How to price your online course: a guide for teachers in Egypt

Price your course in 6 steps

1. 1

   Write down your monthly costs

   Add up everything teaching online costs you each month: the platform subscription, filming and editing, ads, and an assistant if you have one. That is the number your price has to cover first.

2. 2

   Divide by the students you expect

   Estimate honestly how many students will join in the first month and divide your costs by them. The result is your lowest price per student per month, with no profit. Costs of 3,000 EGP and 60 expected students means each student costs you 50 EGP.

3. 3

   Compare with your centre price

   Students compare your online price with what they pay per session or per month at your centre or someone else's. Stay close to it, remembering that an online student saves on transport and can rewatch the lesson.

4. 4

   Choose how to sell

   A one-price course for revision and recorded lessons, or an online group sold monthly (30 days) or by a number of sessions for teaching that runs all year. Each has its own price, and you do not have to pick only one.

5. 5

   Set the price and the sale price

   On Snatr every course has a price and a discounted price. Keep the first as your real price, and use the discounted price at the start of term or before exams, then put it back.

6. 6

   Review after a month

   Look at how many bought, and at the list of students who made an account and did not buy. If many signed up and did not buy, try a coupon or a free preview lesson before lowering the price itself.

One price, a monthly subscription, or per session?

Egyptian students are used to paying a teacher by the month or by the session, not one large sum. That is why the way you sell matters as much as the price:

Who pays the fees?

On Snatr the price you write is what reaches your wallet. Any fee for paying online is added on top for the student and is never taken from you. So when you work out a price, treat it as your net.

Students pay in EGP by card, Fawry and Aman codes or wallets such as Vodafone Cash, and the course or group opens for them automatically after payment. The money becomes available after a holding period, and you withdraw it to Vodafone Cash, InstaPay or a bank account.

• Payments and payouts in detail

How do I discount without cutting my price?

A lower base price is hard to undo, because students remember the lowest price they saw. It is better to leave your price alone and use discounts that start and end:

• The discounted price: shown on the course page beside the original, and removed when the offer ends.
• A discount coupon: a percentage or a fixed amount, for the whole site, a course, a group or a stage, with a start date, an end date and a usage limit, once per student. You choose whether it applies to items that are already discounted.
• A free preview lesson: open one lesson for free on the course page so students see how you teach before they pay. That often persuades more than a discount.

What about students who pay cash?

Not every student has a card or a wallet. You have two ways to keep them:

• Prepaid codes: print cards with codes and sell them for cash at your centre or a bookshop. A code either opens a course or group for a number of months or sessions, or adds credit to the student's balance on your site.
• Enrolling by hand: a student who paid you cash is enrolled in the course from your dashboard, with no commission.

Students outside Egypt?

Your site can show prices in Egyptian pounds, US dollars or Saudi riyals. Students can join from any country. Online payment is in pounds only: a student abroad pays with an international Visa or Mastercard, the amount is charged in pounds and their bank converts it. With a dollar or riyal site currency, online payment is not available yet, so you collect your own way and open the course by hand or with a code. So if most of your students are abroad, price in pounds and tell them their bank does the conversion.

How does your number of students affect your costs?

A Snatr subscription is priced by students and storage: Starter at 999 EGP a month for up to 100 students; Basic at 1,999 EGP a month for up to 200 students; Pro at 2,999 EGP a month for up to 400 students. A student is counted once, as soon as they join any course or group, even if they are in several, and still counts after leaving. An account with no enrolment does not count, and neither does a centre student who only attends a branch with no enrolment on the platform. If you pass your plan's limit, registration does not stop; each extra student is charged at your plan's extra-student price.

So the platform's own cost grows with your students, but by a small share of what each student pays. Put it in the sum from step one.

• Platform cost, with a calculator
• Pricing