*** June / July Sales Drop ***

Andre_LaMothe
Andre_LaMothe Posts: 45 storyteller rank
in First-time course creation

I have seen a solid drop in sales last month, and seems to be continuing this month. About 20-30% less than last year at the same time, and out of trend for a couple months ago. Basically, looks like marketing was turned down or off for a bit.

Are any other instructors noting this same observation? I have the #1 course in my category, so the course is very strong, performs very well, so, my metrics and tracking are pretty predictable, but curious if udemy has tried something new? Or less of something? Or made a change?

Bottom line, it's NOT working

Whatever they were doing before, do THAT, whatever they are doing now, seems to not be working as well.

Anyway, curious about other top instructors that have pretty predictable sales noting a drop last month...?

Thanks,

Andre'

Comments

  • SharonRamel
    SharonRamel Posts: 1,312 rolemodel rank

    @Andre_LaMothe
    I suggest you head over to the Published Instructor Club - you will find a great many marketing tips that you can employ to help promote sales for your courses. The Studio is designed to assist new player get their courses onto the market.

    Udemy has major promotional pushes - the summer months post-Covid people are out and about celebrating the warmer weather. These are commonly slower months - time to push your own barrow. Last year was not a normal year for any of us - sales went upwards dramatically as everyone was home for Covid.

  • Andre_LaMothe
    Andre_LaMothe Posts: 45 storyteller rank

    Sorry, this instructor system is still a train wreck, I logged in over and over, and thought I was in the published instructor club. That said, marketing aside, I want to hear from others about their stats and if they see a drop as well.

  • FrankKane
    FrankKane Posts: 1,815 rolemodel rank

    Hi Andre... yeah, I am also seeing a 20% or so drop if I look only at marketplace revenue compared to this time in 2020 or 2019. UFB has been picking up some of the slack though, so overall it's not quite that bad. If I look at enrollments, everything is healthy... the problem is decreasing revenue per enrollment, at least for me. The recent changes in terms did hit me a bit, but I think taxes being withheld in India, as well as downward price pressure in India, are more to blame. Plus it is still just a crazy time in the world.

    Recent privacy clampdowns also means that targeted ads on social media are going to become less effective, and we might be seeing Udemy start to pivot in their marketing strategy to focus more on promoting the Udemy brand as a whole. Maybe that's part of it too, but I'm still seeing a healthy percentage of revenue attributed to ads so I'm not so sure.

    Not a heckuva lot we can do about it. You see Udemy diversifying their offerings and investing in themselves very heavily, and I think the only constructive thing we can do for now is keep making the content learners need and bet on riding the waves of Udemy's work.

  • RandyMinder
    RandyMinder Posts: 670 visionary rank

    @Andre_LaMothe

    My June revenue was the best I have ever had. Part of this is due to promotions. I usually turn out a new course each month and promotions to my existing students now amount to 20%-25% of total revenue, of which I keep roughly 95%. So this helps total revenue tracking.

    My July so far has been about average. Not great but not bad.

  • Aussiearef
    Aussiearef Posts: 50 storyteller rank

    I have had the exact same issue. I just posted a question about this and it turns out that the sales commission has been slashed by Udemy. Look at your number of enrolments and see if students are enrolling less than before. If that is not the case and enrolments are still solid then you cannot do much about this.

  • Dr.RaniaSeoudi
    Dr.RaniaSeoudi Posts: 10 researcher rank

    I have seen the same drop since the date you mentioned or a month later.
    Enrollment has been steadily declining since August, even after the return of students from the Christmas holiday.

  • LawrenceMMiller
    LawrenceMMiller Posts: 2,262 rolemodel rank

    @Dr.RaniaSeoudi
    This is an old thread and I think the data may be out of date. I notice that your courses are in chemistry and they are academic. This is a very different market than most of us so your data will be very different from those teaching technology/computer programming courses or business management courses. There tend to be a lot of generalizations in this forum and they are often misleading.

    Overall for Udemy, enrollments are up considerably this year from last year although the general marketplace revenue and enrollments are flat relatively to the dramatic increase in Udemy Business enrollments and revenue.

  • Dr.RaniaSeoudi
    Dr.RaniaSeoudi Posts: 10 researcher rank

    True, most students don't go for chemistry courses; they prefer tutors. I hope Udemy promotes their business plans to universities (not just students), or offers them academic packages. Maybe even someday, they will create an online academic library to host academic courses or short videos. 🥺

  • KhaledAlkhu356
    KhaledAlkhu356 Posts: 1 observer rank

    i have same issue.

    yes i am noticing big drop in revenue for the last 3 months.

    there is something strange or hidden .

  • SivakamiS2017
    SivakamiS2017 Posts: 758 visionary rank

    This is a 2021 thread Marketplace has declined considerably the past few years.
    UB has been more-than-compensating, until recently. Mainly due to the brutal revenue share cuts ! But I had noticed a slight decline even before that.
    The past 2 months, UB revenue has been a bit better, hardly enough to compensate. Marketplace continues to be more or less flat, even though much lower than 2020-or-earlier standards !

  • Veasna, M.
    Veasna, M. Posts: 170 storyteller rank

    May 2024, my sale was highest but June it's the lowest!

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