Blake Oliver

Hey Earmarkers! Or is it Earmarks? No. Earmarkers. That’s better.

It’s been a while! I figured I’d give you a break from these updates during busy season. Now that you’ve gotten some rest, I’ve got a favor to ask.

I really need your input on pricing.

I’ll come back to that in a moment. First, here’s where we stand.

Earmark CPE, by the numbers.

If you open up your Earmark CPE app and start scrolling, you’ll count 150 free courses across 35 channels. 

We’re up to over 1,800 members who have earned more than 5,400 CPE certificates since our launch in January. 

We’re growing 15 to 20% per month. And almost all of that is by word of mouth. 

So thank you so much for sharing Earmark with your friends, family, and colleagues. I really appreciate it!

Now back to that favor.

I need your help with pricing. 

“Pricing what,” you say. I’m glad you asked. 

The Earmark team is working on a paid subscription to offer in addition to our free membership. The free CPE isn’t going anywhere, but soon you’ll be able to subscribe to get even more.

So, I’m going to tell you what we’re planning, and then I hope you’ll tell me what you’d be willing to pay for it. 

I’m asking because I’ve talked with a few of you in person over the last few weeks and the numbers I get fall into a huge range. 

So I figured I should just ask rather than guess what you all think is fair. 

After all, the big idea of Earmark is to make it into a member-driven community. So what better way to figure out how to price it and make this business sustainable than to ask all of you. 

I’ll average your responses to figure out the best price. And maybe you’ll also give me some better ideas for what features should go into the subscription.

So to summarize, I’ll tell you what we’re planning to put in the paid subscription. You’ll tell me what you think it’s worth. And in exchange, I’ll come back to you and report the results. And I’ll make sure that your input guides the design.

So let’s get to what’s in the subscription. 

The paid subscription will include:

1. Unlimited courses

“But I can take unlimited courses already,” you say. Yes, you can. For now. 

When we launch the subscription, free members will be limited to one course per week or a few courses per month. Something like that. 

Paid subscribers will be able to register for courses without limits, which will be very appealing to those approaching their certification or license renewal.

2. A built-in media player

Download episodes or videos to watch offline, and save your place in the audio or video portion of a course, so you don’t lose your progress. That sort of thing. 

Enjoy conveniences such as these without having to leave the Earmark app to go to your podcast player or the YouTube app.

3. Subscriber-only premium content

These are special courses available exclusively to subscribers. 

For example, Greg Kyte has recorded a four-hour behavioral ethics course called “Drunk Ethics.” I’m not sure I need to say much more other than that. It’s like the comedy traffic school of CPE. You have to get your ethics every year. Why not enjoy it?

As a subscriber, you’ll get free access to this premium course and others that we add in the future.

How you can help — take the survey.

So that’s what you get with a paid subscription. Unlimited courses, a media player, and premium content. 

Oh, and one more thing, the subscription will be paid annually. 

So what do you think it’s worth? What would you pay for it? What do you think Earmark should charge for it? Go to EarmarkCPE.com/PriceSurvey and let me know. 

Thanks for your help building Earmark into the future of CPE, and I’ll see you again soon.