If you’re deciding on which online course platform to go with there’s a chance you’ll receive a long list of options. Thinkific is a worthy standout due to its numerous useful features.
There are various aspects to be aware of when it comes to online courses and Thinkific offers them all. Read this Thinkific review below to find more about its unique features and benefits.
A brief overview of Thinkific Review How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
Thinkific is among the most popular choices for selling and creating online courses. In addition to having an easy-to-use interface, it also offers ready-made templates that you can build your personal website.
In just a few clicks, you’ll get to create and sell online courses even without prior knowledge. The drag and drop mechanism of the site makes it easy to begin.
Online course creators will be especially interested to know about the advanced quiz components for each course you create. These can make your lessons more enticing to learn by the students.
This online tool for creating courses lets you upload different types of files that can be used to build Your Thinkific course.
And like most 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 through external apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Keep reading the Thinkific review to learn more about this well-known online platform for learning.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Pre-made templates
- Different payment options
- Features for marketing and sales
- Options for managing students
- Student feedback capabilities
- Support for customers in a timely manner
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- No transaction fees or concealed charges
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Lack of email marketing tools
- Live chat is not available.
How do you define Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online course platform that is cloud-based. This means that everything you create on it is stored online and automatically backup. This helps to make course creation more efficient and simple.
Plus it functions as it is a Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for creators of courses. You can create an easy course and then upload different materials to supplement your lessons.
If you’re one of the course creators who prefer writing your course offline prior to uploading it, then Thinkific is perfect for you. You can do just that and then upload the course later online.
Thinkific is also the host for all web pages you make on it so can basically upload whatever content you want.
It is possible to create a brand new online course site without site design knowledge also. It’s not necessary to go through an excruciating learning curve with Thinkific It’s that simple.
There are also plenty of ways to market and distribute your course to help speed up the sales course’s selling Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace where you can offer courses and interact with other creators of courses.
Finally, Thinkific is also a excellent option for people who already have their own website but would like to improve their marketing efforts and attract more students. You can link third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a larger audience.
The Benefits and Features of Thinkific
The following Thinkific review We break down the most important features and advantages which are what make Thinkific stand out.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses appear on your site will greatly influence the conversion rate. This is why we are so happy that Thinkific has a drag and drop editor. It makes it easier to manage your website and digital products.
You can arrange the classes and lessons however way you want. There is no need to learn complicated codes or methods. You just have to click on the object you’re looking for and drag it where you would like it to appear.
A majority of the crucial elements that create a website that looks professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From logos to colors, and fonts, you’ll discover everything you need on the platform.
But if you do want to go that extra mile and personalize your website you can still choose to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you decide.
Additionally, you can make use of the drag and drop feature to upload additional materials for your classes. Almost every kind of media file can be uploaded by the editor’s uploader. It is possible to upload questions, audio file as well as PDFs, to add value to your class.
The quiz types you design can be easily modified using the editor. Simply select the type of assessment you want to be under your class and then drag it to the appropriate place. You can choose from surveys, type forms, and multiple-choice types among others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific is much more than just its drag-and-drop editor. Its site builder for the course can be effective in getting everything all set up and up and running.
As mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means that you won’t be concerned about uploading limitations. Your online storage is basically infinite when you’re using Thinkific.
If you’re thinking about Domains Thinkific allows you to select a unique URL you can use along with its subdomain. The URL you choose will look like this: .thinkific.com
This way, your site will be more memorable and easier for students to recall.
And if you want to avoid your Thinkific subdomain, there’s an option to get an individual domain to your site. You’ll need to pay a little bit more for it.
Templates Pre-Made
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With regard to the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layout and course templates that you can use. This will save you from needing to create your site completely from scratch.
The platform provides you with templates that are based on the kind of Thinkific course it is that you’re making. For instance, if you’re creating an introduction course, you can choose an outline-type template. For assessment and culminating, you can pick a review template.
In terms of themes and layout templates, there are also a bunch that you can select from. And once you’ve chosen something that fits your course, Thinkific offers settings to alter the fonts, colors, and design of the elements of the template.
There is no need for you to enter complicated codes or even text. All you have to do is click on what you want to add to your website and drag it into the layout.
However, if you want to continue using HTML and CSS There’s an option to do so.
You can also rearrange and reorganize the elements of your site from time to time. Different sections can be arranged chronologically so that your students know which lessons to focus on.
Payment Options
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In terms of payment options, Thinkific offers options to integrate Stripe and PayPal to your site. With these payment processors from third parties it is possible to get your earnings as quickly as 1 – 2 days.
This is a sharp contrast with other online courses that have a payout schedule that is 30-day intervals. With Thinkific it is possible to withdraw more quickly.
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For your students you can offer them a one-time payment scheme or an installment subscription plan. Additionally, you can provide discounts, bundles, and coupons with any payment option they choose.
Take note that when you use the one-time payment plan the subscribers will be charged a one-time transaction fee as well. Similar to the installment plan, with the exception that transaction fees will be broken down across the duration of the installment.
Marketing and Sales Highlights
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In addition to being an online course creation tool, Thinkific is also effective in promoting online courses. Like we said, it comes with features that allow you to create and sell courses with only a couple of clicks.
Once you publish your class, you can immediately put it up for sale through the Market and Sell feature on the dashboard.
From there, you can customize your website to optimize the conversion rate of your visitors. You can change the way that your checkout and sign-up pages appear to users. This way, they’ll be more encouraged to check out the online course.
You can also improve how your courses are presented on your website. Enhance their visual appeal by categorizing your courses into groups that the users can easily explore.
In addition, as we’ve discussed previously You can also bundle your courses using discounts coupons and freebies. That way, your users will be enticed to sign up longer for your program.
A sales widget may also be created through Thinkific. It’s essentially a button can be embedded on other websites that connect directly to your course platform. You can personalize them to have a specific color scheme and logo to ensure that they are more in line with your brand as well.
Thinkific can also allow you to create an affiliate program to allow you to reach more audiences. Through the website you can make affiliate links to transmit to the affiliates you have. These links will be used to direct their customers to your platform and enroll in a course.
Once the affiliate program is in operation you’ll be able to view its progress right on the Thinkific site. You’ll get to monitor the revenue, sales, and other commissions.
Finally, you can choose to add other programs to Thinkific. If you’re interested in email marketing campaigns, Aweber is a good tool to sync with your account.
Student Management
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Learning management systems can not be successful in the absence of covering every aspect of online teaching. It’s also important to keep track of student progress.
Thinkific offers a user-friendly student management system for students. With it, you are able to quickly access your students’ contact details and other basic details.
You can also personalize the sign-up sheet for your subscribers to ask for specific details. Thinkific’s template asks for names, email addresses, and contact numbers. If you’re seeking specific information, simply switch your settings to include a second field on the sign-up sheet.
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When you’ve had your subscriber pooled, you can classify them, depending on which courses they signed up to. So, you can monitor them per course much more easily.
With the Pro and Premier plans, you are able to search for a specific user based on his/her dates of enrollment, courses enrolled, and job-type. There are many additional categories available on the website.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators but also students. So, feedback from students is highly encouraged when you’re enrolling in an online course.
An open discussion between the students and the instructors can significantly reduce the learning curve of lessons.
There is a discussion section on Thinkific wherein students can post questions they have regarding their online classes. The course instructors can reply and clarify with answers.
Students are also able to rate and review the courses they’ve completed. The score will also include the performance of the online instructor as well. So, instructors can demonstrate their authority through Thinkific.
These reviews can also assist other students decide which course would be right for them. This reduces the chance of a student being dropped out during an entire class all of a sudden.
If course creators are worried that the reviews could potentially affect them negatively and negatively, they don’t need to. They’ll be the ones to decide whether they’d like to publish a review or not. Thinkific will never publish reviews without their permission.
Finally, a good way to keep students motivated is to provide them with regular updates. Thinkific allows instructors to send push notifications to their students whenever they publish new lessons or resources through the site.
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 access case studies and article guides on the official site. You can also access product demos and video tutorials that you can go through.
If you’re already subscribed, you can access Thinkific’s Help Center. There, you’ll find resources that will help you get started on how to sell online courses.
Thinkific has guide articles as well as training videos to help you navigate the interface. Plus, as previously 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 may submit an online request for assistance from the customer service team. If you’re on an Enterprise plan, or higher you get priority answers.
One catch is that Thinkific doesn’t have a live chat feature though. It’s just a matter of waiting patiently for the ticket response.
How Does Thinkific Work
As with any other course platform review like any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will teach you how to get started with Thinkific. All you have to do is follow these simple steps.
Step 1: Create an account
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The first step is to sign up and set up an account on Thinkific account. You’ll be automatically subscribed to the trial trial that is free after registration.
Step 2: Customize Your Course Player
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Once you have a login and you have it, you can begin to customize your course player. You can choose a particular color scheme that matches your brand logo and themes.
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Your course player is what your subscribers will use to access your course content. Videos, audio files as well as quizzes will all be accessible via your course’s player.
Step 3: Build Your Course
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Next, you can create an online learning course. With the course Builder tool, 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 sections and categories. It is also possible to give your online courses customized labels that help them be easier to find.
Step 4: Personalize Your Site
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Once your content is all ready, you can finish the design of your site. With Thinkific you can have the option of customizing each landing page for each course you’ve got.
It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you set a color scheme and theme for our home page. This is where all your courses will be set up. Students will be able to browse through the course and select which one interests them from there.
You can also customize the landing pages for each course. It’s best to set the look of each course so that they’re simple to distinguish but be consistent with the overall brand.
Step 5: Name Your Website
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What you need to do after contents, the course player, and the customization is to name your site. Make sure that the name is memorable and still appropriate to your business.
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 provide specific payment information.
A card that is referred to as a course is required to be developed. The course card is what appears on your students’ dashboards. If they view it they’ll be able look up quick information about your online course as well as the content.
A good course card will make a huge difference when making courses available on Thinkific.
What Needs Improvement on Thinkific
There’s a lot to be awed by about Thinkific however, it’s not without flaws. In this Thinkific review, we’ve listed below what we think can still be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
We think Thinkific does a good job at course creation and content uploading but we feel that quiz features could be improved.
The assessment form on Thinkific is extremely basic. Though it’s enough to get an understanding of what your students know, it’s not enough to ask more difficult questions.
But if you’re satisfied with short check-up style tests at the end of every course, then that’s what Thinkific offers you. If you have questions that require more time and more specific outputs It’s a good idea to consider a different platform.
Insufficient 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 come with email marketing tools of its own.
While there are many third-party tools that are efficient however, it would be great to have Thinkific already had it by itself. It would’ve sped up the process.
No live chat support
Even if we believe that the response time to customer inquiries is quick, it still doesn’t make up for the absence of a live chat option.
Users who have more urgent issues aren’t likely to get them resolved quickly. They’ll need to sit and wait for the response in particular if they’re not subscribed to the paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific has three paid plans you can sign up to. When you sign to the plan, you’ll then be able to sign up for a free plan without any costs for transactions or hidden fees.
Thinkific Free
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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive in that, unlike other plans It doesn’t have a time limit. You can use the free plan for the duration you wish to use Thinkific. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
Apart from being absolutely free, it doesn’t charge any hidden fees or transaction costs regardless of whether you sell courses. It’s ideal for course creators who wish to cut down costs, or small entrepreneurs who are just getting started.
With the Thinkific FREE plan, users are able to create three courses that you can customize by incorporating your personal branding. Your courses can be enhanced with quizzes and other tools as well.
You can enroll any number of students, automate the process of signing up, and follow their performance. Surveys can be also distributed to them so that you can determine what they think about the classes they’re taking. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
Thinkific’s free plan also allows an administrator with authority to the site and multiple instructor profiles and 24/7 access to students’ data. You can also monitor the click rate and conversion rates of your students.
The free plan will also allow search engine optimization of your content. That way, your courses are more easily found by customers. You can also embed third-party applications and websites to your own website to improve the user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 per month, but if you choose for a payment plan that is annual, it’ll only cost $39 per month.
You get all the same features that the free plan has, as well as added premium benefits. You can first create unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses is also easier. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
Another benefit you wouldn’t get with this plan for free is capability to distribute your contents, to send out coupons, and accessing analytics.
To put it into perspective in two steps, firstly, drip content means to release information to your students on a set and gradual intervals. Second, you can send coupons for discounts and other freebies for students who might need extra incentive to keep them engaged. Thirdly, the analytics you can access are the affiliate reports and conversion rates.
And with this plan it is easy to connect third-party tools you would like to utilize. They include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp, among others.
Additionally, you can make a custom domain for your website with the basic plan. You don’t need the Thinkific domain for your URL anymore.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month. However, if you’re the service annually, it’s $79 per month.
This plan have the same benefits like you do with the Free and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get more advanced settings and benefits.
Thinkific’s Pro plan lets you have two site administrators and 5 course admin accounts. It will also include advanced course pricing options and HTML/CSS code editing. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
You’ll be able create individual courses only accessible to a specific number of people can access. Additionally, you can provide membership bundles and freebies to your customers.
Course creators also have access to the more advanced assignments, quizzes and assessment features.
Growth Package
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In it being the Pro plan, you can avail something called a Growth Package you can avail of. The thing about it is that once you’ve got more than 100 people subscribed to you, Thinkific will automatically charge you an extra fee in addition to the monthly fee of $99.
But don’t fret because the cost of your subscription grants you access to additional functions. You can send out bulk emails, integrate third-party tools, and group users based on different requirements.
Thinkific Premier
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Thinkific Premier is the most expensive plan. It is priced at $499 per month. However, when it is billed annually, it will cost $399 per month. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
If you’re a subscriber for this package, you’ll access the same features that are available in the Basic, Free or Pro plans. What makes it stand out and the higher price is that it’s geared towards larger companies that have more members.
This Thinkific Premier plan lets you have 5 site admin and 50 courses admin accounts. It also allows for something called a Single-Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a huge bulk of customers who will need to access the same page.
Additionally, this plan comes with an onboarding program that is 30 minutes of onboarding, as well as an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guide.
Additionally, you’ll have an access Growth package for a much cheaper price. There’ll be a fixed rate that you just have to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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People who’ve used and reviewed Thinkific especially appreciate how affordable it is. Even when using it on a free basis, you get access to useful features. Also, there aren’t any hidden charges so you won’t spend more than you originally planned to.
Others also liked the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It lets you improve your brand’s image, even if it’s just an individual company.
Finally, many educators love working with Thinkific because it’s ideal for students. The interface is simple to use and explore.
“I loved that there was an option to upload documents in the discussions. Then I’m glad I choose this particular option as others require an amount of your income and it takes longer to wait to receive money. There are no transaction costs!” -Anonymous
“I enjoyed the ability to make your access platform, the course, and the payment methods all in 1 interface without having to purchase additional products. I especially like how simple it is to set up the courses up if you have your own curriculum and white-labeling is enabled.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific will let you start creating courses for free and allow them to remain free for as long as you want. This is truly the best way to master course development without spending a dime.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it easy to create & host our digital course for financial advisors. The Thinkific support team was quick to reply and help us learn the ropes. And I love the ability to white-label and have a custom domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were fun, entertaining, and easy particularly for our students who were older. Teachers loved making use of it to design their classes and then share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If this Thinkific review hasn’t convinced you of its capabilities as an online course platform take a look at these two alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is among the first online course platforms that will probably recommend to you when you begin asking questions. It’s an all-in-one platform that lets you create and sell your online courses. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in this way.
When you sign up with Kajabi it will allow you to quickly create a course and then add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes you can make use of to personalize your site right from the beginning. The editor on your site lets you add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
For quiz functions It has an advantage against Thinkific due to its more advanced options. It allows you to create more customized assessments and quizzes. In addition, you can hold videos and webinars to provide more clarity in your teaching.
Many teachers particularly like the idea of rewarding their students with certificates after every accomplished course. They can also opt to drip content to their subscribers, much like Thinkific.
Another difference Kajabi has over Thinkific is that it offers more effective marketing tools. Though Thinkific allows you to easily sell your on-line courses but it does not permit you to build an online sales funnel that will help keep your process efficient.
Kajabi also provides email marketing tools and automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. It isn’t necessary to incorporate an application from a third party to send out broadcasts and email sequences to your subscribers.
It is worth noting though that Kajabi is much more expensive than Thinkific.
READ: Kajabi Review the All-in-1 Online Course Platform
Teachable
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Next to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s second closest competitor. It’s because they have plenty of similarities as online course platforms.
Teachable’s interface is easy to use and has helpful features that will help you get started with making your own content. There are themes pre-designed which you can use to make your site look attractive, even if you have no previous experience in web design.
As with Thinkific, instructors can choose to distribute the content they release to their subscribers.
What is what sets Teachable against Thinkific is the quiz features. Instead of just basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your tests and quizzes.
Similar to Kajabi it is possible to organize webinars and videos to increase participation from your customers. There’s also an option to include a sales page to your online course to increase conversion rates.
One last thing that we love about Teachable is that you can also offer your subscribers certificates after each course they take. And unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can utilize to send bulk email to our subscribers.
READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Review and Conclusion on Thinkific Review
How To Prevent Users From Creating Accounts Thinkific
Thinkific is a great product with a lot of advantages that justify an annual subscription. It’s user-friendly. It’s possible to create an original online course, and then make money from it, even if you’re an aspiring seller.
It also comes with pre-designed templates and layouts to simplify setting your site. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML codes to have a professional-looking site.
If you choose one of the paid plans you’ll have access to the latest features that can enhance your branding. You can choose to skip the Thinkific subdomain and use Advanced users to set up their own domain names with hosting and create the majority of the pages of their website on the domain’s own address.
It is possible to connect third-party software to Thinkific in particular since it doesn’t have its own tools for marketing via email.
Students can also interact with their instructors via online discussion on Thinkific. Students can easily ask for help with lessons and post queries about their classes. In turn, the teachers will be able to answer them in person.
Support for customers isn’t bad also. Prioritization of responses is given in the event you’re on the other paid plans. Be aware that it has no live chat function.
Overall though, our verdict on the Thinkific Review is it’s worth a try. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be an excellent starting point for developing courses.
The free plan lasts for the duration of time unlike other platforms. If you’re in a pinch for money this is a great choice as you’ll be able to access amazing features for absolutely no cost.
We strongly recommend to try Thinkific out.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this Thinkific review, you may take a look at our review of our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today here.
