How to Know If Your Course Will Sell (Before You Build It)
The question "how do I know if my course will sell?" has a deceptively simple answer: ask the people who might buy it.
That's it. That's the whole secret.
But how you ask, and what you ask, makes all the difference. So let's break it down.
What "The Market" Actually Means
"The market" isn't some abstract economic force. It's the people who might buy your course.
What you're really trying to figure out is what those specific people want, what they'll pay for, and how they want to learn it.
And here's the thing: you can't figure that out from a GPT prompt. AI tools predict based on the past, not current reality. The only reliable way to validate your course idea is to go directly to the humans.
How to Find Out If Your Course Idea Will Sell
You need to talk to real people. This doesn't require a massive audience, just access to people who have the problem you want to solve and might pay to have it solved. That could be a small email list, a social media following, or groups you're already part of.
The tools are simple: polls, surveys, one-on-one conversations, DM chats. The questions are what matter.
Start Broad: What Do They Want From You?
If people already follow you, they have a sense of what you're about. Start by finding out what they'd most want to learn from you.
A simple poll works well here:
I've been toying with creating a course. Which topic would you actually buy from me?
Option A Option B Other (tell me in comments)
Always include "other." You can't think of everything, and sometimes people see your strengths more clearly than you do.
Post it in more than one place. Different platforms surface different insights.
Get Specific: Test Your Descriptions
Once you have a direction, write a rough description of what you'd teach; then get feedback on it. This can be a poll, a "which would you rather" post, or direct questions.
People will tell you what resonates and what falls flat. Listen to that.
And don't stop there. Every time you plan another piece of your course, throw it back to the market:
Got learner goals? Ask if your audience shares those goals.
Have a course outline? Test whether those topics interest them.
Planning specific activities? Find out if those activities appeal to how they learn.
Ask About Them as Learners
This is the piece most course creators skip—and it's why so many courses fail.
You're not just selling information. You're selling a learning experience. That means you need to understand who your buyers are as learners.
Ask things like:
How much time do you realistically have each week to dedicate to learning [your topic]?
What's your favorite way to consume content—reading, listening, or watching?
How much support do you typically need when learning something new?
What's the hardest part of learning for you?
What kinds of activities actually help you retain information?
This intel shapes everything: your content format, your pacing, your support structure.
Ask How They Want to Be Supported
This one influences both your marketing and your course design.
Do they expect live support, or are they fine with asynchronous help? Do they want community, or do they prefer to work solo?
Knowing this tells you what to build, what to promise, and what kind of time commitment you're signing up for.
The Sweet Spot
Validating a course idea is a balancing act between three things:
What you can deliver
What you want to deliver
What they actually want from you
When those three overlap, you've got a course that will sell—and one you won't hate creating.
Ready to Figure Out What Course You Should Create?
If you're not sure what topics you could even teach, or you want a structured way to work through this validation process, grab my free Course Creation Jumpstart. It walks you through ideation step by step—and by the end, you'll have topics ready to test with your audience.
Get the Free Course Creation Jumpstart
Quick note: My PhD is in Rhetoric, so deconstructing how we market to people is kind of my thing. But I withdrew from my college marketing class, so take that for what it's worth.