If you’ve been hearing the phrase “evergreen offer” and wondering what it actually means, you’re not alone. And if you already know roughly what it is but aren’t sure whether it’s the right move for your course, this post should help you figure that out.
An evergreen offer is one that’s available to buy at any time, not just during a launch window. No open/close dates, no countdown to a cart close. Just a course that people can find, consider, and purchase whenever they’re ready.
That sounds appealing. But it’s not automatically better than live launching, and it doesn’t work on its own either. Here’s how to think through which approach fits your course, and what you’ll need in place to make either one actually work.
What is a live launch?
A live launch, sometimes called an open/close launch, is when you make your course, program, or digital product available for purchase only during certain times of the year. Usually, you open the doors for about 1-2 weeks, and this might happen 2-4 times a year. Some people really enjoy live launching because it can bring in a burst of buyers quickly. However, others find it a bit too overwhelming due to the intense focus and energy required to manage all the details and marketing efforts during this time.
Benefits of a live launch
There are a lot of benefits to doing a live launch, like the built-in sense of urgency around your cart close date. This motivates people to buy before your special offer is gone.
You can create a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) by offering a limited-time bonus or early bird pricing, which nudges people to hop on board before the window closes.
Another advantage of live launching is the nice cash injection your business gets in a relatively short time.
Pros and cons of live launches
Pros of live launches:
- Live launches build urgency and FOMO, leading to more engagement and quicker sales.
- They let you interact with your audience in real-time, building trust and meaningful connections.
- You can gather feedback quickly, which helps you tweak your product and stay in tune with what your audience wants.
Cons of live launches:
- Tech glitches can pop up during live events, and they can be challenging to deal with on the fly.
- Live launches can be overwhelming and stressful to manage.
- You’ll need to invest a lot of time and effort into marketing.
You might be interested in these common course launch mistakes and how to avoid them.
What is an evergreen offer?
An evergreen offer is a course or digital product that’s available to buy at any time, with no specific launch window or cart close date. People can find it, consider it, and purchase whenever they’re ready.
Most online businesses have some sort of evergreen funnel set up. Even if you’re running a service-based business, you can create simple evergreen funnels with welcome sequences tied to freebies. In your welcome sequence, you then guide potential clients or customers to booking a call, or point them to a page to go ahead and purchase.
While you won’t have the buzz and excitement of a live launch, the benefits of an evergreen offer are well suited to those who want consistent sales and a reliable income stream all year round.
Benefits of an evergreen offer
Evergreen offers are generally less stressful than live launches, though they need a bit more tech setup initially due to their automated nature. Think of an evergreen funnel as your 24/7 sales team, working to nurture leads and turn them into customers on autopilot.
What makes an evergreen funnel effective is how easily it scales. It can welcome endless leads and prospects without needing extra effort from you, helping your business grow steadily. And if your evergreen funnel is working well, you can ramp it up by bringing in even more people through paid ads.
When your sales funnel is doing its job, you’ll see a steady stream of sales coming in all year, without needing to pour extra energy into constant marketing. It’s a mix of automation, passive income, and recurring revenue.
While evergreen products do require some attention, the workload is spread more evenly throughout the year, meaning less intense bursts of activity compared to live launches and a smoother rhythm to your business.
Pros and cons of evergreen offers
Pros of evergreen offers:
- They provide a steady stream of sales all year round, keeping your income consistent.
- Once set up, they don’t demand the same intense marketing efforts and time commitment as live launches.
Cons of evergreen offers:
- They still need ongoing promotion to stay visible to your audience.
- They don’t have the built-in urgency and excitement that live launches have, so you’ll need to find other ways to encourage people to buy now rather than later.
Should you live launch or go evergreen? 6 questions to ask yourself
1. Do you teach something people want to avoid?
Imagine you’re offering a course that tackles something tough, like helping clients overcome emotional eating and build a healthy relationship with food, or guiding them through the process of dealing with debt. It’s safe to assume your customers know this is an issue for them, but it can feel overwhelming to address alone. This is where a live launch can really shine. It provides that extra push through a sense of urgency and the support of a community all working toward the same transformation.
For topics like these, people often need more encouragement to take the leap, and a live launch can give them that motivational boost.
On the flip side, for skills that people might initially put off but will at some point decide it’s time to tackle (like learning how to run Facebook ads), an evergreen approach can be a great fit. It allows learners to start when they’re ready and go at their own pace.
2. How much quality time do you want to have with your students?
With online courses, supporting your students can look like group coaching calls, Facebook group discussions, emails, or one-on-one chats. Deciding how much time you want to dedicate to this can shape your approach.
If you prefer having a set time frame to fully engage with your students, a launch might be your style. You can dedicate, say, 12 weeks where you’re all in, guiding them through the course. After that, you get to decide how available you want to be. This works well if you want your students to start together, learning from each other’s progress and sharing feedback.
An evergreen setup, on the other hand, might mean you’re more continuously available, allowing students to join whenever they’re ready. If your students do well on their own, working through material at their own pace, this flexibility could be a great fit.
Think about what feels right for you. Do you enjoy constant interaction, or do you prefer to go all in for a bit and then wind down?
3. How will you give your customers a reason to buy now?
When you’re selling anything, it’s about giving people the motivation to not just buy, but to buy now.
Live launches naturally have an edge here, with their open and close dates creating built-in urgency. It’s common to see a big chunk of sales happen right as the cart is about to close.
For evergreen offers, you’ll need to think more creatively to spark that same urgency. You might try promotions, special limited-time bonuses, or flash sales to encourage immediate action. The urgency is real, but it’s something you build into the funnel rather than something that comes automatically from the launch format.
4. What do you want your workload to be?
When you’re gearing up for a launch, it’s all hands on deck: newsletters, blogs, webinars, social media. Then, once the launch is over, you can take a breather, regroup, and focus on nurturing your audience until the next one.
With an evergreen offer, the effort is more consistent. You’re regularly feeding traffic into the funnel through content, partnerships, or ads. It’s a slow and steady approach that works well for those who prefer consistent effort over the feast-and-famine feel of live launches.
An open/close launch means lots of hustle before the launch and relative quiet between them, with highs and lows in your schedule. If you’re comfortable with that ebb and flow, it might be the right fit. Evergreen offers, on the flip side, deliver more consistent income, with sales trickling in throughout the year.
5. How will you create buzz?
Launching something naturally generates excitement. It’s not just you feeling the thrill as everything comes together; your customers pick up on that energy too. Once they enroll, you’ll often hear them tell their friends, “I just signed up… this is going to be great!”
Evergreen offers have a more gradual vibe. As people enroll at their own pace, the conversation is less about immediate excitement and more about individual experiences.
If your course delivers great value, happy students will spread the word regardless of the launch style. But with evergreen, your community spaces and calls tend to have students at various stages in their journey, which changes the dynamic.
6. Are you okay with inconsistent income?
Live launches only happen a few times a year, but they can bring in a real income boost when they do. The flip side is being prepared for quieter periods until the next launch. That income needs to stretch over 6 months or more, depending on how often you launch.
Evergreen offers provide more consistent income, with sales coming in steadily throughout the year. If you like the idea of a more predictable baseline, that’s a meaningful advantage.
Mixing live and evergreen in your business
There’s no rule that says you have to choose one and stick with it. A lot of course creators run live launches 1-2 times a year for the buzz and cash injection, while keeping an evergreen version of the same course available in the background. You get the urgency of a launch when you want it, and steady sales the rest of the time.
You can also use live launches to test and refine your course, then move it to evergreen once you know it converts. That way you’re not trying to automate something that hasn’t proven itself yet.
Even if you put your course on evergreen, you might want to add in a few time-sensitive promo periods. Here are 5 Black Friday promo ideas for course creators (but really, you can use these ideas at any time of the year).
What actually makes the difference
Whether you go live, evergreen, or both, the thing that determines whether your course sells consistently isn’t really the launch format. The system underneath matters more: how you’re building trust before the ask, what happens after someone opts in, and whether there’s a clear path from “interested” to “ready to buy.”
If you’re not sure whether your funnel has those pieces in place, a good starting point is The Evergreen Funnel Fix, my free guide that walks you through all 3 layers of a working evergreen funnel and where most of the leaks tend to be.
Or if you’d rather look at your specific setup, you’re welcome to book a free Evergreen Funnel Audit. It’s a 30-minute call to go through what you have and figure out where to focus first.
