When deciding which online course platform to use, you’ll probably be presented with a variety of options. The Thinkific platform is an outstanding choice because of its many helpful features.
There are many criteria to watch out for in an online course platform and Thinkific is one of them. Read the Thinkific Review below and find more information about its unique advantages and features.
Overview of Thinkific Review Sample Thinkific Courses
Thinkific is one of the most well-known options to create and sell online courses. Apart from having an easy-to-use user interface, the platform also offers already-designed templates that you can build your personal website.
With just a few clicks, you’ll get to develop and market online courses, even if you have no prior experience. Drag and drop functionality of the website allows you to easily start.
Online course creators will be particularly interested in the advanced quiz features for every course you make. They will make the course more enticing to learn by the students.
It is an online builder of course s. lets you upload different kinds of files to enrich your Thinkific course.
And like most online courses platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. You can send out email sequences either through Thinkific itself or via external apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Read this Thinkific review to find out more about this well-known online platform for learning.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Templates that are pre-made
- Different payment options
- Features for marketing and sales
- Options for student management
- Capacity for student feedback
- 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
- There is no live chat support
How do you define Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online course platform that is cloud-based. This means that anything you create on it is automatically saved online. It makes course creation easier and easy.
Plus that, as it is a Learning Management System (LMS) offers a variety of custom options for course creators. You can create an easy course and then upload various materials to supplement your lessons.
If you’re among those course creators who prefer to draft your course offline prior to uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is the right choice for you. You can do just that and then upload your course online later on.
Thinkific is also the host for all the web pages that you create with it, so you can upload as much content as you want.
You can create an online course website even without any design expertise and. It’s not necessary to go through an excruciating learning curve when you use Thinkific it’s a fact.
There are a variety of distribution and marketing options which will help speed up the sales process of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community that you can market your courses and communicate with other course creators.
In addition, Thinkific is also a great alternative for individuals who have their own website but would like to improve 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
This Thinkific review, we break down the most important features and benefits which make Thinkific distinguish itself.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses look on your site will greatly affect conversion rates. This is the reason we love that Thinkific has an editor that drags and drops. It makes it easier to organize your website and digital products.
You can arrange the classes and lessons however you like. No need for any complicated codes or methods. Simply click on whatever object you’re looking for and drag it where you’d like it to be.
A majority of the crucial elements needed to create a website that looks professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From the logos, the color schemes and fonts, you’ll find everything you require to make your site look professional on this platform.
However, if you want to go that extra mile and make your website, there’s still the option to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you make the decision.
Additionally, you can make use of the drag and drop feature to upload additional materials to your classes. The majority of types of media is supported through the editors uploader. You can upload questions, audio file and PDFs to enrich your course.
The quiz types you design are easily modified using the editor. Simply select the type of assessment you wish to use for your course and then drag it into the course. You can select from surveys, type forms and multiple-choice forms as well as many more.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific goes beyond the drag and drop editor. Its general course website builder can be effective in getting everything set up and up and running.
As we mentioned earlier, Thinkific does its own web hosting. That means that you don’t have to worry about uploading limitations. Your online storage capacity is unlimited when you use Thinkific.
If you’re considering subdomains Thinkific permits you to select a unique URL you can associate along with its subdomain. The URL you choose will look like this: .thinkific.com
That way, your website is more memorable and easy for students to remember.
If you prefer to avoid your Thinkific subdomain, you have the option of registering an individual domain to your site. You’ll need to pay an extra amount to get 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 that you can choose from. This will save you from having to design your website entirely from scratch.
The platform gives you template choices, depending on the kind of Thinkific course it is that you’re creating. For instance, if you’re creating an introduction course, you could choose an outline-type template. For assessments and culmination for your course, you could choose a review-type template.
For themes and layout templates There are many to pick from. After you’ve selected one which is appropriate for your style, Thinkific offers settings to modify the fonts, colors, and design of the elements of the template.
In addition, there is no need to input complicated code or words. All you have to do is select what you would like to add to your website and drag it to the layout.
But yes, if you still want to use HTML and CSS it’s still an option to do so.
You can also change the layout and arrangement of your website from time to time. The various sections can be organized in a chronological order so that your students know what lesson to prioritize.
Payment Options
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For payment, Thinkific offers options to connect Stripe and PayPal into 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 with other online courses with a payment schedule of 30-day intervals. With Thinkific you can make cash withdrawals more quickly.
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For your students you can offer them a one-time payment scheme or an installment subscription plan. And you can offer discounts, bundles and coupons along with whichever payment option they pick.
It is important to note that with the one-time payment scheme your customers will have to pay a one-time transaction fee in addition. Similar to the installment subscription plan, only that transaction fees are split over the duration of the installment.
Sales and Marketing Features
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In addition to being an online course creation tool, Thinkific is also effective at marketing online courses. As already mentioned, it comes with features that allow you to develop and sell courses in only a couple of clicks.
When you’ve published the course you are able to immediately make it available for sale through Market and Sell. Market and Sell option on your dashboard.
From there, you can modify your website in order to increase the conversion rate of your visitors. You can alter the way your checkout and sign up pages will look like to the users. So, they’ll be more encouraged to check out an online course.
You can also enhance how your courses are displayed on your website. Enhance their visual appeal by separating them into categories that the people can easily browse.
As we mentioned earlier, you can opt to bundle your courses using discounts coupons or freebies. This way, your students will be enticed to sign up for a longer time in your class.
A sales widget may also be created through Thinkific. It’s essentially a button you can add to other third-party sites that will connect directly to your platform for courses. You can customize the buttons to use a particular design and color scheme so that they look more on-brand and also look more professional.
Thinkific can also allow you to manage an affiliate program that will allow you to reach more audiences. Right on the site you can make affiliate links which you can transmit to the affiliates you have. These links will be used to direct their customers to your platform and enroll in a class.
When the affiliate program is in operation it is possible to check its progress on the Thinkific website. You’ll be able to track sales, revenue, and other commissions.
In the end, you have the option to add other programs to Thinkific. If you’re looking into emails for marketing, Aweber is a great tool that can be synced to your Thinkific account.
Student Management
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A learning management system will not be successful in the absence of covering all aspects of online teaching. This includes keeping an eye on student performance.
Thinkific has a convenient student management system. With it, you are able to quickly access the contact information of your students and other basic details.
You can also customize the form to sign-up your subscribers, asking them for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names emails, names, and contact numbers. If you’re seeking more particular details, just 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 categorize them according to the courses they have signed up for. So, you can track them by course more easily.
And with the Premier and Pro plans, you are able to look up a particular user by his/her registration date, the date of their enrollment, subscribed courses as well as job-type. There are many different categories you can choose from when you explore the page.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific places a high value on not only the course creators, but as well the students. So, feedback from students is highly encouraged when you’re taking a course.
An open discussion between the students and their instructors can significantly reduce the learning curve with the lessons.
There is a discussion area on Thinkific wherein students can post questions about their online courses. The instructors can reply and clarify with answers.
Students also have the option to review and rate the courses they’ve attended. The rating will include the performance of the instructor online as well. So, instructors can establish their credibility on Thinkific.
The reviews will also help students to decide whether or not a course would be right for them. It decreases the chances of a student being dropped out in the middle of a lesson all of a abruptly.
If course creators are worried that the reviews might affect them negatively and negatively, they don’t need to. They’ll have to decide if they want reviews published or not. Thinkific will never publish reviews without their permission.
Another way to keep students interested is to keep them informed with constant updates. Thinkific lets course instructors send push notifications to students when they post new lessons or resources on the platform.
Customer Support
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Finally, as is expected from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a excellent job in providing customer support.
Before you even sign up before you sign up, you can read case studies and article guides on the official site. There are also easily accessible product demos and video tutorials to browse through.
Once you’ve signed up You can log into Thinkific’s Help Center. Thereare tools to help you get started on how to market online courses.
Thinkific includes guides, articles as well as training videos to guide you through the interface. Plus, as stated earlier, there are also forums where you can discuss your issues. Other users and instructors are able to be available to assist you.
For more severe issues you may submit a ticket to ask for assistance from our service department. If you’re on business plan and above, you get prioritised responses.
The only problem is that Thinkific does not offer an option to chat live, however. You just have to wait to see if they respond.
How Does Thinkific Work
Similar to any other course platform review like any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will teach you how to begin using Thinkific. You just have to follow these steps.
Step 1: Create an account
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It’s the first thing to do is sign-up and set up the Thinkific account. You’ll automatically be enrolled in the free trial upon registration.
Step 2: Personalize Your Course Player
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After you have created your account and you have it, you can begin to customize your course player. You can select a certain color scheme so that it corresponds with your company’s logo and the theme.
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The course player is the tool your customers will be using to access your course content. Videos, audio files and quizzes will be accessible through the course player.
Step 3: Build Your Course
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The next step is to create an online learning course. Utilizing this Course Builder tool, you are able to create the course by adding modules, lessons and other files to it.
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The course content can be divided into categories and sections. It is also possible to give your online courses personalized labels that help them be easier to find.
Step 4: Personalize Your Site
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After your content is set, you can finalize the overall look of your site. With Thinkific, you have the option of customizing each landing page for each course you offer.
It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you choose a color scheme as well as a the theme of our homepage. This is where all your courses will be set up. Students will be able browse through the course and select which ones they like from there.
You can also customize your landing page for every course. It’s recommended to create an entirely different design for each course, so that they’re easy to differentiate but still fit in with the overall brand.
Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website
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What you need to do after the content, course player and customizing are completed is to name your site. Make sure that your name is memorable, but is still appropriate for your business.
Step 6: Create Your Course
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When everything is all set then you can launch the course. To publish, you simply have to set a price and provide specific payment details.
Something called a course card will have to be created. The course card is the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. When they look it up, they’ll be able to get a quick overview of your online course and content.
A great course card can make a huge difference when making courses available on Thinkific.
What needs to be improved on in Thinkific
There’s a lot to like about Thinkific but it’s not without a few imperfections. In this Thinkific review, we’ve listed below what we believe can be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
Although we believe that Thinkific is doing a great job at course creation and content uploading however, we believe that the quiz features could be enhanced.
The assessment template on Thinkific is very basic. Although it’s sufficient to gain an idea of how well your pupils know, it isn’t enough to ask more difficult questions.
If you’re content with the short, check-up-style tests at the end of every course, then this is what Thinkific offers you. For questions that require longer and more precise outputs, you might want to consider a different platform.
The absence of Email Marketing Tools
As mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications and these include tools for email marketing. However, this is only because it doesn’t have email marketing tools of its own.
Although there are a lot of third-party tools that work however, it would be great to know that Thinkific already had this by itself. It would’ve sped up the process.
There is no live chat support
And even though we think that the response from customer service is swift, it does not make up for the absence of a live chat option.
Users with more urgent issues aren’t likely to get the issue resolved in a hurry. They’ll be forced to wait for a response to their ticket, especially if they aren’t paying for the paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific has three paid plans you can subscribe to. When you sign to the plan, you’ll then have access to a free plan without any costs for transactions or hidden fees.
Thinkific Free
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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive because unlike that of competitors the plan doesn’t expire. It is possible to use the free plan the duration you wish to keep using Thinkific. Sample Thinkific Courses
Apart from being free, it doesn’t contain any hidden costs or transaction fees, even when you sell courses. It’s perfect for course designers who wish to cut down costs, or small business owners that are just starting out.
The Thinkific free plan, you can create three courses and then customize them by incorporating your personal branding. It is possible to enhance your courses with quizzes and other tools in addition.
You are able to enroll in a quantity of pupils, and automate the process of signing up, and then also track their progression. Surveys can be also distributed to them, so you can determine how they feel about the courses they’re taking. Sample Thinkific Courses
The free plan of Thinkific also provides an administrator with authority to the site and multiple instructor profiles and 24/7 access to student data. It also allows you to track the conversion rates and click rates for your learners.
Additionally, the free plan allows search engine optimization for your content. This way, your courses are more easily found by potential customers. You can also embed third-party applications and websites to your site to improve user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 per month but when you opt to pay annually, it’ll only cost you $39 per month.
You get all the same features that the free plan has along with additional premium benefits. First, you are able to create unlimited courses. That way, selling courses will also be easier. Sample Thinkific Courses
Another thing you won’t have on your free subscription is the option for drip-feeding your posts, to send out coupons, and accessing analytics.
To break that down, first, to drip content, you must release data to your students at an interval that is set and gradually. Additionally, you can mail coupons with discounts or other freebies for students who may require additional incentive to keep them engaged. The third option that you have access to are affiliate reporting and marketing conversion rates.
In this way it is easy to integrate the third-party tools that you would like to utilize. This includes Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp and many more.
Finally, you can also design a custom domain to your site using the base plan. 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 annual billing, it’s $79 each month.
With this plan, you have the same benefits that you get with the Free and Basic plans. The only difference is that there are higher-end settings as well as advantages.
Thinkific’s Pro plan lets you have two site administrators and five course admin accounts. Additionally, there will be advanced pricing options for courses and HTML/CSS code editing. Sample Thinkific Courses
You’ll have the ability to design private courses that only a specific number of users can access. Plus, you can offer subscription bundles and freebies for your subscribers.
Course creators can also access the more advanced assessment, quiz and assessment tools.
Growth Package
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And with it being the Pro plan, you can avail something called a Growth Package you can avail of. The best part is that once you have more than 100 users subscribed to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge an additional fee over the $99 per month.
Don’t be concerned, as the fee entitles you to extra features. You can send out mass emails, incorporate third-party toolsand groups your users according to various parameters.
Thinkific Premier
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The Thinkific Premier is the least expensive plan. It costs $499 per month, but when billed annually, it is $399 per month. Sample Thinkific Courses
When subscribed with this program, you’ll have access to all the same features as the Basic, Free, or Pro plans. What gives it its edge and a higher cost is the fact that it’s targeted at larger companies that have more members.
Its Thinkific Premier plan lets you manage 5 sites and 50 account admins for courses. You can also have something called a Single-Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a huge bulk of customers who will need access to the same web page.
The plan also includes an onboarding program that is a 30-minute onboarding call along with an overview of the launch process and online training manual.
And you’ll also get access to the Growth package for a much lower fee. There will be a flat fee that you will only need to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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Users who have reviewed and used Thinkific particularly love how cost-efficient it is. Even with the free plan, you will have access to helpful features. And there are no hidden charges so you won’t spend more than you planned to.
Others also liked the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It lets you improve the branding of your company, even if it’s just an individual company.
Many educators also love the use of Thinkific because it’s great for students. The interface is easy to use and explore.
“I liked that this had the option to upload files in the discussions. I’m happy I chose this option because other sites take a % of income AND it takes longer to wait for money. No transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I liked that you could design the access portal, the courses and payment options all within one interface without having to purchase additional software. I really appreciate how simple setting up up the courses up , if you’ve got your own curriculum and it has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific allows you to begin making 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 paying a penny.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it easy to design and run our online course for financial advisors. Thinkific’s support team was always quick to get back to us and helped us to understand the process. I am also impressed that you can do white-labeling and also use a custom domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were more enjoyable engaging, enjoyable, and simple particularly for our students who were older. Teachers enjoyed using it to build their classes and share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
In case this Thinkific review still hasn’t convinced you of its capabilities as an online learning platform If you’re still not convinced, check out the following alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is among the first online course platforms that are likely to recommend to you once you start asking around. It’s an all-in-one system that lets you create and market your online courses. Thinkific is like Kajabi in this way.
When you subscribe to Kajabi it will allow you to easily create a course and then add content. The platform offers built-in templates and themes that you can use to customize your site right from the beginning. The editor for your website allows you to add several sections and sales pages to your courses. Sample Thinkific Courses
In terms of quiz features, it has an edge against Thinkific because it has more sophisticated options. You can create more customized assessments and quizzes. Additionally, you can host videos and webinars to provide more clarity in your teaching.
A lot of teachers love the fact the fact that they can award their students with certificates for each successful course. Additionally, they are able to drip content to their followers, just as Thinkific.
Another distinction that Kajabi is different from Thinkific is that it has better marketing features. Though Thinkific does let you easily market classes online, it does not permit you to build an automated sales funnel which will help keep your process efficient.
Kajabi also has email marketing tools as well as email automation, which is different from Thinkific. You won’t have to integrate a third-party application to send broadcasts and email sequences to your clients.
You do have to note however that Kajabi is 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 easy to use and includes useful features that can help you get started with making your own content. There are themes pre-designed that you can utilize to make your site appear attractive even if you don’t have any previous web design experience.
Like Thinkific instructors have the option to drip 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.
And like Kajabi it is possible to create webinars and videos in order to encourage the participation of your followers. There’s also an option to include a sales page to your online course to increase conversion rates.
One more thing we like about Teachable is that you can also give your subscribers certificates after each course they finish. In contrast to Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can utilize to send out bulk email to our subscribers.
Read: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
READ: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Verdict on Thinkific Review
Sample Thinkific Courses
Thinkific is a great product with a lot of advantages which make it worthy of a subscription. One of them is that it’s easy to use. It’s possible to create an original online course, and then make money from it, even if you’re a first-timer.
Additionally, it comes with pre-designed templates and layouts to help you set up the website. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML-related codes in order to create professional-looking websites.
If you select any of these paid options you will have access to more advanced features that will enhance your branding. You can forego using the Thinkific subdomain and use Advanced users to set up their own domain names with hosting and develop the majority of the pages of their site on your own domain name.
You can also incorporate third-party apps to Thinkific in particular as it doesn’t have its own built-in marketing tools for email.
Students can also interact with their instructors through online discussions on Thinkific. They can conveniently seek assistance with lessons and post queries on their modules. In turn, the teachers will be able to respond to the questions in person.
Support for customers isn’t bad as well. It’s a priority for replies when you’re subscribed to the other plans that are paid. But just remember that this plan doesn’t have a live chat function.
In the end, our conclusion for this Thinkific evaluation is worth giving it a test. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be an excellent starting point for creating courses.
The free plan also lasts for the duration of time and is not tied to other platforms. If you’re tight on money this is a great option since you’ll have access to great features at zero cost.
We strongly suggest to try Thinkific out.
If you’ve enjoyed this Thinkific reviews, you may also read through our review of one of the Best Online Course Platforms available right now here.