When deciding which online course platform to choose there’s a chance you’ll receive a long list of suggestions. It’s a standout because of its many helpful features.
There are many aspects to be aware of in an online course platform and Thinkific is one of them. Continue reading the Thinkific reviews below to learn more about its unique features and benefits.
A brief overview of Thinkific Review How Does Thinkific Make Money
Thinkific is one of the most well-known options for creating and selling online courses. Apart from having an easy-to-use interface, it also offers pre-designed templates you can build your personal website.
With just a few mouse clicks it’s possible to make and sell online courses without any prior experience. Drag and drop functionality of the website allows you to easily start.
Online course creators will be especially curious about the advanced quiz features for each course you create. These can make your lessons more enticing to learn by the students.
It is an online builder of course s. lets you upload different types of files that can be used to build your Thinkific course.
As with other online courses platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as third-party app integration. It is possible to send emails either via Thinkific itself or via outside apps such as MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Keep reading the Thinkific review to learn more about this online platform for learning.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Templates that are pre-made
- Different payment options
- Sales and marketing features
- Options for managing students
- Capacity for student feedback
- Affordable customer support
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- No transaction fees , or hidden charges
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Insufficient email marketing tools
- Live chat is not available.
How do you define Thinkific?
Thinkific is a cloud-based online course platform. This means that everything you create on it is stored online and automatically backup. It helps to make course creation more efficient and simple.
Additionally that, as a Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for instructors. You can easily create a course and then upload different material to complement your lessons.
If you’re one of the course creators who prefer to draft your course offline before uploading it online, Thinkific is perfect for you. You can do just that and then upload the course online later on.
Thinkific is also the host for all websites you build with it, so you can upload whatever content you’d like.
You can create a brand new online course site without site design knowledge and. There’s no need to endure a lengthy learning curve when you use Thinkific it’s a fact.
There are also plenty of distribution and marketing options which will speed up the selling procedure of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace where you can sell courses on and interact with other creators of courses.
In addition, Thinkific is also a great alternative for individuals who have their own website but just want to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more students. It is possible to connect third-party websites to Thinkific for a greater reach market.
The benefits and features of Thinkific
The following Thinkific review, we break down the most important features and benefits that are what make Thinkific stand out.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses look on your site will greatly impact conversion rates. That’s why we love the fact that Thinkific has an editor that you can drag and drop. It makes it easier to organize your website and digital products.
You can arrange the classes and lessons however way you want. No need for any complicated codes or methods. All you need to do is click on whatever element you want and then drag it over to the place you’d like it to be.
The majority of the essential elements that make your site look more professional is covered by Thinkific’s editor. From the logos, colors, and fonts, you’ll find everything you require from the site.
However, if you want to go the extra mile and make your site better There’s still the option to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you to decide.
Plus, you can also utilize the drag and drop feature to upload additional materials to your classes. Almost every kind of media is supported with the uploader of your editor. You can include audio files, quizzes, and PDFs to enhance your class.
The quiz types you design can be easily altered with the help of the editor. Choose the assessment type you wish to use for your course and then drag it into the course. You can pick from types of surveys, type forms and multiple-choice forms among others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific offers more than just its drag and drop editors. Its general course website builder helps you get everything all set up and up and running.
As we mentioned earlier, Thinkific does its own web hosting. That means that you don’t be concerned about upload limitations. Your online storage is basically unlimited with Thinkific.
If you’re considering Domains Thinkific allows you to choose a unique URL that can be used in conjunction with its subdomain. Your URL will look something like this: .thinkific.com
This way, your site will be more memorable and easier for students to recall.
And if you want to forego using the Thinkific subdomain, there’s also an option to get the domain as a separate domain for your site. It’s just a matter of paying an extra amount for it.
Templates Pre-Made
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With regard to the site builders for courses, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layout and course templates you can make use of. It saves you from the need to create your own website completely from scratch.
The platform gives you templates that are based on the type of Thinkific course you’re making. For example, if you’re making an introduction course, you could choose a mini course-type template. For assessments and culmination, you can pick a review template.
In terms of template layouts and themes There are many to select from. After you’ve selected one that fits your course, Thinkific offers settings to alter the colors, fonts and layout of the elements in the template.
Again, there is absolutely no need to input complicated codes or text. Simply click on the content you wish to include on your site and drag it onto the layout.
However, if you still want to use HTML and CSS There’s an option to do so.
It is also possible to rearrange and reorganize the elements of your website at times. The different sections can be placed in a chronological order so that your students know which lesson to prioritize.
Payment Options
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As for payment, Thinkific offers options to integrate Stripe and PayPal on your website. With these third-party processors, you can easily access your earnings in as soon as 1 to 2 days.
This is a sharp contrast from other online course platforms with a payment schedule that is 30-day intervals. With Thinkific you can cash out more easily.
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For your students, they can choose from one-time payment plans or an installment subscription plan. You can also offer discounts, bundles and coupons along with whichever payment method they select.
Just note that for the one-time payment scheme, your subscribers will pay an one-time transaction fee as well. The same goes for the installment subscription scheme, except that the transaction fees will be broken down across the duration of the installment.
Sales and Marketing Highlights
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More than being just an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective in marketing online courses. It has features that help you create and sell courses with just a few clicks.
Once you publish your class, you are able to immediately place it for sale through your Market and Sell option on your dashboard.
From there, you are able to modify your website in order to increase the conversion rates of your clients. You can alter the way your checkout and sign-up pages appear to the users. That way they’ll be more enticed to sign up for the online course.
It is also possible to improve the way your courses appear on your website. They can be more attractive by categorizing the courses in categories users are able to easily navigate.
In addition, as we’ve discussed previously it is possible to bundle your courses with discount coupons and freebies. That way, your users will be motivated to subscribe more often for your program.
A sales widget could also be created through Thinkific. It’s essentially a button can be embedded on other third-party sites that will link straight to your course platform. You can customize the buttons to use a particular color scheme and logo to ensure that they are more in line with your brand as well.
Thinkific also allows you to manage an affiliate program that will allow you to reach more audiences. Through the website you can design affiliate links to forward to your affiliate partners. They’ll use these links in order to bring their followers to your website and to enroll in a class.
Once the affiliate program is in operation, you can access the progress of the program right on the Thinkific site. You’ll be able to track revenue, sales, as well as other commissions.
In the end, you have the option to add other programs to Thinkific. If you’re looking into email marketing campaigns, Aweber is an excellent tool that can be synced with your account.
Student Management
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A learning management system can not be successful if it doesn’t cover all aspects of online teaching. It’s also important to keep track of student development.
Thinkific offers a user-friendly student management system for students. It lets you quickly access the contact information of your students and basic information.
You can also customize the sign-up form for your subscribers by asking for specific details. The template from Thinkific asks for names emails, names, along with contact number. If you’re looking for specific information, simply change your settings and add a new field to the form to sign up.
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After you’ve got your subscribers pooled you can then categorize them based on the courses they have signed up for. That way, you can track them by course easier.
In addition, with the Pro and Premier plans, you can search for a specific user based on their registration date, the date of their enrollment, subscribed courses, and job-type. There are even more categories to choose from on the website.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators, but as well the students. So, feedback from students is highly encouraged when you’re enrolling in a course.
An open discussion between the students and instructors will greatly decrease the learning curve associated with lessons.
There is a discussion section on Thinkific in which students can submit questions they have regarding their online classes. After that, instructors can reply and clarify with answers.
Students also have the option to rate and evaluate the courses they’ve attended. The rating will include the quality of the online course instructor as well. So, instructors can establish their credibility through Thinkific.
The reviews will also help other students decide which course is suitable for them. It reduces the likelihood of a student being dropped out during an entire class all of a suddenly.
And if course creators are worried the reviews could potentially affect them negatively, they don’t have to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide whether they’d like to publish a review or not. Thinkific will never publish them without their permission.
A good method to keep students interested is to provide them with regular updates. Thinkific allows instructors to send notifications via push to their students when they update their materials or lessons via the website.
Customer Support
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In addition, as one would expect from systems for learning management, Thinkific does quite a good job with customer support.
Before you sign up, you can access case studies and article guides on the official site. There are also easily accessible videos and demos of the product to browse through.
If you’re already subscribed to Thinkific, you’ll be able to access the Help Center. There, you’ll find information that can help you get started on selling online courses.
Thinkific includes guides, articles and instructional videos that assist you in navigating the interface. Plus, as stated earlier, there are also forums where you can voice out your concerns. Instructors and other users can assist you.
For more serious issues you may submit a ticket to ask for help from the service team. If you’re on an Enterprise plan, or higher you’ll get prioritised answers.
One issue is that Thinkific doesn’t have an option to chat live, however. It’s just a matter of waiting long enough for a response from the company.
How Does Thinkific Works
Similar to any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will show you how to begin using Thinkific. It is as easy as following these six simple steps.
Step 1: Create an Account
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First, sign-up and set up an account on Thinkific account. You’ll automatically be enrolled in the trial trial that is free after registration.
Step 2: Personalize Your Course Player
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After you have created your account then you can begin to personalize your course player. You can choose a particular color scheme that matches your brand logo and theme.
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The course player is the tool your customers will utilize to access the content of your course. Videos, audio files and quizzes will be available through this player.
Step 3: Build Your Course
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The next step is to create your online course. Utilizing this Course Builder program, you are able to create the course by adding modules, lessons, and other files to it.
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The course content is divided into categories and sections. You may also assign your online courses customized labels to help them be easier to find.
Step 4: Customize Your Site
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When your content is set, you can finalize the design and layout of your site. With Thinkific You are able to personalize every landing page to suit each course you offer.
This Thinkific Site Builder lets you choose a color scheme as well as a the theme of our homepage. This is where classes will be set up. Students will be able browse through the course and select which ones they like from there.
You can also customize the landing pages for each course. It’s recommended to create an entirely different design for each course, so that they’re easily identifiable, yet fit in with your overall branding.
Step 5: Name Your Website
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What you have to do after contents, the course player, and customizing are completed is to name your site. Make sure the name is memorable but still appropriate to your business.
Step 6: Publish Your Course
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When everything is set, you can publish the course. To publish, you just need to decide on a price and provide specific payment information.
Something called a course card must be designed. The course card will be the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. If they view it they’ll get a quick overview of your online course as well as the content.
A great course card can prove invaluable when selling courses on Thinkific.
What Needs Improvement on Thinkific
There’s a lot to love about Thinkific however, it’s not without flaws. For this Thinkific review, we’ve listed below what we believe can be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
We think Thinkific does an excellent job in creating courses and uploading content, we think that quiz features could still be improved.
The assessment template on Thinkific is very basic. Although it’s sufficient to gain an understanding of how much your pupils know, it isn’t enough to ask more difficult questions.
If you’re happy with the short, check-up-style exams at the end of every course, then that’s what Thinkific can provide you with. If you have questions that require more time and more specific results, you might want to look at a different platform.
The absence of Email Marketing Tools
As mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications , and these include email marketing tools. However, this is only because it doesn’t provide email marketing tools of its own.
While there are many third-party software that is efficient, it still would be great if Thinkific already had it on its own. It would have accelerated the process.
No live chat support
We’re sure that the response time to customer inquiries is swift, it does not make up for the absence of a live chat feature.
Users who have more urgent issues won’t be able to get them resolved quickly. They’ll need to sit and wait for the response particularly if they’re not signed up to paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific has three paid plans you can sign up to. And upon signing to the plan, you’ll then be able to access the free plan with no transaction fees or hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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Thinkific’s free plan is unique in that, unlike other plans It doesn’t have a time limit. You can avail of the plan for as long as you want to use Thinkific. How Does Thinkific Make Money
Apart from being absolutely free, it does not have any hidden charges or transaction fees, even when you sell courses. It’s ideal for course creators who want to cut down on costs or small entrepreneurs just starting out.
With the Thinkific Free plan you can create 3 courses and customize them by incorporating your personal branding. You can enrich your courses with quizzes and other resources in addition.
You can sign up any number of students, automate the process of signing up, and follow their performance. Surveys can also be sent to them so that you can assess what they think about the classes they’re taking. How Does Thinkific Make Money
Thinkific’s free plan also allows one administrator for your site, multiple instructor profiles, and 24/7 access to students’ data. You can also keep track of conversion rates and click rates of your learners.
The free plan also allows for search engine optimization of your content. This way, your courses will be more easily discovered by your customers. You may also add websites and applications from third parties on your site to improve user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic is $49 per month, but if you choose for a payment plan that is annual, it’ll only cost $39 per month.
It comes with the same features the free plan offers and more benefits that are premium. First, you are able to create unlimited courses. That way, selling courses will also be easier. How Does Thinkific Make Money
One more thing that you don’t get with this plan for free is ability to distribute your contents, mail coupons, or access analytics.
To break that down, first, to drip content is to provide information to your students on an interval that is set and gradually. Additionally, you can mail coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who may require additional incentive to remain subscribed. And third, the analytics you can access are the affiliate reports and conversion rates.
In this way you are able to easily connect third-party tools you would like to utilize. They include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp and many more.
Finally, you can also make a custom domain for your site using the base plan. No need to use the Thinkific domain to host your website’s URL any longer.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month, but if you are billed annually, it’s only $79 each month.
With this plan, you get all the same features that you get with the Free and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get higher-end settings as well as benefits.
Thinkific’s Pro plan will let you have 2 site administrators and 5 course admin accounts. There will also be advanced pricing options for courses and HTML/CSS code editing. How Does Thinkific Make Money
You’ll be able create exclusive courses which only a specific number of people can access. Additionally, you can provide membership bundles and freebies to your customers.
Course creators can also use the more sophisticated assessment, quiz and assessment features.
Growth Package
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In The Pro plan, there’s a feature called a Growth Package that you can take advantage of. It’s a good thing that once you’ve got more than 100 subscribers to you, Thinkific will automatically charge additional fees in addition to the monthly fee of $99.
But don’t fret because the fee entitles you to extra features. It is possible to send bulk emails, integrate third-party tools, and group users based on different criteria.
Thinkific Premier
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The Thinkific Premier is the least expensive plan. It costs $499 per month. However, when it is billed annually, it will cost $399 per month. How Does Thinkific Make Money
When subscribed for this package, you’ll get access to all the same features as the Free, Basic, as well as the Pro plan. What makes it stand out and a higher cost is the fact that it’s targeted at larger companies that have more members.
The Thinkific Premier plan lets you have 5 site admin and 50 course admin accounts. You can also have something known as a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is helpful when you have a large number of subscribers that will have to access the same page.
Also, this plan includes an onboarding plan that’s 30 minutes of onboarding and an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guides.
Additionally, you’ll have access to the Growth package for a lower fee. There will be a flat fee that you will only need to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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Reviewers and users of Thinkific particularly appreciate how economical it is. Even with it on a free basis, you will have access to useful features. And there are no hidden charges so you won’t be spending more than you planned to.
Others also liked the white-labeling feature of Thinkific. It allows you to enhance your brand’s image even if you’re an individual company.
In the end, educators are enthralled using Thinkific because it’s ideal for learners. It’s easy to navigate and explore.
“I loved that there was a place to upload documents in the discussions. It’s a good thing I picked this option because other sites take the % of income, and you have to wait longer to receive money. There are no transaction costs!” -Anonymous
“I liked that you could create the access portal, courses and payment methods in one interface, without the need for additional products. I especially like how simple it is to set up the courses up if you have your curriculum designed and has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific lets you begin making courses for free, and will keep them for free for the rest of your life. Really, this is an excellent way to get started with the art of course creation without spending a dime.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it easy to design and offer our online course to financial advisors. The support team at Thinkific was always quick to get back to us and helped us to understand the process. And I love the possibility of white-labeling and use an individual domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were more enjoyable as well as entertaining and easy especially for our older learners. Teachers were thrilled using it to create their classes and to share their work.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If this Thinkific review hasn’t convinced you of the capabilities of this platform as an online platform for online courses take a look at these two alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is among the very first online course platforms that will probably recommend to you once you start asking around. It’s an all-in-one system that allows you to create and promote your courses online. Thinkific is like Kajabi in this way.
When you sign up with Kajabi the platform, you’ll be able to quickly create a course and then add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes that you could use to customize your site immediately. The editor for your website allows you to add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. How Does Thinkific Make Money
For quiz functions, it has an edge over Thinkific because it has more sophisticated settings. You can make more personalized assessments and quizzes. Plus, you can conduct webinars and video tutorials to ensure greater clarity in teaching.
Many educators particularly love the idea of rewarding their students with certificates for every accomplished course. Additionally, they are able to drip content to their followers, just as Thinkific.
Another distinction that Kajabi is different in comparison to Thinkific is the fact that Kajabi comes with more effective marketing tools. While Thinkific allows you to easily market online courses, it doesn’t permit you to build a sales funnel builder which will help keep your process organized.
Kajabi also has email marketing tools and automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. It isn’t necessary to incorporate an application from a third party to send emails and broadcasts to your subscribers.
Do note though that Kajabi is much more expensive than Thinkific.
Read: Review of Kajabi The All-in-One online course platform
Teachable
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Next to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar rival. It’s because they have plenty of similarities in their online course platforms.
Teachable’s interface is user-friendly and comes with useful features that can help you get started with creating content. There are pre-made theme templates that you can use to make your website look nice even without previous web design experience.
As with Thinkific, instructors can choose to drip content they share to their subscribers.
What is what sets Teachable against Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of just basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your assessments and quizzes.
Like Kajabi it is possible to create webinars and videos in order to increase participation from your customers. You can also add a sales page for your online course for better conversion rates.
One last thing that we love about Teachable is that you can also give your subscribers certificates for every course they finish. And , unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can use to send mass emails to our users.
Please read: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Please read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Verdict on Thinkific Review
How Does Thinkific Make Money
Thinkific is a great product with a lot of features which make it worthy of the cost of a subscription. For one, it’s extremely simple to use. You can design a unique online course and then sell it, even if a first-timer.
It also comes with pre-designed layouts and templates to help you set up up your website. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML-related codes in order to have professional-looking websites.
And if you opt for one of the paid plans you will have access to more advanced features that will enhance your branding. You can forego using the Thinkific subdomain and opt for Advanced users to create their own domain names with hosting and create the majority of the pages of their website using your own domain name.
You can also connect third-party software to Thinkific particularly as it doesn’t have its own built-in marketing tools for email.
Students are also able to interact with their instructors via online discussion on Thinkific. They can conveniently seek assistance with classes and ask questions about their classes. In turn, the teachers will be able to respond to the questions directly.
Customer support isn’t too bad as well. You get prioritized for responses when you’re a subscriber to one of other plans with a paid subscription. However, keep in mind that this plan doesn’t have a live chat function.
Overall though, our verdict for this Thinkific evaluation is well worth a try. Particularly if you’re just beginning to become a instructor, Thinkific seems to be a good starting point for creating courses.
The free plan also lasts forever unlike other platforms. If you’re strapped for cash, then it’s a good choice as you’ll be able to access great features at zero cost.
We strongly suggest to try Thinkific out.
If you enjoyed the Thinkific Review, then you may take a look at our review on our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today here.
