Pre-Sale Pricing: Validate Demand Before Building Your Course

How many online courses have you started building only to find out no one wants to buy them? You spent weeks recording videos, designing slides, and writing scripts-only to launch and get three sales, all from your mom and a friend who felt bad for you. That’s not failure. That’s avoidable waste.

Building a course before you know if people will pay for it is like opening a restaurant without checking if there’s even a hunger for that type of food. You don’t need a full course to test demand. You need a simple pre-sale.

Pre-sale pricing isn’t about tricking people into buying something that doesn’t exist. It’s about asking: Would you pay for this? And if they say yes, you get real money before you lift a finger to build the final product. This isn’t theory. It’s how successful course creators like Laura Belgray, Amy Porterfield, and even small indie educators make six figures without burning out.

Why Most Course Creators Fail Before They Start

Most people think the hardest part of selling courses is marketing. It’s not. The hardest part is building something nobody asked for.

A 2024 survey of 1,200 course creators found that 73% of those who launched without validating demand earned less than $500 in their first year. Meanwhile, those who ran a pre-sale campaign before building saw 82% conversion rates from interested leads to paying customers.

Why? Because when you build first, you’re guessing. When you pre-sell, you’re listening.

You might think: “But I know my audience. I’ve been teaching this for years.” That’s not enough. People don’t buy because you’re an expert. They buy because they believe the course will solve a specific problem faster, easier, or cheaper than their current options.

Pre-sale pricing forces you to answer three questions:

1. What exact problem are people willing to pay to solve?
2. How much are they already spending to fix it?
3. Why would they choose your solution over others?

How to Run a Pre-Sale Without a Full Course

You don’t need a polished curriculum. You don’t need a website. You don’t even need a name for your course yet.

Here’s how to do it in under a week:

1. Define your core outcome. Not the topic-what will they achieve? For example: “Go from overwhelmed beginner to confidently launching a Shopify store in 14 days” instead of “Shopify for beginners.”
2. Write a one-page sales page. Use a free tool like Carrd or Canva. Include: the problem, the outcome, what’s included (even if it’s just a rough outline), and a price. Add a simple “Buy Now” button linked to Stripe or PayPal.
3. Price it at 30-50% off your planned final price. This creates urgency and rewards early buyers. If you plan to charge $299, offer it for $149 during the pre-sale.
4. Test it on your audience. Post it in Facebook groups, Reddit threads, LinkedIn comments, or DMs to your email list. Don’t just say “Check out my course!” Say: “I’m testing a course that helps people do X. Would you pay $149 for it? If yes, reply ‘YES’ and I’ll send you the link.”
5. Track responses. If you get 10 “YES” replies and 2 people actually buy, you have validation. If you get 50 replies and 15 purchases, you’re onto something. If no one buys, go back to the drawing board.

One educator, Maria Chen, tested a pre-sale for a course on “Fixing Instagram Reels That Don’t Get Views.” She spent two hours making a Carrd page, posted it in three Facebook groups, and got 18 sales in 48 hours. She didn’t record a single video yet. With $1,710 in hand, she built the course knowing exactly what people wanted.

What to Include in Your Pre-Sale Offer

Your pre-sale isn’t a discount. It’s a commitment. People are paying for certainty-not a promise.

Here’s what to include to make it feel real:

• A clear timeline. “Course launches March 15. You’ll get access immediately.”
• A detailed outline. Even if it’s rough: “Module 1: Diagnose Your Reels Problem | Module 2: The 3-Second Hook Formula | Module 3: Posting Schedule That Works.”
• What they’ll get. Video lessons? Worksheets? Templates? Community access? List it.
• A guarantee. “If you’re not satisfied after the first lesson, get your money back-no questions asked.”
• Early-bird bonuses. “First 20 buyers get a free 1:1 strategy call.”

Don’t overpromise. If you’re not planning to include live Q&As, don’t say you will. People will feel cheated later. Honesty builds trust-and repeat buyers.

What to Do When Nobody Buys

If your pre-sale flops, it’s not the end. It’s data.

Ask yourself:

• Was the problem too vague? “Improve your Instagram” is too broad. “Get 5x more views on Reels without buying ads” is specific.
• Was the price too high? Check what competitors charge. If everyone else sells similar content for $49, $149 feels like a stretch.
• Did you target the wrong audience? Maybe your Facebook group was full of hobbyists, not small business owners.
• Did you ask for feedback? Sometimes people say “no” because they don’t understand the value. Ask them: “What would make this worth buying?”

One creator, Jamal Wright, tried selling a course on “Advanced Excel for Marketers” for $199. Zero sales. He asked his audience: “What’s your biggest Excel headache?” The top answer: “I spend hours copying data from Google Sheets to Excel.” He rebuilt the course around “Automate Google Sheets to Excel in 10 Minutes” and priced it at $69. Sold 47 copies in a week.

How Pre-Sale Pricing Changes Everything

When you pre-sell, you’re not just validating demand. You’re funding your project.

You can use the money to:

• Hire an editor to clean up your scripts
• Buy better lighting for your videos
• Pay for a simple website or LMS
• Run a small ad campaign to scale after launch

And here’s the biggest shift: you stop creating for yourself. You start creating for the people who already said yes.

Instead of asking, “What should I teach?” you ask, “What did they pay for?”

That changes your tone, your examples, your pacing. You stop guessing what’s important. You know.

Common Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Even smart people mess up pre-sales. Here are the top three mistakes-and how to fix them:

1. Waiting too long to launch. You think you need a perfect product. You don’t. Launch with 80% of the content. Add the rest as you go. People don’t expect perfection-they expect progress.
2. Not following up. If someone says “yes” but doesn’t buy, DM them. “Hey, saw you were interested. Still thinking about it? I’ve got 3 spots left at this price.” Most people need a nudge.
3. Ignoring the feedback. If 10 people say, “I wish this included a checklist,” add it. If no one mentions a certain module, cut it. Your pre-sale is feedback, not a sales pitch.

One course creator, Elena Ruiz, got 37 pre-sales for her “Email Marketing for Coaches” course. She noticed 15 people asked for a “script template.” She added it. After launch, those 15 people became her biggest advocates-and referred 23 new buyers.

When Pre-Sale Pricing Doesn’t Work

Pre-sale pricing works for most digital products. But it’s not magic.

It won’t work if:

• You’re targeting a market with no spending power (e.g., high school students needing free tools).
• Your audience is too small or scattered (e.g., “courses for left-handed blacksmiths in rural Iowa”).
• You’re trying to sell something too complex without trust (e.g., “Become a Certified Therapist in 30 Days”).

In those cases, try a different approach: offer a free mini-course or a low-cost $7 workshop first. Build trust before asking for a big purchase.

But for 90% of course creators-coaches, consultants, freelancers, hobbyists turned teachers-pre-sale pricing is the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable way to build something people actually want.

Next Steps: Your 7-Day Pre-Sale Plan

Here’s exactly what to do this week:

1. Day 1: Write your core outcome in one sentence.
2. Day 2: Design a simple sales page (Carrd, Canva, or even a Google Doc).
3. Day 3: Set your pre-sale price (30-50% off your planned price).
4. Day 4: Reach out to 20 people in your audience (email, DM, group post).
5. Day 5: Open the link. Track sales.
6. Day 6: If you got 5+ sales, start building. If not, tweak your offer and try again.
7. Day 7: Send a thank-you email to buyers-even if it’s just “I’m building this for you.”

You don’t need permission to start. You don’t need a degree. You don’t need a team. You just need one person willing to pay before you build.

That’s all it takes to turn an idea into a real business.