udemy.
I have a private community (not on Facebook) where students can post and receive feedback from me or others (free + paid memberships available). I also host 2-3 live workshops per month on the same platform, offering exclusive education not available anywhere else (some events are free, while others are paid).
I asked for these types of features on Udemy years ago. Got tired of waiting and decided to do it myself.
This year, I've created 5 (number 6 is almost done) new courses, and not a single one has been published on Udemy.
Why should I? I can either make a few dollars per sale on Udemy or enjoy on average $50+ per sale.
Yes, I have to market my content. But, it's easier to make a profit when cart values are 10-20x that of Udemy.
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@RyanJaress "This experiment is designed to reduce discounting across the platform."
It was a disaster a few years ago. I can see a significant drop in sales this month
Udemy marketplace = discounts. It was scary a few years ago :(
Most instructors have complained about slow sales. Is this the right moment to try sth that did not work a few years ago? Udemy knows better but slow sales turned into almost zero now.
Do we expect to wait some time or…?
"We’re committed to enhancing the learning experience for students and the earning potential for instructors"
Udemy has more data and info and I trust that is the expected outcome! However, I was terrified when I checked my revenue this morning
@GenefaMurph976 Udemy tried sth like this a few years ago and it was a disaster. Are you certain this is the right move when instructors complain about slow sales? I think we would all appreciate some more details and reassurance at this stage. Someone said in the other thread: "I truly believe they know what they're doing" - I am a believer! You have more data and knowledge about the market.
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@Marious Udemy is very busy with adding something that don't work. Make a huge investment in AI, cutting our revenue from UB, and stopping promoting our courses. This is a disaster. I don't have any motivation to create new and update course anymore.
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Last year, Udemy courses were only sale LESS than 50% of the time. That is, they sell at full price 15+ days per month. Last year.
You guys worrying about the end of discounts should have been worrying for years now. You completely missed when it started to end.
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@ScottDuffy At the end of the day, Udemy has their own strategy and vision. We cannot see a full picture. Udemy has all the data and plans. All I want, as an instructor is:
"We’re committed to enhancing the learning experience for students and the earning potential for instructors"and
" its the reason we are trying small changes and testing our way into changes vs making sweeping assumptions that could negatively impact everyone."
I do my part and work really, really hard - I provide fresh, engaging, and high quality content on a regular basis and follow all the guidelines and expectations.
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback on the recent pricing update. We hear your feedback about the pricing experiments from years past. Additionally, changing an established approach to discounting is concerning for some of you.
Unfortunately what worked in the past may not work for the future and we might need to evolve our pricing strategy. We believe this will not only mean a sale price for courses that more accurately reflect their value, but also drive subscriptions which will mean more consistent, predictable revenue for Instructors and Udemy. We’ll share more information on that priority for the business in the coming weeks.
That being said, we're taking steps to risk proof these tests. These include avoiding any sweeping changes but instead rolling out slowly to test markets, A/B testing and phasing changes. We’re closely monitoring changes to revenue, conversion rates and subscriptions so we can double down where we see positive indicators for the next phase.
Right now experiments have just begun and so we don’t have updates to share yet. When we do and if there will be any shifts in our discounting policies we’ll continue to keep you updated.
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Are you sure that you are reviewing our revenue reports and conversion rates? You destroyed our revenue with that change.
If you want to destroy our revenue, you wont do it that fast!
Thanks!!!!
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