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Squarespace Vs Thinkific

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If you’re deciding on which online course platform to use You’ll likely get a lot of options. It’s a standout because of its many helpful features.

There are various criteria to watch out for in an online course platform and Thinkific offers them all. Read through the Thinkific review below to learn more about its unique features and advantages.

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Overview of Thinkific Review Squarespace Vs Thinkific

Thinkific is one of the most widely used options to create and sell online courses. In addition to having an easy-to-use user interface, the platform also has ready-made templates that you can build your brand site.

With just a few mouse clicks it’s possible to develop and market online courses even without previous experience. Drag and drop functionality of the website allows you to easily get started.

Online course creators are interested to know about the advanced quiz components for every course you make. These can make your lessons more appealing to the students.

This online tool for creating courses also lets you upload different kinds of files that can be used to build the content of your Thinkific course.

Like many online courses, Thinkific offers email marketing tools and third-party app integration. You can distribute emails either via Thinkific itself or via external applications like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.

Read 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 pre-made
  • Different payment options
  • Features for marketing and sales
  • Student management options
  • Feedback capabilities for students
  • Adequate customer support
  • Access to the plan for life. plan
  • No transaction fees or hidden charges

Cons

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an online course platform that is cloud-based. This means that anything you create on it is automatically backed up online. It helps to make course creation more efficient and simple.

Plus that, as a Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for instructors. You can create an easy course and then upload different material to complement your lessons.

If you’re one of the people who would prefer writing your course offline before uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is perfect for you. It allows you to do this and then upload the course later online.

Thinkific also hosts all the websites you build on it so can basically upload whatever content you want.

It is possible to create an online course site even with no design experience as well. You won’t have to go through an excruciating learning curve with Thinkific, that’s for sure.

There are a variety of distribution and marketing options that will help speed up the sales process of your Thinkific course. There’s an online marketplace where you can offer courses and interact with other course creators.

Additionally, Thinkific is also a excellent platform for those who already have their own website but want to improve their marketing and gain more students. You can link third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a wider public.

The Benefits and Features of Thinkific

In this Thinkific review we review the top features and benefits to are what make Thinkific shine.

Drag and Drop Editor

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The way your courses look on your website will significantly influence conversion rates. This is the reason we love the fact that Thinkific comes with an editor that you can drag and drop. It makes it easier to manage your website and digital products.

You are able to arrange the courses and lessons the you like. No need for any complicated codes or methods. Simply click on whatever item you’d like to display and drag it over to the place you want it to appear.

Almost all of the important components needed to make your site look more professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From logos to color schemes, as well as fonts to find everything you require from the site.

If you’re looking to go the extra mile and make your site better you can still choose to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you decide.

Additionally, you can make use of drag and drop for uploading supplemental materials to your classes. The majority of types of media file is supported by the editor’s uploader. It is possible to upload audio files, quizzes and PDFs to enhance your course.

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 instruction and drag it there. You can pick from type forms, surveys and multiple-choice forms among others.

Course Site Builder

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Thinkific is much more than simply a drag and drop editor. Its general course website builder is effective for getting everything set up and up and running.

As previously mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. That means that you don’t be concerned about uploading limitations. The storage space you can upload online is unlimited when you use Thinkific.

If you’re thinking about Domains Thinkific permits you to select a unique URL can be used along with its subdomain. Your URL will look like this: .thinkific.com

This way, your site is more memorable and easier for students to recall.

If you’d like to skip your Thinkific subdomain, there’s also an option to register an individual domain to your site. It’s just a matter of paying slightly more for it.

Templates that are pre-made

Pre-made-templates

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In relation to the site builders for courses, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layouts and course templates you can use. This will save you from the need to create your own website totally from scratch.

The platform provides you with templates that are based on the type of Thinkific course you’re making. For instance, if you’re making an introduction course, you could choose an outline-type template. For the assessment and culmination, you can pick a review template.

For layout and theme templates, there are also several to choose from. Once you’ve picked one that is suitable for your needs, Thinkific offers settings to customize the colors, fonts and layout of the elements in the template.

Again, there is absolutely no need to enter complicated codes or even text. Simply select what you would like to put on your website and drag it to the layout.

However, if you want to continue using HTML and CSS, there’s still an option.

It is also possible to rearrange and reorganize the elements of your website periodically. The different sections can be organized chronologically so that your students know which lesson to prioritize.

Payment Options

Payment-Options

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In terms of payment options, Thinkific offers options to connect Stripe and PayPal on your website. With these payment processors from third parties you will be able to access your earnings as quickly as 1 – 2 days.

This is a sharp contrast to other online course platforms which have a pay-out schedule that is 30-day intervals. With Thinkific it is possible to make cash withdrawals more quickly.

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And for your students you can offer them one-time payment plans or an installment plan. Additionally, you can offer discounts, bundles and coupons with any payment option they choose.

Take note that when you use the one-time payment scheme, your subscribers will pay a one-time transaction fee too. Similar to the installment plan, with the exception that transaction fees will be divided over the duration of the installment.

Marketing and Sales Highlights

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Beyond being an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective in promoting online courses. It includes features that let you create and market courses in just a few clicks.

After you have published the course you can immediately put it up for sale using the Market and Sell option on your dashboard.

From there, you are able to alter your website’s design to improve the conversion rates of your customers. You can alter the way your checkout and sign up pages will look like to visitors. So users will be more inclined to check out an online course.

You can also improve how your courses are presented on your website. They can be more attractive by filtering your courses into groups that users can easily explore.

And as we discussed earlier You can also bundle your courses with discount 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 basically a button that you can add to other third-party sites that will link straight to your course platform. You can personalize them with a certain design and color scheme so that they look more on-brand as well.

Thinkific also allows you to create an affiliate program to help you reach more audiences. Right on the site you can make affiliate links that you’ll forward to your affiliate partners. These are what they’ll use in order to bring their followers to your website and to enroll in a class.

And once the affiliate program has been running you’ll be able to view the progress of the program right on the Thinkific site. You’ll have the ability to monitor the revenue, sales, and other commissions.

In the end, you have the option to add other programs to Thinkific. If you’re interested in emails for marketing, Aweber is a great tool to sync to your Thinkific account.

Student Management

Student-Management

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An LMS will not be effective in the absence of covering all aspects of online teaching. And that includes keeping track of student progress.

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 form to sign-up your subscribers to ask for specific details. Thinkific’s template asks for names as well as 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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Once you have your subscribers pooled, you can then categorize them according to the courses they signed up for. This way, you’ll be able to keep track of them for each course more easily.

And with the Premier and Pro plans, you are able to look up a particular user based on his/her enrollment date, subscribed courses and job type. There are even additional categories available as you browse the site.

Student Feedback

Student-Feedback

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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators, but as well the students. This is why feedback from students is encouraged whenever you’re enrolling in a course.

An open discussion between the students and their instructors can significantly reduce the learning curve associated with lessons.

There’s a discussion forum on Thinkific where students can ask questions they have regarding their online classes. From there, the course instructors can reply and clarify with answers.

Students can also choose to rate and evaluate the courses they’ve attended. The ratings will reflect the quality of the online course instructor as well. This way, course instructors can demonstrate their authority on Thinkific.

These reviews can also assist other students decide which course is right for them. It reduces the likelihood of a student leaving during a lesson all of a abruptly.

If course creators are worried the reviews could affect them negatively but they don’t have to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide whether they’d like reviews published 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 students when they update their lessons or resources on the platform.

Customer Support

Customer-Support

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In addition, as one would expect from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a great job with its customer service.

Before you sign up You can look up cases studies and articles on the official site. There are also easily accessible videos and product demonstrations that you can go through.

And once you’re already subscribed to Thinkific, you’ll be able to access the Help Center. You’ll find a wealth of resources that will help you get started on how to sell online courses.

Thinkific has guide articles and training videos that will assist you in navigating the interface. In addition, as we stated earlier, there are also forums for users to discuss your issues. Other users and instructors are able to be available to assist you.

If you have more serious problems You can submit a ticket to ask for assistance from the customer service team. If you’re on an Enterprise plan, or higher you’ll receive priority answers.

One catch is that Thinkific does not have an option to chat live, however. You just have to wait long enough for a response from the company.

How Thinkific Works

Like any other course platform review like any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will teach you how to begin using Thinkific. All you have to do is follow these simple steps.

Step 1 Step 1: Create an Account

Step-1-Create-An-Account

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It’s the first thing to do is register and create an account on Thinkific account. The account will automatically be subscribed to the free trial upon registration.

Step 2: Customize Your Course Player

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Once you have your account then you can begin to personalize your course player. You can use a specific color scheme that is in line with your logo and theme.

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The course player is the tool your users will be using to access your course content. Audio files, videos, as well as quizzes will all be accessible through the course player.

Step 3: Create Your Course

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Next, you can create an online learning course. With this Course Builder software, you can start a new course by adding modules, lessons and other documents to it.

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The content of the course can be broken down into categories and sections. You may also assign your online courses custom labels to make them easier to search.

Step 4: Personalize Your Website

Step-4-Customize

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Once your content is all set, you can finalize the design of your website. With Thinkific, you have the option of customizing each landing page for every course that you have.

It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you choose a color scheme as well as a theme for our home page. This is where all the courses you have created will be set up. Students will be able look through it and decide which ones they like from there.

You can also personalize the landing pages for each course. It’s best to set a slightly different look for each course to make them easily identifiable, yet blend into all of your branding.

Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website

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What you need to do once the content, course player and customization are done is to name your site. Make sure your name is memorable, but still the right fit for your business.

Step 6: Create Your Course

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Finally, once everything is all set then you can launch the course. For publishing, you only need to decide on a price and specific payment information.

A course card must be designed. The course card will be the one that appears on your students’ dashboards. If they view it they’ll be able look up quick information about your online course and the content.

A great course card can prove invaluable when selling courses on Thinkific.

What Needs Improvement on Thinkific

And while there’s so much to be awed by about Thinkific however, it’s not with no imperfections. This Thinkific review we’ve listed down what we think can still be improved.

Limited Quizzing Features

Although we believe that Thinkific does an excellent job in creating courses and uploading content but we feel that quiz features could still be improved.

The assessment template on Thinkific is fairly basic. Although it’s sufficient to gain a general grasp of how much your pupils are aware of, it’s not enough for asking more complex questions.

If you’re content with short check-up type quizzes at the end of every course, then this is what Thinkific offers you. If you have questions that require more time and more specific outputs 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 tools for email marketing. But that’s only because it doesn’t provide email marketing tools of its own.

Although there are a lot of third-party tools that are efficient however, it would be great to have Thinkific already had this by itself. It would have accelerated the process.

No live chat support

We’re sure that the customer service response is quick, it still isn’t enough to make up for lack of a live chat feature.

Users who have more urgent issues will not be able to have them resolved quickly. They’ll be forced to wait for the ticket response in particular if they’re not 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 to the plan, you’ll then be able to access the free plan with no transaction fees or hidden charges.

Thinkific Free

Squarespace Vs Thinkific

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Thinkific’s free plan is unique because unlike that of competitors the plan doesn’t expire. You can avail of the plan for the duration you wish to keep using Thinkific. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

Apart from being absolutely free, it also doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction costs, even when you sell courses. It’s ideal for course creators who wish to cut down on costs or small business owners that are just starting out.

With the Thinkific free plan, you are able to create three courses and then customize them with your own branding. It is possible to enhance your courses with quizzes and other tools as well.

You are able to enroll in a amount of learners, streamline the sign-up process, monitor their progress. Surveys can also be distributed to them, so you can determine their opinions about the classes they’re taking. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

The free plan of Thinkific also provides one administrator for your site and multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your students’ data. It also allows you to keep track of conversion rates and click rates for your learners.

Additionally, the free plan will also allow search engine optimization for your content. So, your course will be easier to find by potential customers. You can even embed third-party websites and applications to your own site to enhance the user experience.

Thinkific Basic

basic-pricing

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Thinkific Basic costs $49 per month. However, if you decide to pay annually, it’ll only cost you $39 per month.

With it, you get the same features the free plan offers, as well as added premium benefits. First, you are able to create unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses will also be easier. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

Another thing you don’t get on your free subscription is the option for drip-feeding your posts, mail coupons, or access analytics.

To break that down in two steps, firstly, drip content, you must release data to your students at an interval that is set and gradually. The second option is to send coupons for discounts and other freebies to learners that might need extra incentive to remain subscribed. The third option you can access are marketing conversion and affiliate reporting rates.

In this way you are able to easily integrate third-party tools you would like to utilize. These include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp, among others.

Additionally, you can create a custom domain for your site using the base plan. You don’t need 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 per month.

With this plan, you get all the same features like you do with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only distinction is that you have higher-end settings as well as advantages.

Thinkific’s Pro plan will let you have 2 site administrators and five course administrator accounts. It will also include advanced pricing options for your courses as well as HTML/CSS code editing. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

You’ll have the ability to design exclusive courses which only a limited number of people can access. Additionally, you can provide subscription bundles and freebies for your customers.

Course creators also have access to the more sophisticated assignments, quizzes and assessment tools.

Growth Package

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With The Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Plan that is available. The thing about it is that once you’ve got more than 100 people subscribed to you, Thinkific will automatically charge an additional fee on top of the monthly fee of $99.

Don’t be concerned, as the price grants you access to additional features. You can distribute mass emails, incorporate third-party toolsand groups your users according to various requirements.

Thinkific Premier

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Thinkific Premier is the most expensive plan. It costs $499 per month, but when billed annually, it is $399 per month. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

When subscribed with this program, you’ll access all of the same features available to the Basic, Free and Pro plans. The reason it has a distinct advantage and a higher cost is that it’s geared towards larger organizations with more members.

The Thinkific Premier plan lets you have 5 site admin and 50 courses admin accounts. There is also a feature known as a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is helpful when you have a lot of users who need access to the same website.

Also, this plan includes an onboarding program that is an onboarding call lasting 30 minutes and an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guides.

Additionally, you’ll have access to the Growth package at a lower fee. There’ll be a flat fee that you will only need to pay.

Thinkific Reviews

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Users who have reviewed and used Thinkific especially appreciate how affordable it is. Even when using the free plan, you will have access to some useful features. And there are no extra charges, so you will not end up spending more than you anticipated to.

And other users also loved the white-labeling option of Thinkific. It lets you enhance your brand’s image even if you’re an individual business.

Many educators also love the use of Thinkific because it’s ideal for children. The interface is simple to use and explore.

“I liked that this had the option to upload files within the discussion. It’s a good thing I picked this one because others take the % of income, and it takes longer to wait for funds. No transaction fees!” -Anonymous

“I enjoyed the ability to create the access portal, courses as well as the payment methods in one interface, without the need for additional products. I especially like how simple you can set up the courses up , if you’ve got the curriculum you want to create and white-labeling is enabled.” – Anonymous

“Thinkific allows you to begin producing 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 how to create courses without paying a penny.” -Anonymous

“Thinkific made it simple to develop and host our digital course for financial advisors. The Thinkific support team was quick to reply and help us get started. And I love the ability to white-label and use a custom domain.” – Anonymous

“Classes were more fun as well as entertaining and easy especially for our older learners. Teachers were thrilled making use of it to design their classes and share their ideas.” -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 these two alternatives:

Kajabi

Kajabi is among the first online courses platforms that is likely to be recommended to you once you begin asking questions. It’s an all-in-one system that allows you to create and sell your online courses. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in that way.

If you sign up to Kajabi, you’ll be able to create your own course and add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes you can use to customize your site right from the beginning. The editor for your website lets you add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Squarespace Vs Thinkific

As for quiz features It is a step ahead against Thinkific due to its more advanced options. It allows you to create more customized quizzes and assessment types. In addition, you can hold videos and webinars to provide better clarity in teaching.

A lot of teachers love the fact that they can reward their students with certificates for every successful course. Additionally, they are able to drip content to their subscribers, much like Thinkific.

But another difference that Kajabi is different in comparison to Thinkific is that it comes with better marketing features. Though Thinkific lets you easily market your on-line courses but it doesn’t allow you to create an automated sales funnel which could make your process more efficient.

Kajabi also has email marketing tools and email automation, unlike Thinkific. You don’t need to install an application from a third party to send out email sequences and broadcasts to your subscribers.

It is worth noting that Kajabi is more expensive than Thinkific.

READ: Kajabi Review the All-in-1 Online Course Platform

Teachable

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In addition to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar rival. This is because they share a lot of similarities as online courses platforms.

Teachable’s interface is easy to use and includes useful features that will assist you in making your own content. There are templates for themes that have been created that you can use to make your site look attractive, even if you have no previous web design experience.

Also, like Thinkific instructors are able to choose to drip the content that they share to their subscribers.

What is what sets Teachable against Thinkific is the quiz features. Instead of using templates that are basic, Teachable lets you customize your assessments and quizzes.

And like Kajabi it is possible to organize webinars and videos to increase engagement with your subscribers. It is also possible to create a sales page for your online course to increase conversion rates.

One last thing that we like about Teachable is the ability to give your subscribers certificates for each course they finish. And unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools that you can utilize to send out bulk email to our subscribers.

READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features

Please read: Kajabi vs. Teachable

Final Report on Thinkific Review

Squarespace Vs Thinkific

Thinkific has a variety of features that make it worth the cost of a subscription. For one, it’s extremely simple to use. You can design a unique online course and then market it, even if you’re new to the market.

Additionally, it comes with pre-made layouts and templates to simplify setting your site. You don’t need to input complex CSS or HTML-related codes in order to have a professional-looking site.

And if you opt for one of the paid plans you’ll have access to the latest features that can enhance your branding. You can forego your Thinkific subdomain and instead use Advanced users will set up their own domain names with hosting and create the majority of the pages on their website using your own domain name.

You can even incorporate third-party apps to Thinkific in particular as it doesn’t have its own integrated email marketing tools.

Students can also interact with instructors online via a discussion forum on Thinkific. Students can easily 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. Prioritization of responses is given in the event you’re on other plans with a paid subscription. However, keep in mind that there is no live chat feature.

In the end, our conclusion in this Thinkific Review is it’s well worth a try. Particularly if you’re just beginning to become a instructor, 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 strapped for cash and want to save money, this is an excellent choice since you can access incredible features at absolutely no cost.

We strongly suggest that you try Thinkific out.

If you enjoyed reading this Thinkific Review, then you can take a look at our review on our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today . Click here.

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About the author

jack_morris

Jack has worked on the video production, audio mastery, and physical coursework for over one-hundred popular online courses to date. He’s here to share his experiences with you, as well as show you what tools are worth your time, how to spot those that aren’t worth a penny, and above all else, how to keep yourself informed about how to navigate online course creation efficiently and effectively.