If you, as a trainer or coach, want to expand your offerings with online courses or transition completely to e-learning, you will soon start thinking about pricing. In this article, you will learn which aspects you should consider.
Cash, Money & Currency
Determining the price for a service is a difficult undertaking and causes freelancers in every field to frown: "How much should I charge to adequately cover my efforts? How high can the price be to remain competitive in the market? How much are potential customers willing to pay for my expertise and services?"
The question of what price can be charged for an online course is something we at blink.it hear very often. Of course, we cannot provide a blanket statement in the form of specific numbers, but after years of working with countless trainers and coaches from various disciplines, we have gathered some ideas in this article that can help you with your pricing strategy.
Situation 1: You sell pure online courses
You offer digital courses through your website or your learning platform, such as blink.it, which are self-contained, and your only accompanying activity consists of answering participant questions. For price X, the customer gains access to the course and is largely left to their own devices after that.
Prices can range from 0 to 1,000 euros or more, but typically, they will be somewhere between 20 and 200 euros.
When calculating your prices, you should consider these 4 factors:
Scope of the course: How many learning units does the course have? How elaborate is the design of the material? How long does the course last for participants?
Quality of the content: How much time was spent on research? Where, how, and for how long was the expertise acquired?
Topic: How current is the topic? How important is the topic? How often or rarely is the topic addressed?
Costs: What are the costs for content creation, advertising, learning platform, and payment processing?
In addition, there are 2 psychological aspects that influence your course price:
Status as a trainer/coach: How recognized, known, and experienced are you as an expert in your field? Is "everyone" aware of you? Are you considered a luminary in your field, an enthusiastic amateur, or a complete novice?
Willingness to Purchase: Who is the target audience for your courses? How much is the target audience willing to pay for your courses? What value does your course have for your target audience? Are you targeting individuals who pay for the course out of pocket, or businesses that can deduct course costs for tax purposes?
You can determine the price for the above factors based on an hourly rate you envision or desire as income. However, the two psychological aspects will determine how realistic the final course price will be, meaning: Will the target audience truly buy your course at this price?
Tip 1: Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and find out how much you would be willing to pay for your course. Also, ask friends and acquaintances who meet the criteria of your target audience.
Tip 2: Prices for online courses are generally publicly available. Research the prices of other trainers and coaches and check platforms that specialize in selling e-learning. This way, you can get an idea of what the current market offers.
Always remember: You want to generate revenue or income with your online courses, so you should be absolutely clear about your actual market value as a trainer or coach. Setting a fanciful price does not help you if you end up stuck with your product.
Situation 2: You offer blended learning
You want to expand your existing in-person offerings with online support: In the form of blended learning, you combine traditional workshops, coaching, or seminars with the many advantages of flexible e-learning modules.
How you calculate the price for the online portion of your blended learning can be gleaned from the above Situation 1. Furthermore, you should decide how you want to structure your blended learning:
Springer Principle: alternately several units in person and online
Reiher Principle: several in-person units followed by a concluding online course
Sandwich Principle: start with an in-person unit at the beginning, have an online course in the middle, and end with a final in-person unit
3 Pricing Models for Blended Learning
1. Daily Rate as a Basis
Most trainers and coaches work with their own daily rate. This is a good starting point to argue an additional charge for the online course to the customer: Depending on how high the online course's share is in the overall coaching or training, you add a percentage to your daily rate that reflects your additional effort as well as the extra costs for the online course.
2. Replace In-Person with Online
In this model, the price remains the same as you reduce your in-person offering and replace it with online units. This has a certain appeal for your client, as they can pay the usual price but receive a new, modern, and flexible course offering that they can conveniently complete via a learning platform such as blink.it. This only works if you can sensibly replace some in-person units with e-learning in your blended learning.
3. In-Person "On Top"
The third model is especially interesting for trainers and coaches who are already well established in their market and can sell themselves confidently. Here, you offer your client a personalized package: e.g., a fixed price per online course and after 10 online courses, they get one in-person day with you for free.
The advantage of pricing for blended learning compared to pure online courses is that you can offer your clients a customized proposal. You can flexibly decide which course model suits you, your client, and the course topic best and which pricing strategy is most readily accepted by your client or target audience.
Situation 3: You are an E-Learning Beginner
You are either completely new to the world of training and want to offer e-learning right away, or you are already established as a trainer and wish for an additional passive income through online courses. Your lack of experience with digital education creates a voice in your head that whispers: "Are my courses really good? Do I understand enough about didactics to build them correctly? Should I not first offer my courses really cheap? Or even free and see what happens?"
We have several arguments to counter these doubts:
No matter which service you want to sell: You need a bit of self-confidence about the quality of your work to establish yourself as a freelancer. If you are insecure, you radiate that, and customers unconsciously perceive this and respond by not trusting the offer. So if you doubt the quality of your work, you should first work on your mindset before entering the marketplace.
Everyone only cooks with water: Who knows whether the online courses of other trainers and coaches are really that perfectly refined didactically. Focus on your knowledge, your experience, and your performance and be willing to receive criticism of your work. After all, you can only learn from it and improve.
Beware of beginner prices or special offers: Once the low price is established, you won't be able to raise it. Your potential customers probably do not know that you are a beginner and assume that the low price for your online course is reasonable and market-compliant. If you want to increase it later once you no longer feel like a beginner, your clientele may not understand that and drop out.
Warning: Dumping! Keep in mind that your prices should be market-compliant to avoid leading to general dumping: Low prices are also perceived by other providers in your industry, who may then be forced to lower their prices if it turns out that you are snatching customers from them with your cheap offer. In the long run, you only cut your own throat with this.
What costs nothing is worth nothing: This is how free offers are often perceived. Your potential customers want to receive good performance from you from the start and do not give you a favor in advance just because you are starting this business. Your courses should ensure that the learning content is conveyed sustainably. If you do not set a price for this, it quickly creates the impression that the learning transfer is not given at all and participation in the course is likely a waste of time. However, as advertising, you can offer a free course - but you should make clear that this is a time-limited promotion and the course usually has a certain price.
Conclusion: We wish you great success!
Whoever calculates the price of their online course strategically instead of setting it spontaneously lays the foundation for a sustainable and economically stable business model.
Pricing is not a tedious sideline but a central part of your offering. Whether it is a pure online course, blended learning, or entering the digital world: your price must fit your effort, your target audience, and your positioning.
It is important that you consider both economic factors and psychological aspects. Market prices can provide guidance, but what matters is what concrete value your offer holds for your target audience and how you communicate that value.
By setting your prices consciously and reviewing them regularly, you create security for yourself and clarity for your customers. This is how long-term success with digital course offerings is achieved.
Updated on 26.02.2026
