Evergreen launch or Live launch - Which is better for your course?

One of the most frequent questions I hear from aspiring course creator’s is “What’s the best way to sell my online course?”

There’s no single right answer to this question. It depends on you, your business model, and your audience.

The key is to understand the different launch methods… their advantages and disadvantages. Then you can decide what works best for your business.

Over the years, I’ve tried both methods for different products. Read on to learn more about evergreen and live launches.

What is an evergreen launch?

An evergreen course is available for your customers to buy at any time after the initial launch. Typically, content is delivered immediately in a self-paced format.

This may work best for you if you have several courses that you offer, or you already have a large audience of potential clients.

Pros of evergreen launches

Consistent Income

Once you have your sales funnel dialed in, you’ll make regular, daily course sales without waiting for your next launch. This gives you a regular, semi-passive stream of income that you can count on over time.

List Building

When you consistently bring new prospective customers into your sales funnel, you can quickly grow a large email list. This gives you a larger audience to market any products you may be promoting in addition to your course.

Impulse Buyers

When your sales funnel is always on, you can capture impulse buyers that see your course and want it now. They may lose interest before your next launch.

Cons of evergreen launches

Always Selling

You need to constantly promote your course to generate the consistent sales you’re looking for. This means that your focus is always on audience growth.

Lower Conversion Rates

Evergreen launches lack the urgency and excitement of a live launch. As a result, the conversion rates are lower. This means that you need to pull more prospects into your sales funnel to achieve the same number of sales as you would with a live launch.

Procrastination

It’s easy for prospects to put off buying your course until later, or worse, forget about it completely.

What is a live launch?

A live launch is also sometimes referred to as an open-close launch. Essentially, it centers around an event like a webinar or a Facebook challenge.

The idea is you demonstrate the transformation your course delivers by giving away a small portion of your content for free. Afterwards, you make the course available for a limited amount of time.

Pros of live launches

Cash injection

You’re able to bring in a chunk of money in a very short period of time. This means you’ll have some really profitable months!

Builds audience and authority

During the pre-launch period, you’ll create and share content with high value to build your audience and authority. This means you’ll grow your followers as well as increase your status as an expert in your field.

Creates urgency

The window to buy your course is only open for a limited period of time. This creates a natural sense of urgency to buy now, before it’s too late!

Cons of live launches

Workload

Live launches are a lot of work. Especially if you need to do one every few months. This means that other business priorities may be overlooked.

Inconsistent Income

The income you generate during a live launch is great! But what about the months where you’re not launching? It can be difficult to build consistent income if you’re always relying on your next launch.

Burnout

Your first few launches are exciting and fun, but it often turns into a rollercoaster that you can’t get off. This turns your excitement into overwhelm, and eventually burnout.

Which is right for you?

Only you can decide whether an evergreen or live launch method is best for you and your business. Here are a few things to consider when making your decision.

What kind of workload do you want?

Time is a big factor to consider when making this decision. With a live launch, you are working a lot in the prelaunch and launch phase, and not much in the months between launches.

Evergreen launches also take time, but it’s spread out over the year. It’s a consistent workload of building your audience and getting prospects into your sales funnel.

Are you comfortable with an inconsistent income?

Your money habits and mindset are another important factor. Live launches can bring in a significant amount of money. But you need to be prepared for months in between launches where you’re not bring in as much income.

With an evergreen launch, you’re bringing in a smaller amount of income each month. This type of steady income may be less stressful for you.

Does one method give a better experience for your clients?

Your course content and how your clients learn is also a consideration. In a live launch, you have a cohort of students that start your course at the same time. This can be helpful if you want them to have the support of a student community or if your course includes group learning sessions with you.

Clients who purchase an evergreen course start at different times throughout the year. Some course content is ideal for this type of self-paced learning experience.

FAQs

What’s the difference between an evergreen launch and a live launch?

An evergreen course is available for your customers to buy at any time after the initial launch. With a live launch, your course is available for a limited amount of time.

What are the benefits of an evergreen launch?

You can make regular, daily course sales without waiting for your next launch.

you can quickly grow a large email list.

you can capture impulse buyers that see your course and want it now.

What are the advantages of a live launch?

You’re able to bring in a lot of money in a very short period of time.

You’ll grow your followers as well as increase your status as an expert in your field.

You create a natural sense of urgency to buy now, before it’s too late!

Which type of launch is better – evergreen or live?

It depends on you and your business. Here are some things to consider:

What kind of workload do you want?

Are you comfortable with an inconsistent income?

Which method gives a better experience for your clients?

Final Thoughts

No matter which type of launch you decide on, you’ll need to set up automations to save yourself time as well as deliver a great customer experience. The three big pieces to automate for any launch are emails, social media, and course access.

Systems with Strategy can help you with all of these! Systems with Strategy is an all in one platform where you can easily build your sales funnel and integrate it with our CRM and email system, community, course access, and more.

We also offer The Hub, a social media scheduling platform that integrates with Canva making it easy to create and schedule your social media content in less time. You can find out more about Systems with Strategy here, and start your free 14-day trial to take our system for a test drive.