Beyond the First Sale
Most course creators obsess over getting new students. They focus all their energy on marketing, launches, and conversions. But here's what the most successful creators understand: the first sale is just the beginning.
It's really critical to not just think about what's the next sale, but how are you building a long-term relationship with customers and increasing this key metric of Customer Lifetime Value.
Customer Lifetime Value
Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) is the total amount a student spends with you over the course of your relationship. A student who buys one $200 course has a CLTV of $200. But a student who takes that course, joins your membership, upgrades to coaching, and attends your live events might have a CLTV of $5,000 or more.
When you focus on maximizing CLTV, everything changes. You invest more in student success because successful students stick around. You create additional offerings because you understand the ongoing journey. You can afford to spend more on acquisition because each student is worth more over time.
What Makes Online Courses Special
Here's a truth that many course creators miss: if it was just about the information, you wouldn't need the online course in the first place. Students could just read a book, watch YouTube videos, or search Google.
What makes online courses special is the active facilitation—the interaction between the instructor (or team of coaches) and the participants. It's the structure, accountability, and community that transforms passive information into active transformation.
Just translating a book directly into video creates something that's essentially too long, too passive. Video is not as forgiving a format as text—if you're reading a business book and find parts that aren't interesting, you can skim. It's much harder to do that with video.
The Rise of Cohort-Based Learning
Over recent years, there's been growing momentum for cohort-based online courses—intensive group learning with active facilitation by skilled instructors, often supported by teams of coaches or peer facilitators.
This isn't new—universities have run these types of courses for centuries. But it's really picking up steam online as creators recognize that the most effective flagship, high-value courses are delivered through this model.
Cohort-based courses create accountability, community, and transformation that standalone video courses simply can't match.
Designing for Engagement
The risk with thinking of course design in a passive way is that you wind up overloading the course with content. But the most effective courses focus on active facilitation—the interaction between instructor and participants.
If you're not designing the course around that idea from the get-go, it's unlikely to use those forms of engagement effectively. And those are what make online courses special.
The Customer Flywheel
Happy students who achieve results become your best marketing. They tell their friends, share on social media, and provide testimonials that attract new students.
This creates a virtuous cycle—a flywheel that builds momentum over time:
1Deliver Results
Focus first on helping students achieve genuine transformation.
2Create Advocates
Successful students naturally become advocates who spread the word.
3Attract New Students
Referrals bring new students who already trust you through social proof.
4Build Momentum
Each cycle strengthens the flywheel, making growth easier over time.
Community as Competitive Advantage
Here's something competitors can't easily copy: a thriving community of engaged students who support each other and advocate for your brand.
They can copy your curriculum. They can undercut your prices. They can imitate your marketing. But they can't replicate the relationships you've built, the culture you've created, or the network effects of a community where members bring in new members.
