What’s new with pricing and the Deals Program – August 2023

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At the beginning of the year, we shared some ways to improve our pricing strategy so learners have an easier time seeing differences in course value and quality. After rigorous testing, we’re happy to give you an update on our list price experiment results and share new changes below.

 

List price consistency experiment results

Over the past few months, we’ve experimented with showing our recommended list price for courses in our Deals Program. Previously, if you set a list price that was lower than our model suggested, it would default to your lower list price instead of the one generated by our pricing models. We started testing this change because we believe our dynamic pricing engine can better reflect your course’s relative value and respond quicker to changing marketplace demand.

Our tests showed that our recommended list price, combined with our new method for setting list prices, has a total positive impact on instructor revenue. Plus, it met our goal of showing more consistency in how list prices are set across courses. With these positive results in mind, we are making this change across all of the Deals Program (except in Japan).

 

New design for the course pricing page

Over the years, many of you have told us that our pricing system can be confusing. So we’ve redesigned the course pricing page to show more transparency in how we price your courses. The updated page will show what the Udemy-set price will be, as well as the backup price (which we used to call the “instructor-set list price”).

A new version of the page will be rolled out over the next few months for everyone, whether you’re opted in to the Deals Program or not. But don’t worry, this won’t change any of your preferences.

 

Establishing list price for new courses

Update: Starting October 9, 2023, newly published paid courses will be ineligible for promotions for the first 14 days in the United States. After the 14-day period, courses will be eligible for our current or upcoming promotions.

Of note, if your course is published between September 25, 2023 – October 9, 2023, your course may not be included in all sitewide promotions for up to the 14 following days following its publication. Learn more about these changes below.

 

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Over the years, we’ve worked on improving our pricing and promotional strategies so that the price that learners see reflects the value of your course. As a next step, we want to make sure each course has an established list price before it gets discounted. We expect this change to build learner trust, responsible growth, and a healthy, sustainable marketplace. 

Starting as early as September 2023, we will not discount newly published paid courses for the first 14 days even if you participate in the Udemy Deals Program. This way learners will see a consistent price that represents the estimated value of the course, before it gets discounted. After this 14-day period, new courses will be eligible for our current or upcoming promotions. Initially this change will be US-only, but we may roll it out to other countries later in the year. While this date is not final, we will notify you at least one week before this policy takes effect. 

Given this initial no-promotion period, we will extend the eligibility window for the “New” and “New and Hot” badges from 60 days to 74 days. Past experiments show that these badges have helped learners more effectively explore skills and find a course that matches their needs.

Note: While new courses will be excluded from sitewide promotions, instructor coupons can still be applied to your course within the first 14 days. 

We hope this makes pricing and the Deals Program more transparent while maintaining the health and vibrancy of the marketplace. If you have questions about these pricing changes, feel free to let us know in the Instructor Community.