If you’re deciding on which online course platform to go with You’ll likely get a lot of suggestions. Thinkific is a worthy standout because of its many helpful features.
There are many factors to look out for in an online course platform and Thinkific has them all. Keep reading this Thinkific review below to discover more details about its distinctive advantages and features.
Overview of Thinkific Review How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
Thinkific is among the more widely used options to create and sell online courses. In addition to having an easy-to-use user interface, the platform also has already-designed templates that you can use for building your brand site.
With just a few mouse clicks and a few clicks, you can create and sell online courses even without prior knowledge. The drag and drop feature of the site makes it simple to start.
Online course creators will be particularly interested to know about the advanced quiz components for every course you make. These will make the lessons more enticing to learn by the students.
This online tool for creating courses lets you upload different types of files to enrich Your Thinkific course.
Like many online courses platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools and third-party app integration. It is possible to send email sequences through Thinkific itself or via external applications like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Continue reading the Thinkific review to learn more about this well-known online course platform.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Templates that are pre-made
- Different payment options
- Marketing and sales features
- Student management options
- Student feedback capabilities
- Adequate customer support
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- No transaction fees , or any hidden costs
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Lack of email marketing tools
- No live chat support
How do you define Thinkific?
Thinkific is a cloud-based online course platform. This means that everything you make on it is stored online and automatically backup. This helps to make course creation more efficient and simple.
Furthermore that, as an Learning Management System (LMS) offers a variety of custom options for instructors. It is easy to create a course and then upload various material to complement your lessons.
If you’re among those instructors who like writing your course offline before uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is perfect for you. You can do that and then upload your course later to the internet.
Thinkific can also host all of the web pages you make with it, so you can upload as much content you’d like.
It is possible to create a brand new online course website even without site design knowledge also. There’s no need to endure a lengthy learning curve with Thinkific it’s a fact.
There are a variety of distribution and marketing options to accelerate the selling procedure of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community where you can offer courses and interact with other creators of courses.
Additionally, Thinkific is also a great platform for those who already have their own site but want to improve their marketing and gain more students. You can link third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a larger audience.
The Benefits and Features of Thinkific
In this Thinkific review We break down the top features and advantages to help Thinkific shine.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses look on your website will significantly impact conversion rates. That’s why we love that Thinkific offers an editor that drags and drops. It is a great way to organize your website and other digital products.
You can arrange the classes and lessons in any you’d like. There is no need to learn complicated codes or techniques. All you need to do is click on the item you’d like to display and drag it where you’d like it to be.
A majority of the crucial components needed to make your website appear more professional is covered by Thinkific’s editor. From logos to color schemes, and fonts, you’ll find everything you require on the platform.
If you’re looking to go that extra mile and personalize your website There’s still the option to enter CSS and HTML codes into Thinkific. It’s up to you to choose.
Additionally, you can make use of drag and drop for uploading supplemental materials to your classes. Almost every kind of media file can be uploaded through the editors uploader. It is possible to upload audio files, quizzes, and PDFs to enrich your course.
Even the quiz types that you create can easily be modified using the editor. Choose the assessment type you wish to use for your course and then drag it into the course. You can choose from surveys, type forms and multiple-choice forms as well as many more.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific goes beyond simply a drag and drop editors. Its general course website builder can be effective in getting everything up and in place.
As previously mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means that you won’t have to worry about uploading limits. Your online storage is basically unlimited with Thinkific.
If you’re considering Domains Thinkific lets you select a unique URL you can use in conjunction with its subdomain. Your URL will look something like this: .thinkific.com
This way, your site is more memorable and easier for students to recall.
If you’d like to avoid the Thinkific subdomain, you have an option to register the domain as a separate domain for your website. You’ll need to pay slightly more for it.
Templates that are pre-made
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Regarding the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-made layout and course templates that you can make use of. This will save you from needing to create your site totally from scratch.
The platform provides you with templates that are based on the kind of Thinkific course you’re creating. For example, if you’re creating an introduction course, you can choose the mini-course template. For assessments and culmination, you can pick a review template.
As for template layouts and themes, there are also many to select from. Once you’ve picked one which is appropriate for your style, Thinkific offers settings to modify the colors, fonts, and the layout of the elements within the template.
In addition, there is no requirement to enter complex code or words. You simply have to click on what you want to put on your website and drag it to the layout.
But yes, if you’re still interested in using HTML and CSS There’s an option.
It is also possible to change the layout and arrangement of your site at times. Different sections can be placed in order of priority so that students know what lesson they should be focusing on.
Payment Options
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For payment, Thinkific offers options to incorporate Stripe and PayPal to your site. With these third-party payment processors you will be able to access your earnings in as soon as 1 to 2 days.
This is a sharp contrast from other online course platforms which have a pay-out time of 30 days. With Thinkific it is possible to cash out more easily.
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And for your students, they can choose from an one-time payment plan or an installment-based subscription plan. And you can offer discounts, bundles and coupons with any payment option they choose.
Just note that for the one-time payment option, your subscribers will pay an one-time transaction fee as well. Similar to the installment subscription plan, only that transaction fees will be divided over the installment period.
Marketing and Sales Highlights
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More than being just an online course creation tool, Thinkific is also effective in marketing online courses. As already mentioned, it has features that help you create and market courses in only a couple of clicks.
Once you publish your class, you can immediately place it for sale using your Market and Sell choice on the menu on your Dashboard.
From there, you can modify your website in order to increase the conversion rate of your clients. You can improve how your checkout and sign-up pages will look like to users. So users will be more inclined to take a look at an online course.
It is also possible to improve the way your courses are displayed on your site. Enhance their visual appeal by categorizing them into categories that the people can easily browse.
And as we discussed earlier, you can opt to bundle your courses with discounts coupons or freebies. So, your customers will be more motivated to commit for a longer time to your course.
A sales widget could also be created through Thinkific. It’s essentially a button can be embedded on other websites that link straight to your course platform. It is possible to personalize them to have a specific design and color scheme so that they are more in line with your brand too.
Thinkific can also allow you to create an affiliate program to allow you to reach more audiences. Through the website, you can create affiliate links that you’ll send to affiliate partners. These links will be used to direct their customers to your platform and enroll in a course.
Once the affiliate program is in operation it is possible to check its progress right on the Thinkific website. You’ll have the ability to monitor revenue, sales, as well as other commissions.
Finally, you can choose to integrate other applications to Thinkific. If you’re looking into email marketing campaigns, then Aweber is a great tool that you can sync to your Thinkific account.
Student Management
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A learning management system will not be successful when it does not cover all aspects of online teaching. And that includes keeping track of student performance.
Thinkific has a convenient student management system for managing students. With it, you can quickly access the contact information of your students as well as basic information.
You can also personalize the form to sign-up your subscribers to ask for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names emails, names, as well as contact phone numbers. If you’re seeking more specific details, you can switch your settings to add a new field to the sign-up form.
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When you’ve had your subscribers pooled, you can then categorize them, depending on which courses they have signed up for. This way, you’ll be able to keep track of them for each course easier.
And with the Premier and Pro plans, you are able to search for a specific user by his/her enrollment date, subscribed courses, and job-type. There are many more categories to choose from as you browse the site.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific places a high value on not only the course creators, but as well the students. That’s why student feedback is encouraged whenever you’re enrolled in an online course.
An open discussion between the students and instructors will greatly decrease the learning curve with the lessons.
There’s a discussion forum on Thinkific where students can ask questions about their online classes. After that, course instructors can reply and clarify with answers.
Students also have the option to review and rate the courses they’ve completed. The rating will include the performance of the online instructor as well. In this way, instructors can demonstrate their authority through Thinkific.
These reviews can also assist other students decide whether or not a particular course would be right for them. It decreases the chances of a student dropping out within the middle of a lesson all of a suddenly.
If creators of courses are concerned that the reviews could potentially be detrimental to their business but they don’t have to. They’ll be the ones to decide if they want a review published or not. Thinkific will never publish reviews without permission.
A good method to keep students interested is to provide them with regular updates. The Thinkific platform lets instructors send push notifications to students whenever they publish new content or other resources via the website.
Customer Support
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Finally, as is expected from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a great job with its customer service.
Before you sign-up You can look up articles and case studies on the official website. There are also easily accessible product demos and video tutorials which you can browse.
If you’re already subscribed You can log into Thinkific’s Help Center. You’ll find a wealth of information that can assist you in learning selling online courses.
Thinkific offers guides and training videos that will assist you in navigating the interface. In addition, as we mentioned, there are forums for users to voice out your concerns. Instructors and other users can be available to assist you.
For more severe issues You can submit a ticket to ask for assistance from the customer service team. And if you’re subscribed to business plan and above, you get priority answers.
One catch is that Thinkific does not offer an option to chat live, however. You just have to wait patiently for the ticket response.
How Does Thinkific Work
As with every other review of course platforms like any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will help you understand how to get started with Thinkific. It is as easy as following these steps.
Step 1: Create an account
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The first step is to register and then create your Thinkific account. You’ll automatically be enrolled in the trial for free upon signing up.
Step 2: Customize Your Course Player
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After you have created your account then you can begin to personalize the course players. You can choose a particular color scheme that corresponds with your company’s logo and the theme.
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The course player is the tool your users will use to access the content of your course. Videos, audio files and quizzes will all be accessible via this player.
Step 3: Design Your Course
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The next step is to create the online class. With this Course Builder program, you can create a new course by adding lessons, modules and other files to it.
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The course material can be divided into categories and sections. You can also give your online courses custom labels that help them be easier to find.
Step 4: Customize Your Website
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After your content is prepared, you can now finalize the design and layout of your website. With Thinkific you can have the option of customizing each landing page for every course you offer.
This Thinkific Site Builder lets you create a color scheme and theme for our home page. This is where all of classes will be put up. Students can look through it and decide which ones they like from there.
You can also personalize your landing page for every course. It’s recommended to create an entirely different design for each course to make them easily identifiable, yet be consistent with all of your branding.
Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website
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The next thing to do after contents, the course player and the customization is to identify the name of your website. Be sure the name is memorable and still appropriate to your brand.
Step 6: Publish Your Course
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Finally, once everything is set and you are ready to publish the course. To publish, you simply must set a cost and specific details for payment.
A course card must be designed. The course card is what appears on your students’ dashboards. When they see it, they’ll be able to get a quick overview of your online course and the content.
A well-designed course card can prove invaluable when making courses available on Thinkific.
What needs to be improved on in Thinkific
There’s a lot to be awed by about Thinkific, it isn’t without imperfections. In this Thinkific review we’ve listed down what we think can still be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
We think Thinkific does a good job at course creation and uploading content however, we believe that quiz features could still be improved.
The assessment form on Thinkific is extremely basic. Though it’s enough to get an idea of how well your pupils know, it’s not enough to ask more difficult questions.
If you’re happy with the short, check-up-style quizzes at the end of each course, then that’s what Thinkific offers you. If your questions require longer and more specific outputs, you might want to look at a different platform.
The absence of Email Marketing Tools
As we’ve mentioned earlier, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party software and include tools for email marketing. However, this is only because it doesn’t come with email marketing tools on its own.
While there are many third-party software that is efficient however, it would be nice to know that Thinkific already had the software by itself. It would have speeded up the process.
There is no live chat support
Even if we believe that the response from customer service is fast, it isn’t enough to make up for fact that there is no live chat feature.
Customers with more urgent problems will not be able to have them resolved quickly. They’ll need to sit and wait for the response, especially if they aren’t signed up to paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific has three paid plans are available to sign up for. And upon signing up, you’ll be able to sign up for a free plan without any transaction fees or hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive in that, unlike other plans, it doesn’t expire. It is possible to use the free plan all the time you’d like to continue using Thinkific. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
In addition to being completely free, it doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction fees regardless of whether you sell courses. It’s ideal for course creators who want to cut down costs, or small business owners that are just beginning their journey.
Through the Thinkific free plan, you are able to create three courses that you can customize using your own brand. It is possible to enhance your courses with quizzes and other tools as well.
You can enroll any amount of learners, automate the sign-up process, then also track their performance. Surveys can also be distributed to them so that you can assess their opinions about the classes they’re taking. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
The free plan of Thinkific also provides 1 authorized site administrator as well as multiple instructor profiles and access to all the students’ information. You can also track the click rate and conversion rates of your students.
Finally, the free plan also allows for search engine optimization of your content. This way, your courses are more easily found by potential customers. You can also embed third-party websites and applications to your own website to improve user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 a month, but if you choose to make your payments annually it’ll only cost $39 per month.
It comes with all the same features that the free plan provides along with additional benefits that are premium. First, you are able to create unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses is also easier. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
Another benefit you won’t have with your free subscription is the option for drip-feeding your posts, to send coupons, or access analytics.
To put it into perspective in two steps, firstly, drip content is to provide information to your students at a set and gradual intervals. The second option is to send out coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who might need extra motivation to stay subscribed. Thirdly, the analytics that you are able to access include the affiliate reports and conversion rates.
And with this plan you are able to easily integrate third-party tools you want to use. They include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp as well as others.
Finally, you can also make a custom domain for your site using the base plan. There is no need to use the Thinkific domain to host your URL now.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month, but if you are the service annually, it’s $79 each month.
With this plan, you receive the same features as you would with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get higher-end settings as well as advantages.
The Thinkific Pro plan lets you have 2 site administrators and five course admin accounts. Additionally, there will be advanced pricing options for your courses as well as editing HTML/CSS codes. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
You’ll have the ability to design exclusive courses which only a specific number of people can access as well. Plus, you can offer discounts and membership packages to your customers.
Course creators can also access the more advanced quiz, assignment and assessment features.
Growth Package
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And with it being the Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Package you can avail of. It’s a good thing that once you have more than 100 people subscribed to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge you an extra fee over the monthly fee of $99.
Don’t be concerned, as the price grants you access to additional features. It is possible to send mass emails, incorporate third-party tools, and group your users according to different criteria.
Thinkific Premier
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Thinkific Premier is the most expensive plan. It costs $499 per month, but when it is billed annually, it is $399 per month. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
If you’re subscribed for this package, you’ll get access to all of the same features available to the Basic, Free or Pro plans. What makes it stand out and the higher price is that it’s designed for bigger companies with more members.
This Thinkific Premier plan lets you have five site admin accounts and 50 account admins for courses. You can also have something called a Single-Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a lot of users who need access to the same website.
Also, this plan includes an onboarding package which is 30 minutes of onboarding along with an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guide.
Additionally, you’ll have acces to our Growth package for a much cheaper price. There will be a flat rate that you just have to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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Users who have reviewed and used Thinkific particularly love how cost-efficient it is. Even with its free plans, you’ll have access to helpful features. And there are no fees hidden, so you don’t be spending more than you originally planned to.
And other users also loved the white-labeling feature of Thinkific. It allows you to enhance your own company’s branding even if you’re an individual business.
In the end, educators are enthralled using Thinkific because it’s ideal for learners. The interface is easy to use and explore.
“I loved that there was a place to upload documents in the discussions. I’m happy I chose this one because others take an amount of your income and it takes longer to wait for funds. No transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I loved the fact that you can create the access portal, courses as well as the payment options all within one interface without any needs for additional products. I really appreciate how simple you can set up up the courses up , if you’ve got the curriculum you want to create and it has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific will let you start producing courses for free and allow them to remain free for as long as you want. Really, this is the best way to master course development without having to pay a cent.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it simple to develop and offer our online course to financial advisors. The support team at Thinkific was always quick to reply and help us get started. And I love the possibility of white-labeling and use an individual domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were fun engaging, enjoyable, and simple particularly for our students who were older. Teachers were thrilled using it to build their classes and share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If this Thinkific review isn’t convincing you of the capabilities of this platform as an online course platform If you’re still not convinced, check out these two alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the very first online course platforms that is likely to be recommended to you when you ask around. It’s a complete platform that lets you create and promote your online courses. Thinkific is like Kajabi in this way.
When you sign up with Kajabi it will allow you to quickly create a course and then add content. The platform offers built-in templates and themes that you could use to customize your site right from the beginning. The site editor allows you to add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
As for quiz features It has an advantage against Thinkific because it comes with more sophisticated options. You can create more customized assessments and quizzes. In addition, you can hold webinars and video tutorials for better clarity in teaching.
Many teachers particularly like the fact that they can award their students with certificates for every successful course. Additionally, they are able to send content out to their subscribers, just like Thinkific.
Another difference Kajabi differs from Thinkific has to do with the fact it comes with better marketing features. While Thinkific lets you easily sell online courses, it does not let you make an automated sales funnel which can help you get your processes more efficient.
Kajabi also has email marketing tools and automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. You don’t need to install a third-party application to send emails and broadcasts to your customers.
It is worth noting though that Kajabi is much pricier than Thinkific.
Check out the Kajabi review the All-in-1 Online Course Platform
Teachable
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Next to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s other closest competitor. It’s because they have plenty of similarities as online course platforms.
Teachable’s interface is also easy-to-use and comes with useful features to aid you in creating content. There are themes pre-designed that you can use to make your site appear attractive even if you don’t have any prior web design experience.
Like Thinkific instructors are able to choose to drip content they release to their subscribers.
What is what sets Teachable different from Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your tests and quizzes.
Similar to Kajabi, you can organize webinars and videos to encourage the participation of your followers. It is also possible to include a sales page to your online course for better conversion rates.
One last thing that we love about Teachable is the ability to give your subscribers certificates after each course they finish. And , unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools that allow you to send out bulk emails to our users.
READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Report on Thinkific Review
How To Embed Youtube Video On Thinkific
Thinkific has plenty of strengths that make it worth a subscription. One of them is that it’s simple to use. You can design a unique online course and then sell it, even if you’re a first-timer.
It also comes with pre-made layouts and templates that help you set up up your website. You don’t have to input complex CSS or HTML-related codes in order to have an attractive and professional looking website.
If you choose any of these paid options you will have access to more advanced features that can enhance your brand. You can choose to skip the Thinkific subdomain and opt for Advanced users to set up their own domain names using hosting and build out most of the pages of their website using your own domain name.
It is possible to incorporate third-party apps to Thinkific in particular as it doesn’t have its own integrated tools for marketing via email.
Students are also able to interact with their instructors through online discussions on Thinkific. They can seek assistance with lessons and post queries on their modules. In turn, the teachers will be able to respond to them directly.
Support for customers isn’t bad as well. You get prioritized for responses when you’re a subscriber to one of the other plans that are paid. Be aware that this plan doesn’t have a live chat feature.
Overall though, our verdict in this Thinkific evaluation is worth a test. If you’re a beginner instructor, Thinkific seems to be the ideal place to start developing courses.
The free plan is also available for a lifetime and is not tied to other platforms. If you’re in a pinch for money this is a great option since you’ll have access to incredible features at absolutely no cost.
We highly recommend to try Thinkific out.
If you liked this Thinkific review, you can also read through our review on our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today . Click here.