How to know whether you are undercharging or simply selling to the wrong people

You raise the price of your course by £30, wait for the next launch and hear the same silence. A few people say it looks useful. Nobody buys. It is tempting to conclude that the offer is too expensive. But the same result can come from a different problem: you are explaining a valuable outcome to people who do not need it yet, do not trust the route to that outcome, or cannot see themselves in the promise.

Start with the objection, not the number

Look at the exact words people use when they do not buy. “I cannot afford it” may mean the price is beyond their budget. It may also be a polite way of saying, “I do not know whether this will work for me.” Those are different problems and need different responses.

Do not treat every “too expensive” comment as a pricing survey. Ask one calm follow-up instead: “What would you need to understand before deciding?” You are trying to find the missing piece in the buying decision, not persuade one person into a purchase.

Check whether the buyer can reach the promised outcome

A price is easier to judge when the buyer can connect it to a specific change. “Learn marketing” is broad. “Leave with three sales emails and a simple launch plan for your next product” gives someone a way to assess the purchase. The second promise also tells you who it is for: a person with a product, a launch approaching and a need for practical materials.

1. 1Write down the buyer's situation before they purchase. Include what they have already tried, what is getting in the way and what makes the problem matter now.
2. 2Describe the result in observable terms. Name the decision, asset, behaviour or finished piece the buyer will have after using the product.
3. 3List the work the buyer still has to do. A template, course or coaching call cannot remove every step, and hiding the effort creates disappointment.
4. 4Compare your actual audience with that situation. If most of your attention comes from beginners while the offer assumes experience, the issue may be fit rather than price.
5. 5Review the route from discovery to checkout. Your storefront should make the product, outcome and next step easy to understand before you ask for payment.

Price the delivery you can actually sustain

A sale can look profitable until you count the work around it. Suppose a £100 product takes 20 minutes of direct support per buyer, plus two hours each week maintaining the material. Those hours belong in the decision even if no invoice is attached to them. If you sell a course with repeated questions, or coaching that expands into unpaid preparation and follow-up, a higher price may be necessary simply to protect the promised level of service.

Make a simple calculation for each offer: money received, minus payment processing, refunds you reasonably expect, delivery costs and the time you must provide. Store.fan takes 0% of sales, while Stripe's own processing fee still applies, and money goes straight to your Stripe account. That makes the platform fee easier to separate from the other costs, but it does not make your time free.

Run a better price test

Changing the price, sales page, audience and format at the same time leaves you with no useful conclusion. Instead, choose the question you are trying to answer. If people reach checkout but do not complete payment, test clarity, trust or payment friction before assuming the number is wrong. If people read the offer but do not click, test the promise and the audience. If buyers purchase but ask for far more help than expected, test the delivery design.

You can also test fit directly. Invite a small group of people who match the intended situation to describe the problem in their own words. Do not lead with your solution. Ask what they have tried, what a useful result would change and what would stop them buying. Then compare their answers with your sales page. Gaps between the two are evidence for a positioning change, not automatically a discount.

Decide what to change next

Use the evidence to choose one of five changes: reach a more suitable audience, narrow the promise, add proof, reduce delivery effort or change the price. A more suitable audience may value the same outcome without any product changes. A narrower promise can make the existing product easier to understand. Proof can show the route rather than merely claiming that the destination is possible.

If the product is sound but the buying path is scattered, a storefront can make the test cleaner. With store.fan, you can put the offer in one place at store.fan/yourname and send people to a page that explains what they get. Depending on the offer, you can sell [digital downloads](/features/digital-downloads), [online courses](/features/online-courses) or coaching calls without building a separate checkout system.

Once you know the audience and promise are working, the next test can be more deliberate. You might use email marketing to follow up with people who showed interest, or use a discount only when it answers a clear timing or commitment problem. Pro adds email marketing and discount codes, as well as other tools for running campaigns, but adding features will not replace a product that is aimed at the wrong buyer.