Dynamic pricing is common in the business sector. It ought to be more common in the field of lifelong learning.
LERN has long advocated you offer courses and events at varying prices. Dynamic pricing involves looking at your popular courses and events to see if there are peak times, venues, or another pattern to some of them that might help explain their popularity. Then raise the price on these popular courses as the evidence indicates a high demand.
At the other end, look at slow seasons or venues that don’t draw as well and consider whether lower prices or special discounts can increase registrations and income.
Here are some ways to look at your popular courses:
- By Location
- By Day of week
- By Month of year
- By Subject category
- By Instructor
Your audience expects dynamic pricing for most products and services. We all expect airline fares to vary for the same flight. We are rarely surprised in the grocery store when the price of our favorite soda pop changes from week to week.
And yet in lifelong learning programs error by having too many of their courses and events priced the same. The reality is that you need to vary your prices to maximize your income. And you want to maximize your income so that you can fulfill your mission and serve more people.
