How To Boost Your Lifetime Customer Value - Effortlessly!

Ready to take your course creation business to the next level? Join me, Francesca Hudson, as we uncover the secret sauce behind Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) and how it can completely transform your revenue strategy. 🎉

Ever wondered why some course creators seem to thrive while others struggle? It’s not luck—it’s about mastering the power of upsells and referrals. In this episode, I’m breaking down how to nurture your students beyond their first enrollment, turning one-time buyers into lifelong advocates (and adding an extra 35% to your revenue pie 🥧).

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll learn:
✔️ How to create an onboarding experience that makes students fall in love with your course from Day 1.
✔️ The art of introducing advanced courses—whether through irresistible bundles for new students or exclusive offers for alumni.
✔️ High-converting strategies to grow your audience and revenue using social proof, testimonials, and more.

Plus, we’ll talk about building deeper connections through consistent communication and delivering value long after your course ends. 💡 By the end of this episode, you’ll have the tools to elevate your brand, strengthen relationships, and unlock the full potential of your business.

Grab your coffee (or your favorite drink!) and let’s dive into the strategies that will help you create a course business that not only thrives but makes an unforgettable impact. 🎧✨

Oh, and for a nice slice of (sweet!) pie, here is my FREE LCV Worksheet for you to download so that you can start to maximize your return on your hard work and efforts for your own digital course! Click here. 

Think of your course (or your course idea,) like a luxury car. People won’t pay top dollar unless it’s high quality, delivers an incredible experience, and meets their needs perfectly. Teaching Mastery Academy teaches course creators like you how to ‘build’ that luxury-level course—one that students trust, complete, and rave about, justifying premium pricing every time. Ready to take your expertise and ensure your digital course stands out from the crowd? Premium courses (and premium returns) start with the core teaching fundamentals that all the best course creators instinctively do, but now I'm showing you how! Join the VIP waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy now! Click here to learn more.

Chapters

• 0:00 Unlocking Revenue With Lifetime Customer Value
• 9:01 Maximizing Revenue With Upsells and Courses
• 21:20 Building Long-Term Customer Relationships

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:43

Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Teaching Mastery Academy. I'm your host, francesca Hudson, and I'm thrilled to have you here with me today. We're going to look at a topic that can truly transform your mindset about your course creation business and help you see the long game. And this topic came up because I was recording a five-day challenge last week, and in that five-day challenge, this particular question came up and it was something that I thought could really resonate with you on the podcast. So I wanted to unpack it a little further and go into some more detail about it, because it's something that we all come across in the course creation industry and it's something that we don't know straight off the bat. We need to find out what it is. What I'm talking about is the lifetime customer value, or the LCV, and how understanding it can unlock consistent, scalable revenue for your business. This is going to be a really good episode for you if you are not sure about statistics and the data behind your course creation journey. So, whether you're just starting out or you've launched courses before, this episode is going to be a goldmine of actionable strategies and insights for you. So grab your coffee or your tea or whatever you want to drink and let's jump in.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Let's start with the basics. Why is LCV important? And LCV, remember, stands for Lifetime Customer Value. So why is the Lifetime Customer Value or LCV important? Well, here's the thing Most course creators get so laser focused on the initial enrollment revenue that they miss out on the larger picture. There's so much more ahead of them. It's like focusing only on the tip of an iceberg and ignoring the vast potential underneath the surface. And, trust me, if you're not thinking about LCV, you're leaving money, opportunities and relationships on the table.

Speaker 1: 3:40

My friend, let me give you an example or a scenario, if you like, to explain what I mean. I want you to imagine you've just launched your course and 20 amazing students enroll at 997H $997. So that's amazing. You're excited because you've hit nearly $20,000 in revenue, and that is a win in itself Amazing. But here's what I want you to see that $19,940, to be exact is just one slice of the pie. What if I told you there are two additional slices you can unlock and those slices upsells and referrals can boost your total revenue to $26,919. That is a staggering 35% increase. Now I'll break it down for you so you can see what I mean, and I'll show you how each piece of the pie works. So imagine a pie a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie or a Christmas pie, some sort of pie and while nurturing these relationships beyond the initial enrollment is critical to building a sustainable business, keeping your customers happy, keeping your customers engaged in your course and spoiler alert, my friend your biggest growth comes from satisfied students who stick around and bring others into your world.

Speaker 1: 5:06

It's not the people that enroll. The fast turnover, the quick turnover, the quick turnover of getting people to sign up for $97 or $49, and you're all about the volume. We are all about quality. We want to deliver quality on Teaching Mastery Academy, because that's where the long-term revenue growth is. So let's talk data.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Why do some students become repeat buyers? And obviously, when you're-term revenue growth is, so let's talk data. Why do some students become repeat buyers? And obviously, when you're looking at revenue growth and quality, you're looking at courses and messaging and transformations that are actually going to change the world. They're going to change your community. They're going to change your students' lives for the better, one student at a time, and that can only have a positive effect on the global outlook of energy, on the global outlook of support and community. So premium courses are really important, and satisfied customers, satisfied students in your premium courses are even more important.

Speaker 1: 6:02

So why do some students become repeat buyers and not others? It's not just magical coincidence when a student decides to buy from you again. It's all about trust, results and connection. Obviously, we know these things, but studies in the e-learning space show that students who see quick wins early in your course are significantly more likely to stay engaged and purchase additional products or services. Those keywords see quick wins early in your course. So, yes, we're obviously offering transformations, but it's the quick wins early on. It's not just focus on the big transformations that happen by the end of your course. We need to see some quick wins early on. Think about it if you've helped someone achieve tangible results, they're going to want to know what else you can offer to help them go further. And this brings me to the concept of the success milestone. These are moments in your course where students achieve a specific result that makes them feel proud, motivated and excited to continue learning with you. Now, later in this episode, I'll share some practical examples of how to integrate success milestones into your courses to maximize engagement and loyalty.

Speaker 1: 7:18

But before we do that, I want to look at the revenue streams in the LCV pie chart. Let's go back to that original Thanksgiving pie. Let's look at the lifetime customer value pie chart, the LCV pie chart. Let's go back to that original Thanksgiving pie. Let's look at the lifetime customer value pie chart, the LCV, and let's break down the three revenue streams that contribute to lifetime customer value.

Speaker 1: 7:36

If you're a visual learner, I want you to picture this as a pie chart divided into three slices. Now, the first slice is initial enrollment revenue, that's 70%, 7-0, 70% of your pie. Then we have the upsells for advanced corsets. These cover 20% of your pie, 2-0, 20%. And then we have referrals, which covers the final 10% of your pie. So let's break these three down and look at them piece by piece, to use a pun, to use a pie pun. So the first piece is the initial enrollment revenue, the foundation, 70% of your LCB pie chart. Now, this is the revenue you earn upfront when students enroll in your premium course. For our example, 20 students purchase your course at $997, you're starting with $19,940. Now, this is the most straightforward slice of the pie, but it's only the beginning. Here's what I want you to keep in mind the experience these students have with your course will directly impact whether or not you unlock the other two slices of the pie. If your course over delivers, your students will naturally want more from you. They'll want another piece. They'll want to come back for seconds. So let me give you a little tip Set the stage from day one by creating a memorable onboarding experience.

Speaker 1: 9:01

How strong is your onboarding experience? Look at it, think about it. How can you make it better? Can you send a welcome video? Can you host a live kickoff call? Could you include a fun surprise like a digital workbook? Anything like that gets your students excited and it will lay the groundwork for loyalty. So use that onboarding experience like it is the absolute gold dust in your course. This is your chance to really seal the deal with your students who have just enrolled, because your first interaction with the student matters more than you might realize. According to behavioral studies, people form lasting impressions within the first seven seconds seven seconds of meeting someone, and this applies to your course as well. If your onboarding experience feels welcoming, valuable, your students are more likely to view your entire course and your brand in a positive light.

Speaker 1: 10:00

Think about ways to create moments of delight, like sending a personalized email or a short get-to-know know me survey. So now we turn our attention to the sweet spot of your pie, and that's the upsells or the advanced courses. We like to call this the sweet spot. It's the 20% of your pie. So in our example, let's say, 25% of your students that's 5 out of 20 of your students purchase a follow-up or an advanced course at the same price point $997. That adds an extra $4,985 to your revenue.

Speaker 1: 10:39

And here's the game-changer idea for you. Think about creating a natural progression of your students. For instance, if your first course helps them create their course online, your advanced course could teach them how to launch the course or grow the audience. You're solving a new problem for the same group of people. So I'll give you an example scenario, and this is Sarah. I'm going to tell you a little bit about Sarah's sexy story. So Sarah, one of my students, launched her first course helping small business owners master email marketing. Now, after the initial launch, she noticed that many of her students asked what's next? Well, that gave her the idea to create an advanced course on sales funnel automation. And guess what? Her second launch brought in 30% of her original cohort. These students didn't need convincing because they already trusted her expertise Amazing.

Speaker 1: 11:31

And so if you want to maximize the revenue from app sales, you need a solid plan to integrate them seamlessly into your overall student journey, and here are a few strategies to build some momentum in your strategy. I've got three for you. So the first one is to introduce app sales early. Don't wait until the end of the course to mention your advanced offering. Instead, plant seeds throughout your lessons. For example, you could say something like in module three of the advanced course, we dive deeper into this concept, and this really begins to build anticipation and, to a certain extent, expectation. You're letting your audience know that there is more to come if they want to continue their journey with you. So bring in your very early on in your course.

Speaker 1: 12:15

The second thing, the second strategy, is to bundle your offers. So when students are enrolling in your flagship course, consider offering a discounted bundle that includes the advanced course. Not only does this increase your initial revenue, but it also ensures that students are already committed to continuing their learning journey with you. And this might not apply to everybody. If you're just starting out in the course creation industry, you might not have even created your first course yet, let alone your second, but it's definitely something to keep in mind as you grow and as you scale your online brand. And the third strategy that you can look at are exclusive offers for alumni. So create an exclusive advanced course that's only available to students who've completed your initial program. This makes them feel special and valued and it really does add that extra layer of exclusivity to it. You know the fact that they are one step up the ladder in terms of their access to you, or their access to your community and what you offer and your valuable insights access to your community and what you offer and your valuable insights and that has value, because not everybody has access to that. The general public won't have that ability to be able to opt in to those explosive offers. So they are real dynamite for your online brand.

Speaker 1: 13:29

So creating an advanced course isn't just about adding more content. It's about diving deeper into solving a specific problem that your students face, and so we want to ensure that we are designing advanced courses that students crave, right. If you're going down the path of creating advanced courses, then we need to make sure that they are what our community, what our students, are craving. So we need to ask ourselves what obstacles do my students encounter after completing my first course? And you'll know this from the questions that arise through your Q&As or through your emails, or any little hiccups along the way or queries that your students will have about wanting more detail into one module or one lesson or so forth. So really listen to those and see them as potential for creating an advanced course in the future.

Speaker 1: 14:19

The other question that you can ask yourself is what's the next logical step in their journey? So you've taken them from point A to point B. Well, naturally, what would point B to point C look like? So you want to ensure that you are building on the knowledge, the base that they've got from your initial course with an advanced offering and they have something measurable that they can, or tangible that they can achieve from it. And the other question is how can I provide even greater transformation or results? So, looking at, really, how do you offer that advanced level of support in order for your students to get the results that they crave within your niche? So, for example, if your flagship course teaches the basics of building a website, your advanced course could focus on mastering SEO or advanced graphic design techniques. So you're always thinking about where your students want to go next. So those three questions are really key. What obstacles do my students encounter after completing my first course? What is the next logical step in their journey and how can I provide even greater transformation or results? They're really key questions to ask when you are thinking about how do you develop your advanced course. I'll give you another example. Let talk about Mark, a course creator who teaches fitness professionals how to build online coaching businesses. His flagship course covers the basics of creating a website and finding clients. But after reviewing student feedback, mark realized many of them wanted to help scaling their businesses. So he created an advanced course on automating client onboarding and marketing funnels and it became his top revenue driver. The advanced course generated 50% more revenue than his flagship course over time because his alumni were eager to learn the next steps. So listening to your community, listening to your students, giving them every opportunity to ask questions, is going to help you in the long run.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Look at how you can continue to grow your brand. Upsells work best when you've built trust with your students. They need to feel confident that the advanced course will deliver even more value, and here's how you can do it. You can look at success stories so you can share some testimonials and some case studies from students who've completed both your flagship and your advanced courses. You can look at webinars and live Q&A so you could host a live session exclusively for alumni where you can discuss advanced strategies and preview the advanced course, and this is a great opportunity to answer questions and address hesitations. And then, finally, you can look at using scarcity tactics so you can create urgency by offering limited time bonuses or discounts for alumni who enroll in the advanced course within a specific time frame. Now, upsells don't have to stop at advanced courses, and here are other ways to increase lifetime customer value. I've got three other ways for you. Here are other ways to increase lifetime customer value. I've got three other ways for you Membership programs.

Speaker 1: 17:23

So offer a monthly or annual membership that provides ongoing training, resources and access to an exclusive community. This works really well for niches where perhaps your demographics don't have huge amounts of disposable income. Or you offering, or you're coaching, or you're teaching a product or an expertise that might not necessarily lend itself to high ticket courses. So if you can break that down, let's say you're doing a membership and your membership is $39 a month, or round that up to $40 a month and and then times that by 12 months, that gives you what is it? $480. That gives you nearly. It comes in just under $500 over the course of a year and I mean that's amazing. That's better than a $500 upfront product. You're breaking it into a membership or a subscription. Even Subscriptions work very similar, where you're paying a monthly membership to get access to the material.

Speaker 1: 18:22

You can also look at one-on-one coaching. So for students who want personalized guidance, you can offer premium coaching packages as an upsell. If that's in your particular line of expertise or that lends itself to your niche and you're prepared to do that, then you can really make those premium offerings and people can make a lot of money doing the one-on-one coaching. I mean you can think you know you can charge several thousand in some niches for a one-on-one coaching session. So think about how you can leverage that if that lends itself to your niche.

Speaker 1: 18:55

And the third thing is the done-for-you services. So if your students don't have time to implement what they've learned, why don't you consider offering done-for-you services at a premium price? So, for example, if you'll teach courses students how to write a book, an upsell could be a service where you edit or format their manuscript for publication. So think about all of these different ways that you can add upsells, and the most obvious one is having products in your checkouts. So when your students go to sign up for your initial course, then you will have the upsells at the end when they go to put their credit card details in, where you can offer other top up courses or bonus courses or bonus products that might complement the existing course and all the course. Platforms like Kajabi will have this function built into the checkout cart process, so you can use that as well.

Speaker 1: 19:48

Now let's just talk quickly about referrals, because they are a little bit like the elephant in the room, especially when you are just getting started and you might not have a lot of testimonials or referrals. But a referral makes up 10% of your pie and this is where satisfied students recommend your course to others. So in our example, if 10% of your students that's two out of 20, refers someone who enrolls, that's another $1,994 revenue for you. And here's the magic of referrals they cost you nothing to acquire, no ad spend, no fancy marketing campaigns. These leave students enrolled because someone they trust raved about your course. So what you can do is create a referral incentive program. So, for example, you could offer a bonus module or a discount for every successful referral. Even a heartfelt thank you can go a long way in encouraging word of mouth. So think about this piece of the pie, as the smallest part is 10%, but it's still worth a percentage to your overall revenue. So really look at the referrals and how you can utilize referrals in your online course, because they really are something that will cost you nothing, but they'll add so much more value to your course, to your offering, to your brand. Okay, so now you know how the pie is divided and we've looked into that 70%, the 20% and the 10% how do you maximize each slice? So let's talk some strategies. And 10% how do you maximize each slice? So let's talk some strategies For the initial enrollment revenue, that's 70% of your pie.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Focus on high converting launch strategies. This includes email sequences, webinars and social proof. Remember your goal here is to enroll as many ideal students as possible. So look at your launch strategy and make sure that it is watertight. Make sure that every single email has been checked and it has been edited and the links are working. They've been tested. Make sure that your webinar is clear, it's to the point. It's really touching on those pain points for your audience. And if you've got any testimonials, get them out there, get them on your website, get them on your sales page, your email copy, your social media pages, just everywhere that you can think of. That's a platform. Get them out there Now.

Speaker 1: 22:03

For upsells start planting seeds during your first course. So mention your advanced course in lessons or include a sneak peek of what's to come when you finish this initial course. You really want to be building anticipation, so students are already thinking, oh, what's next. And for referrals highlight success stories from your students. Create shareable content like testimonials or case studies that make it easy for your students to recommend your course. Did you know that 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising? Amazing Not surprising, but amazing that it's that high 92%. That's why testimonials, case studies and success stories are so powerful. Create short video testimonials of your top students and share them in your marketing materials. This not only encourages referrals, but also builds trust with new leads.

Speaker 1: 22:56

Now this pie is exciting, but it is a long term game, and I'll tell you why. Building lifetime customer value isn't a one and done effort. It is about playing the long game, and that requires consistency, authenticity and a commitment to serve your students at the highest level. Long term, the essence of maximizing LCV lies in fostering trust and creating deep, meaningful connections with your audience. Long term relationships aren't just beneficial financially. They also build your credibility and they build your brand reputation. But how do you cultivate these relationships effectively? Well, you can be consistent in your communications, because consistent communication is the backbone of long-term relationships, as we know, in anything in life, in any type of relationship in life.

Speaker 1: 23:48

So, when it comes to your brand, your LCB, your course offering, this could be in the form of regular email updates, monthly webinars or an exclusive community forum. When your students know that they'll hear from you regularly and that you're providing value. Every interaction has to be gold, valuable. It strengthens your community's loyalty to your brand. And also think about providing value beyond the course. Remember. You have a public face to your brand, where anybody can come and go without needing any level of commitment. And then you have a more private area of your brand where people opt in, and that could be through a lead magnet, it could be through a newsletter. It's the content that's still free, but it's people that have opted in to put their hands up and say, yes, I want to hear more from you, and so you need to be providing value to this part of your audience, beyond just the course that you're trying to sell for them, that you are promoting to them or talking to students that have already purchased your course. Because what happens to these students after they complete your course?

Speaker 1: 24:49

Many course creators fall into this trap of disengagement post-course. They think it's done, dusted and this is a missed opportunity. Consider providing ongoing value, like offering free resources, downloadable templates or exclusive insights that are part of the course. This shows your commitment to their success. So I would even have you know, maybe like a bonus module that you don't even tell your community about, and then, once they have finished the initial course that they're paid for, you can release this bonus module to them, or you can drip feed it lesson by lesson as an ongoing thing for another six weeks or another eight weeks or whatever it is, and it will really, really enhance the value and the goodwill of your brand in the eyes of your community. And this is so different from giving them a bonus right at the start of when they sign up to the course, or telling them that they're going to be getting a bonus at the end of the course. This is simply the ongoing support that up to the course. Or telling them that they're going to be getting a bonus at the end of the course. This is simply the ongoing support that happens once the course is finished. So I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1: 25:54

So imagine offering your students a quarterly check-in webinar to help them implement what they've learned. Not only does this keep you top of mind, but it also positions you as a lifelong mentor rather than a one-time instructor. Another way you can build this goodwill with your community is to design an ecosystem of learning that evolves with them. Now this means offering different levels of courses, masterminds or even retreats tailored to their growth journey. So I'll give you an example. Another student of mine, lisa, started with an entry-level course on Instagram marketing. She then introduced an advanced Instagram course, followed by a VIP coaching package, and each step built on the previous one, giving her students a clear path to follow while also increasing their investment in her expertise. So they're like stepping stones, if you like and I love that term.

Speaker 1: 26:47

Ecosystem of learning. Another way to play the long-term game is through loyalty programs. These programs reward your most engaged students and they incentivize them to stick around, and I'll give you some examples of how to do it. You could offer points for completing courses, leaving reviews or referring friends, because points can be redeemed for discounts for exclusive content. You could create a tiered system bronze, silver, gold memberships based on engagement, or you could send personalized thank you gifts or notes to your top students annually. Oh, how good is that. You could even do it like a Christmas or an Easter or some sort of seasonal incentive or gift or thank you, because your students are your best advocates, so encourage them to share their success stories and their experiences. The more that you empower your students, the more likely they are going to bring others into your ecosystem. So consider showcasing student case studies in your marketing materials, featuring testimonials prominently on your website and celebrating their publicly. All right friends.

Speaker 1: 27:50

Let's recap. Today we explored the three slices of the LCB pie Our initial enrollment revenue, that was 70%. Our upsells, which was 20%, and our referrals, which was 10%. We talked about how focusing on all three can boost your revenue from $19,940 to $26,919 for a cohort of just 20 students. But here is my challenge for you, my friend, start thinking about how you can nurture your students beyond the initial enrollment. Can you create an advanced course or launch a referral program? Pick one action item that we discussed today and run with it. Trust me, your future self will thank you, as always. If you loved this episode, take a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Tag me at Teaching Mastery Academy so I can cheer you on, and, if you haven't already, make sure to download the free worksheet I created just for this episode. It'll help you make out your own LCB pie chart, step by step. Thanks for tuning in, my friend, and I'll catch you next week for another episode of Teaching Mastery Academy. Until then, keep inspiring and keep teaching.