You spent 3 months building your online course.

Filmed every video. Wrote every lesson.

Then launched it.

And sold!? only 2 copies. Both to your mom.

The fix?

Validate your course idea before you build a single lesson. That's Idea Validation.

Here's exactly how I'd do it in 5 simple steps – if I were starting from scratch today.

Why most course creators skip this step

Let's be honest. Building feels good.

You open your recording software, hit record, and feel productive. It's exciting. You're making something.

But that excitement is a trap.

42% of startups fail because there's no market need for their product – no market demand.

Course creators aren't immune to this. Not even close.

The "build it and they will come" mindset kills more courses than bad content ever will.

You can have the most beautifully produced course on the planet. If nobody wants it, it doesn't matter – and you'll never reach product-market fit.

💡 The hard truth: Most people who say "I'd buy that" won't. Enthusiasm isn't the same as intent to pay. Validation is how you tell the difference by pressure-testing your value propositions.

So before you film a single frame, do this instead.

Step 1: Nail down a specific problem you solve

Broad course ideas don't sell. Specific ones do. (If you’re still exploring directions, this guide on how to find online course ideas will help you narrow down faster.)

"I'll teach people about productivity" is not a course idea. It's a category.

"I'll teach burnt-out freelancers how to get their evenings back using simple productivity systems" – that's a course idea.

The more specific your problem, the easier everything else gets.

Your audience recognizes themselves. Your marketing writes itself. Your students get real results.

Here's a simple framework to sharpen your idea:

• Who is the exact person you're helping?
• What is the painful, specific problem they have right now?
• Why can't they just Google the solution?
• What does life look like after they solve it?

💡 Quick check: Can you describe your target student in 1 sentence, including their job, their struggle, and what they want? If you can't, niche down further.

Don't move to Step 2 until you can answer all 4 questions clearly. Then do the market research.

Step 2: Research demand before you create anything

Once you have a specific problem, you need to find out if real people are actively searching for a solution – this is market validation.

Here's how I'd do it.

Reddit (the underrated goldmine)

Reddit has 443.8 million weekly active users. That's millions of people talking about their real problems, unfiltered.

Here's the exact search hack I use:

• Go to reddit.com/search (think of it like a mini search engine for pain)
• Search: "struggling with" + [your topic]
• Filter by "Relevance" and "All time"
• Look for threads with 10+ comments

If you find threads where people are venting frustrations, asking for help, or sharing workarounds for your problem, then that is it! That's the demand signal.

💡 Pro tip: Go into subreddits like r/Entrepreneur, r/OnlineCourses, or your niche-specific sub. Search for your topic. Read the comments, not just the posts. The comments are where the real pain lives.

Google Trends

Search your main topic on Google Trends.

Is interest over time stable or growing?

Avoid topics with declining search interest over the last 5 years.

Keyword research

Plug your topic into a free tool like Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner.

Are people searching for it?

Look for a monthly search volume of 1,000+ on your main keyword – That's a healthy signal.

Facebook Groups

Join 2-3 Facebook groups in your niche.

Search the group for your topic.

Are people asking questions about it? Posting about their struggles? That's your audience, right there.

Step 3: Talk to your target audience

This is the step most people skip.

Online research tells you what people search for. Real conversations tell you why they care.

Aim for 5 to 10 conversations with real humans who fit your target audience. These don't need to be formal interviews. A 15-minute Zoom call or a simple Google Form or even a DM exchange works.

Ask questions like:

• "What's the hardest part about [your topic] for you right now?"
• "What have you already tried? What didn't work?"
• "If there was a course that solved this, what would you need to see before you'd pay for it?"
• "What would solving this problem be worth to you?"

🔑 The magic question: At last, ask – "Is there anything I didn't ask that you think is important?" This is where people tell you things you'd never have thought to ask.

Listen more than you talk. You're not pitching. You're learning.

If the same pain points and language come up across multiple conversations, you've found your course positioning.

Step 4: Presell or run a beta test

This is where most people freeze.

But a presell is the single most powerful way to validate your course idea. And it's simpler than you think. If you want a full walkthrough, read how to pre-sell your online course.

Presell works for digital products of all kinds, including an online course.

Here's the basic model:

1. Write a simple landing page describing the outcome your course delivers (one of those short, punchy sales pages)
2. Set an early-bird price (typically 40-60% off your full price)
3. Tell your audience it's available now, but you'll build it with them
4. Set a minimum buyer threshold – aim for at least 10 to 20 paying students before you start building

If you hit your minimum, you build the course. If you don't, you refund everyone and go back to the drawing board – no wasted months, no sunk cost.

💡 Don't have an audience yet? Run a beta test instead. Reach out directly to 20-30 people in your niche. Offer to personally walk them through the content live, for a low price, basically a coaching session. If 3 to 5 people pay, that's enough signal to move forward.

Once validated, you'll want to think about how to price your online course before your full launch.

And when you're ready to build, picking the right platform matters. For that, take a look on the breakdown of the best online course platforms.

💡 Pro tip: Run a second coaching session with 1-2 ideal buyers before you finalize your promise.)

Step 5: Analyze the results and decide

You've done the research. Talked to people. Maybe ran a presell. Now measure what happened.

Now what?

If you built a landing page, check your Google Analytics: visits, clicks, and conversions. Or if you used an email sequence, look at replies and purchases – not vanity metrics.

Here's what a green light looks like:

• You found consistent, specific pain points across multiple Reddit threads and conversations
• At least 1 person paid you (even $1 validates something)
• People used emotional language when describing the problem
• You hit or exceeded your minimum buyer threshold in the presell

Here's what a pivot signal looks like:

• People said "interesting" but nobody paid
• You couldn't find threads or groups actively discussing the problem
• Conversations revealed the problem isn't urgent enough to spend money on

If your sales pages got traffic but zero buyers (and Google Analytics confirms people stuck around), your positioning might be off – not your ability.

👉 A pivot isn't a failure. It's the system working. You just saved yourself 3 months of building something nobody wants. That's a win.

If it's a green light, move forward. Start building. Use course design principles to structure your content for maximum impact.

👉 Remember: You don’t have to get it perfect forever. You can always update your online course without rewriting everything.

Common mistakes when validating a course idea

Even with the best intentions, people mess this up. Here's what to avoid.

• Asking friends and family: They love you, so they’ll say yes. Their opinion means nothing here. Talk to strangers in your niche instead.
• Confusing interest with intent: “I’d totally take that course!” is not validation. Money is validation. Even a $1 deposit changes the equation.
• Over-researching without acting: You can spend weeks reading Reddit threads and never make a decision. Set a deadline. Give yourself 2 weeks to research and 1 week to presell. Then decide.
• Skipping the conversations: Surveys are okay. But nothing replaces a real conversation. 10 deep conversations beat 500 survey responses every time.

💡 Rule of thumb: If you're not slightly uncomfortable putting your idea out there before it's ready, you're not actually validating. You're just researching.

👉 Also read: Proven Ways to Market Online Course

Wrapping up

Validating your course idea isn't about killing your excitement.

It's about protecting your time, especially when you consider how long it takes to create an online course.

The global e-learning market is on its way past $375 billion. There's massive demand out there.

But demand for your course only exists if you find the right niche, talk to the right people, and test before you build.

Start with Step 1 today. Pick your idea. Sharpen it down to a specific problem for a specific person.

Then work your way through the steps. By the time you sit down to record your first video, you'll already have paying students waiting.

That's how you build a $100k course.