I spent 3.5 hours digging through the data for my life tracking course:

• How many conversions 3m views got me

• Which channel had the highest ROI

• Whether comments or saves/shares indicated more conversions

Here’s what I learned.

(Caveat: it’s impossible to attribute with 100% accuracy, so this is the average/approx numbers. I also only included views from Instagram, my biggest platform - not YouTube, TikTok, or other platforms.)

Which course cohort performed best (most sales) and why?

I ran 4 cohorts:

• August (sales cycle Jul 26 - Aug 6)

• October (Sep 10 - Oct 7)

• Dec (Nov 25 - Dec 9)

• Jan 8 onwards (self-paced, not really a cohort)

My first cohort performed the best - and coincidentally, I posted/emailed the most.

I think this is because of the novelty - it was the first course I launched.

There was also a longer warm-up period (not counted in the “sales cycle” dates above) because I built in public, sharing how I was creating the course.

This eventually led to the highest conversion rates.

What was the impact of viral videos?

Here are my total views on course-specific videos.

But here are the sales.

So viral videos doesn’t always translate to sales.

In fact, when I look at conversion rate (view → sale), the cohort with my most viral videos had the lowest conversion rates.

And when I look at the whole funnel, it seems like only conversion rate for the free course preview skyrocketed - while course purchases decreased.

This could be because I stopped running cohorts (no clear deadline to enroll), or because my video messaging attracted a free crowd rather than a “I’m ready to invest” crowd.

Any cohorts with unusual conversion rates?

The first cohort (August) outperformed every other cohort - probably because of higher quality traffic.

I had a waitlist of buyers who indicated they were interested in purchasing the course and my August cohort had my lowest price ever ($99-$199).

My conclusion here is that it’s not the content (viral video topics) - it’s the funnel.

Many people commented they were interested in learning, but the low view to landing page conversion rate makes me think people aren’t clicking through.

This means I have to reduce friction.

For example, I could pay for ManyChat to get people’s emails via DM automation.

Then, I could automatically enroll them in the free course preview instead of directing them to an external page then a login page (too many steps).

Which channels worked best? Instagram or email?

Instagram for awareness.

Email for conversion.

I consistently had higher conversion rates from people who say my emails than from people who saw my Instagram posts.

However, most people on my email list came from Instagram (lead magnet).

Which post metrics were stronger predictors of sales?

I expected saves - if people found my content useful enough to save, I thought they’d be more likely to purchase.

However, it was comments that was the strongest predictor…which makes sense.

After all, people commenting could directly access my landing page link in their DMs.

But there’s always room for improvement. I could make the purchase process a lot smoother.

My key takeaways / actionables

1. Have a clear funnel with less friction

   • Video → comment → send email in DMs (no external page taps) → reminders sent via email + DM automation

2. Test out the cohort model again with clear enrollment deadline

3. Run ads to retarget people who’ve seen my content but didn’t purchase (not sure if I have time for this bc I’ve never ran ads on my account before but we’ll see)

What do you think? Any insightful things you learned?

Til next week,

Jennifer