How to Launch Your Course with a Proper Research Strategy...

Imagine that you got struck by some brilliant ideas.

A set of ideas that you really want to share with your audience, to help solve their problems.

And since it sounds too valuable to give away for free, you’ve decided to create a course out of it.

You open up a doc, jot down the heading, and start throwing all the amazing points and ideas you want to talk about in the course.

You set up the whole thing, and start shooting the video.

You even hire a video editor, a website designer, and a copywriter to help you get the whole thing up and running.

The launch date is now nearing. You’ve already announced this to your audience.

And finally, the day arrives.

You couldn’t sleep last night, the excitement wouldn’t let you. You take the shower earlier than usual. And jump at your desk as soon as possible.

You activate the sales page and then activate the email campaign you’ve loaded up already. And now a flurry of sales is about to soak in.

“I’m going to buy a new car with the profits,” you imagine.

An hour goes by. Sales made- Zero.

And now you’re ready to compromise with just a vacation.

Another few minutes goes by, and… *ding*... you jump up with excitement. A sale is made!

After inspection, you frown upon it.

It’s that friend of yours who promised you to buy your course when it’s out.?

The excitement goes down back again.

Another few hours pass by, and no one has bought your “AMAZING COURSE!!!”

Something that probably crushes your heart even when you think about it.

Right?

Now, what if I said that it’s a story of a lot of course creators out there? Yes. They NEVER get past 10 sales for their course.

Reason?

Poor research strategy.

Some common mistakes they make are:

-Assumption- They assume the pain points and problems of their market audience, and it’s a recipe for disaster. They assume- “If it sounds amazing, it must be amazing. If I WANT it to create, my audience must want it to have.” Stupid thought, dude.

-Dependency on a survey- They solely depend on a survey. Now, it works. It works wonders. But most of the time… survey data are skewed. And for two major reasons: First, when asked questions, we’re likely to give answers to make us sound “strong” and “smart”... And second, we’re likely to say things that YOU want to hear

So is there any better way of doing research to collect data that helps you understand your audience, their pain points, what they want, and what they don’t?

Yes.

And that’s exactly what I’m going to share with you.

So let’s dive in:

1. Create 3 separate Google docs

-Frustrations

-Motivations

-”I want this”

-”I don’t want this”

We’re going to add all the pain points in “Frustrations”...

Desires and goals in “Motivations”...

Things your audience LOVES about any product similar to yours in “I want this”...

And things they HATE about any product similar to yours in “I don’t want this”...?

2. Now the research begins.

Go to Reddit. And search your industry. Or simply Google- “*The problem* reddit*

“Procrastination problems reddit”

“Money problems reddit”

“Copywriting problems reddit”

“Business coaching problems reddit”

And read through all the stories that turn up. And see the “frustrations” or “pain points” they’re talking about. “Motivations” they are talking about. Etc.

The goal of this part of the research is to fill up the first two docs- Motivations and Frustrations

Become a fly on the wall and join the conversation, if need be. Pull all the necessary stuff you can out of your market audience.?

The reason it works is: On reddit, everyone’s anonymous. And when no one recognizes you, you won’t put on a “mask” or pretend to be someone you are not. You’ll be honest. And you won’t feel “vulnerable” while sharing your weaknesses and pain points.

Onward.

3. Go to Amazon

And find out books that solve the exact problem your course is going to solve. If you’re creating a business coaching course, find a book with business coaching content.

-Click on the 4 and 5-star reviews- And note down the ones that sound original. The goal is to find out what is it about any product that your audience LOVES.

-Then click on the 1,2,3 star reviews and pay close attention to them. These are coming from the people who HATED some things about the product.

The goal of this part of the research is to fill up the last two docs- “What I want” and “What I don’t want”

Careful- Watch out for “paid reviews”. Ones that boast a lot about any book. Trust me, no one has got time to give a 300-word review to a book. They’re simply getting paid for it.

Hunt for the original ones only.

4. Survey: You may or may not want to do this. But take 5 random people… Give them some incentive, and ask them simple questions. To help fill-out those 4 documents. Yes, this is called doing survey. But the reason I think you may not want to do this is because- If you’ve spent a significant amount of time on the above two processes… You’ll already have all you need. So there is no point in giving away incentive and pleading someone to fill out your survey form.

5. And now we’re in the final stage.

The creation of the course itself.

So, take ALL the pain points, one by one, and ask yourself:

“What can I say/do to help solve this problem?”

And then take the motivations, and ask:

“What can I say/do to help someone achieve these things?”

Next.

Take the final two docs, and ask yourself:

“How and What can I do to do more of *what your audience wants in a product* and less of *what your audience doesn’t want*?”

For example, in a productivity course, people hate it when the entire course is filled with mindset stuff and all. And they LOVE it when they’re offered a new strategy or a new app.

Annnnnnd….

There you have it.

And it’s time for me to slide into the usual pitch:

If you already have a course or program, and you want an email campaign written for it… A campaign that’s going to scoop up your email subscribers and send them to your sales page… Then hit me with a DM… and let’s chat!

#emailsninja out.