When deciding which online course platform to go with there’s a chance you’ll get a lot of possibilities. Thinkific is a worthy standout due to its numerous useful features.
There are various factors to look out for when it comes to online courses and Thinkific offers them all. Keep reading the Thinkific reviews below to discover more details about its distinctive features and benefits.
Overview of Thinkific Review Thinkific Discussion Forum
Thinkific is among the more popular choices for selling and creating online courses. Besides having an easy-to-navigate design, this platform has ready-made templates that you can use for building your brand site.
With just a few mouse clicks and a few clicks, you can develop and market online courses, even if you have no prior knowledge. The drag and drop feature of the website allows you to easily start.
Online course creators are interested in the advanced quiz components for each course you create. They will make the course more enticing to learn by the students.
This online tool for creating courses allows you to upload various types of files that can be used to build your Thinkific course.
As with other online course platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. You can distribute emails either via Thinkific itself or via external apps such as MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Read through this Thinkific review to learn more about this popular 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 managing students
- Student feedback capabilities
- Support for customers in a timely manner
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- No transaction fees , or hidden charges
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 built on cloud technology. This means that anything you create on it is automatically saved online. It makes course creation more efficient and simple.
Furthermore, as a Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for course creators. It is easy to create a course, and then upload other resources to enhance your lesson.
If you’re one of the people who would prefer to draft your course offline prior to uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is just right for you. You can do that and then upload your course online later on.
Thinkific can also host all of the websites you build with it, so you can upload as much content as you want.
You can design an online course site without any design expertise and. You won’t have to endure a lengthy learning curve using Thinkific, that’s for sure.
There are also plenty of distribution and marketing options which will speed up the selling procedure of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace where you can market your courses and interact with other creators of courses.
In addition, Thinkific is also a good platform for those who have their own site but would like to improve their marketing, and also gain students. You can link third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a wider public.
Features and Benefits of Thinkific
The following Thinkific review We break down the most important features and advantages that are what make Thinkific stand out.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses appear on your website will significantly affect the conversion rate. This is why we are so happy the fact that Thinkific has an editor that you can drag and drop. It is a great way to organize your website and digital products.
You can rearrange the courses and lessons the way you want. There is no need to learn complicated code or methods. All you need to do is click on whatever item you’d like to display and drag it where you want it to appear.
A majority of the crucial components needed to create a website that looks professional is covered by Thinkific’s editor. From logos to colors, and fonts, you’ll find everything you require from the site.
But if you do want to go the extra mile and personalize your website you can still choose to enter CSS and HTML codes into Thinkific. It’s up to you choose.
In addition, you may make use of drag and drop for uploading supplemental materials to your lessons. Nearly every type of media file is supported with the uploader of your editor. You can upload audio files, quizzes as well as PDFs, to add value to your course.
The quiz types you design can be easily modified using the editor. Simply select the type of assessment you want to be under your instruction and drag it to the appropriate place. You can pick from types of surveys, type forms, and multiple-choice types, among many others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific offers more than the drag-and-drop editor. Its general course website builder can be effective in getting everything all set up and ready.
As we mentioned earlier, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means that you won’t be concerned about upload limitations. Your online storage is basically unlimited with Thinkific.
If you’re considering subdomains Thinkific lets you choose a unique URL that you can associate along with its subdomain. Your URL will look something like this: .thinkific.com
So, your website is more memorable and easier for students to recall.
If you prefer to avoid the Thinkific subdomain, there’s also the option of registering a unique standalone domain for your website. You’ll just have to pay an extra amount for it.
Templates that are pre-made
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With regard to the site builders for courses, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layouts and course templates you can choose from. This will save you from having to design your website entirely from scratch.
The platform offers template choices, depending on what type of Thinkific course it is that you’re creating. For instance, if you’re creating an introduction to course, you can choose an outline-type template. For the assessment and culmination, you can choose a review-type template.
For template layouts and themes, there are also a bunch that you can choose from. After you’ve selected one that is suitable for your needs, Thinkific offers settings to modify the colors, fonts and the layout of the elements within the template.
In addition, there is no need to enter complex codes or even text. All you have to do is click on what you want to put on your website and drag it to the layout.
However, if you want to continue using HTML and CSS There’s the option of doing so.
You can also rearrange and reorganize the elements of your site periodically. The different sections can be arranged in order of priority so that students know which lessons to focus on.
Payment Options
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For payment, Thinkific offers options to incorporate Stripe and PayPal into your website. With these third-party processors it is possible to get your earnings in as soon as 1 – 2 days.
This is in stark contrast with other online courses that have a payout schedule of 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 an one-time payment plan or an installment subscription plan. Additionally, you can offer bundles, discounts, and coupons along with whichever payment option they pick.
It is important to note that with the one-time payment option, your subscribers will pay a one-time transaction fee in addition. Similar to the installment plan, with the exception that the transaction fee are split 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. As already mentioned, it comes with features that allow you to create and market courses in only a couple of clicks.
Once you publish your course, you are able to immediately make it available for sale using Market and Sell. Market and Sell feature on the dashboard.
From there, you are able to alter your website’s design to improve the conversion rates of your visitors. You can alter the way your checkout and sign-up pages look to the users. So users will be more inclined to take a look at an online course.
You can also improve how your courses appear on your site. They can be more attractive by separating them into categories that the users are able to easily navigate.
In addition, as we’ve discussed previously, you can opt to bundle your courses with discounts coupons and freebies. So, your customers will be enticed to sign up for a longer time for your program.
A sales widget can be made using Thinkific. It’s basically a button that you can embed to other websites that link straight to your platform for courses. It is possible to personalize them to have a specific color scheme and logo to ensure they appear more consistent with your brand and also look more professional.
Thinkific can also allow you to create an affiliate program to assist you in reaching more people. Right on the site you can make affiliate links to transmit to the affiliates you have. 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 can access its progress on the Thinkific site. You’ll be able to track the revenue, sales, and other commissions.
You can also choose to incorporate other apps into Thinkific. If you’re considering email marketing campaigns, Aweber is an excellent tool that can be synced to your Thinkific account.
Student Management
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Learning management systems can not be effective in the absence of covering all aspects of online education. This includes keeping the track of students’ performance.
Thinkific provides a simple student management system. With it, you are able to quickly access your students’ contact details and basic information.
You can also customize the form to sign-up your subscribers, asking them for specific details. Thinkific’s template asks for names emails, names, and contact numbers. If you’re seeking more particular details, just switch your settings to add an extra field to the form to sign up.
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Once you have your subscribers pooled you can categorize them according to the courses they have signed up for. That way, you can keep track of them for each course simpler.
In addition, with the Premier and Pro plans, you are able to search for a specific user based on his/her registration date, the date of their enrollment, subscribed courses and job type. There are even additional categories available on the website.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific prioritizes not just the course creators, but as well the students. So, feedback from students is encouraged when enrolling in an online course.
Discussions that are open between students and their instructors will greatly decrease the learning curve with the lessons.
There is a discussion area on Thinkific where students can ask questions they have regarding their online courses. From there, the instructors can reply and provide clarification.
Students also have the option to review and rate the courses they’ve taken. The rating will include the quality of the online course instructor as well. In this way, instructors can establish their credibility through Thinkific.
The reviews will also help other students decide which course is right for them. It decreases the chances of a student leaving within the middle of an entire class all of a abruptly.
If course creators are worried that the reviews could potentially be detrimental to their business but they don’t have to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide whether they’d like to publish a review or not. Thinkific will never publish them without permission.
A good method to keep students engaged is to provide them with regular updates. Thinkific allows instructors to send push notifications to their students whenever they publish new content or other resources via the website.
Customer Support
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As one would expect from systems for learning management, Thinkific does quite a great job with its customer service.
Before you sign-up before you sign up, you can read case studies and article guides on the official website. You can also access product demos and video tutorials which you can browse.
And once you’re already subscribed, you can access Thinkific’s Help Center. Thereare resources that will assist you in learning selling online courses.
Thinkific offers guides and training videos that will assist you in navigating the interface. Additionally, as I mentioned, there are forums where you can voice out your concerns. Other users and instructors are able to respond to help you out.
If you have more serious problems, you can place an inquiry to seek assistance from the customer service team. If you’re a subscriber to business plan and above, you get prioritised responses.
One issue is that Thinkific does not have an option to chat live, however. You just have to wait patiently for the ticket response.
How Does Thinkific Work
As with any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will help you understand how to begin using Thinkific. It is as easy as following these simple steps.
Step 1 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 for free upon signing up.
Step 2: Customize Your Course Player
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Once you have a login, you can begin customizing the course players. You can use a specific colour scheme to ensure it is in line with your logo and themes.
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Your course player is what your users will utilize to access your course content. Videos, audio files as well as quizzes will all be accessible through this player.
Step 3: Design Your Course
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The next step is to create an online learning course. Utilizing the Course Builder program, you can set up a new course by adding lessons, modules, and other files to it.
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The course material can be broken down into sections and categories. It is also possible to give your online courses custom labels that facilitate searching.
Step 4: Customize Your Website
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When your content is set, you can finalize the design and layout of your site. With Thinkific You have the option to customize each landing page for each course that you have.
It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you create a color scheme and the theme of our homepage. This is where all the courses you have created will be put up. Students will be able browse through the course and select which ones they like from there.
You can also customize those landing pages to suit each class. It’s best to choose a slightly different look for each course to make them easy to differentiate but still fit in with all of your branding.
Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website
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What you have to do after the content, course player, and the customization is to name your site. Make sure the name is memorable and is still appropriate for your business.
Step 6: Make Your Course
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When everything is set, you can publish the course. To publish, you simply must set a cost and the specific details for payment.
A card that is referred to as a course must be designed. The course card will be the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. If they view it they’ll be able see quick details about your online course and the content.
A good course card will make a huge difference when making courses available on Thinkific.
What is the need for improvement on thinkific
And while there’s so much to be awed by about Thinkific however, it’s not without shortcomings. For this Thinkific review we’ve listed down what we believe could be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
While we think that Thinkific is doing a great job in creating courses and uploading content but we feel that the quiz features can still be enhanced.
The assessment form on Thinkific is very basic. Though it’s enough to get an idea of what your students know, it’s not enough to ask more difficult questions.
If you’re content with the short, check-up-style quizzes at the conclusion of every course, then that’s exactly what Thinkific offers you. For questions that require longer and more specific results, you might want to try another platform.
Insufficient Email Marketing Tools
As previously mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications , and these include tools for marketing via email. 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, it still would be great if Thinkific already had the software on its own. It would’ve sped up the process.
No Live Chat Support
And even though we think that the response from customer service is quick, it still isn’t enough to make up for absence of a live chat option.
Users with more urgent issues aren’t likely to get the issue resolved in a hurry. They’ll need to sit and wait for the response, 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 up, you’ll first have access to a free plan without any transaction fees or hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive because unlike that of competitors the plan doesn’t expire. You can use the free plan for as long as you want to continue using Thinkific. Thinkific Discussion Forum
Apart from being free, it doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction fees regardless of whether you sell courses. It’s perfect for course creators who wish to cut down costs, or small entrepreneurs just getting started.
The Thinkific free plan, you can design 3 courses and customize them with your own branding. It is possible to enhance your courses with quizzes and other resources as well.
You can enroll any number of students, streamline the process of signing up, and follow their progression. Surveys can also be sent to them so that you can assess what they think about the courses they’re taking. Thinkific Discussion Forum
The free plan of Thinkific also provides 1 authorized site administrator and multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your students’ data. You can also track the click rate and conversion rates of your learners.
Additionally, the free plan also allows for search engine optimization of your content. So, your course will be more easily discovered by potential customers. You can even embed websites and applications from third parties on your own website to improve the user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 a month, but if you choose to make your payments annually it will cost you $39 per month.
You get the same features the free plan has, as well as added premium benefits. First, you can make unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses will be much easier. Thinkific Discussion Forum
Another benefit you wouldn’t get on this plan for free is capability for drip-feeding your posts, send coupons, or access analytics.
To simplify in two steps, firstly, drip content is to provide data to your students at regular intervals over time. The second option is to send out coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who might need extra incentive to remain engaged. Thirdly, the analytics that you have access to are the affiliate reports and conversion rates.
In this way, you can easily integrate third-party tools you would like to utilize. They include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp, among others.
In addition, you could create a custom domain for your website with the basic 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 get annual billing, it’s $79 per month.
With this plan, you get all the same features as you would with the Free and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get more advanced settings and benefits.
Thinkific’s Pro plan lets you manage 2 sites and five course administrator accounts. Additionally, there will be advanced pricing options for courses and HTML/CSS code editing. Thinkific Discussion Forum
You’ll be able create private courses that only a specific amount of users are able to access as well. In addition, you’ll be able to offer membership bundles and freebies to your subscribers.
Course creators can also access the more sophisticated assignments, quizzes and assessment tools.
Growth Package
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With the Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Package that you can take advantage of. The thing about it is that once you’ve got more than 100 subscribers to you, Thinkific will automatically charge additional fees over the monthly fee of $99.
Don’t be concerned, as the cost of your subscription grants you access to extra features. You can distribute large quantities of emails, use third-party toolsand groups your users according to various requirements.
Thinkific Premier
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The Thinkific Premier is the least expensive plan. It costs $499 per month. However, when it’s billed annually, it costs $399 per month. Thinkific Discussion Forum
If you’re subscribed to this plan, you’ll get access to the same features that are available in the Free, Basic, as well as the Pro plan. The reason it has a distinct advantage and the higher price is the fact that it’s targeted at larger companies that have more members.
The Thinkific Premier plan lets you have five site admin accounts and 50 course admin accounts. You can also have something called a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a large number of users who need access to the same web page.
Additionally, this plan comes with an onboarding package which is an onboarding call lasting 30 minutes along with a launch preparedness review and online training guide.
Additionally, you’ll have acces to our Growth package for a lower fee. There will be a flat cost that you only have to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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People who’ve used and reviewed Thinkific particularly love how cost-efficient it is. Even when using the free plan, you’ll have access to some useful features. And there are no hidden charges so you won’t end up spending more than you originally planned to.
And other users also loved the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It allows you to enhance the branding of your company even if you’re a small business.
Finally, many educators love working with Thinkific because it’s ideal for children. The interface is simple to navigate and explore.
“I loved that there was an option to upload documents in the discussions. I’m happy I chose this particular option as others require an amount of your income and you’re forced to wait to receive money. No transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I liked that you could create an access gateway, the courses as well as the payment methods in one interface without any needs for additional products. I really appreciate how simple it is to set the courses up if you have the curriculum you want to create and has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific will let you start making courses for free, and keep them free forever. Really, this is the best way to master course development without paying a penny.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it simple to create & run our online course for financial advisors. Thinkific’s support team was always quick to reply and help us get started. I am also impressed the ability to white-label and have the domain of your choice.” – Anonymous
“Classes were more fun as well as entertaining and easy especially for our older learners. Teachers enjoyed making use of it to design their classes and then share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If the Thinkific review isn’t convincing you of its potential as an online course platform, then check out the following alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the first online courses platforms that are likely to recommend to you when you start asking around. It’s a complete platform that lets you create and market the online course you’ve created. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in that way.
If you sign up to Kajabi the platform, you’ll be able to create your own course and then add content. It has templates built in and themes you can make use of to personalize your site from the get-go. The site editor lets you add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Discussion Forum
As for quiz features It is a step ahead against Thinkific due to its more advanced options. You can create more customized assessments and quizzes. Plus, you can conduct webinars and video tutorials for greater clarity in teaching.
A lot of teachers love the fact the fact that they can award their students with certificates for each successful course. They can also opt to drip content to their subscribers, much like Thinkific.
Another difference Kajabi is different in comparison to Thinkific has to do with the fact it has better marketing features. While Thinkific allows you to easily market your on-line courses but it does not allow you to create an online sales funnel that can help you get your processes more well-organized.
Kajabi also has email marketing tools and email automation, unlike Thinkific. You don’t need to install with a third-party program to send out broadcasts and email sequences to your clients.
Do note that Kajabi is costlier than Thinkific.
Read: Review of Kajabi the All-in-1 Online Course Platform
Teachable
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Next to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar rival. This is due to the fact that they share lots of resemblances as online courses platforms.
Teachable’s interface is easy to use and includes useful features that can help you get started with creating content. There are templates for themes that have been created that you can utilize to make your website appear attractive even if you don’t have any previous web design experience.
As with Thinkific, instructors can choose to distribute the content they release to their subscribers.
But what sets Teachable apart from Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your quizzes and assessments.
And like Kajabi it is possible to organize webinars and videos to increase participation from your customers. It is also possible to add a sales page for your online course to increase conversion rates.
One last thing that we love about Teachable is that you can also give your subscribers certificates for each course they finish. In contrast to Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can use to send mass emails to your users.
READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Please read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Report on Thinkific Review
Thinkific Discussion Forum
Thinkific has a variety of features that make it worth the cost of a subscription. One of them is that it’s easy to use. It’s possible to create an original online course and then market it, even if you’re a first-timer.
It also comes with pre-made layouts and templates to make it easier to set the website. You don’t have to input complicated CSS or HTML-related codes in order to get an attractive and professional looking website.
If you choose one of the plans that are paid you will have access to more advanced features that will enhance your branding. You can forego your Thinkific subdomain and opt for Advanced users to set up their own domain names using hosting and develop the majority of the pages of their site on their own URL.
You can also connect third-party software to Thinkific, especially as it doesn’t have its own marketing tools for email.
Students can also interact with their instructors through online discussions on Thinkific. They can request assistance during classes and ask questions on their modules. Teachers will be able to respond to questions in person.
Customer service isn’t terrible either. It’s a priority for replies in the event you’re on the other paid plans. But just remember that this plan doesn’t have a live chat feature.
In the end, our conclusion on our Thinkific Review is it’s worth giving it a try. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be a good starting point for creating courses.
The free plan is also available forever, unlike other platforms. If you’re strapped for cash, then it’s a good option since you’ll have access to incredible features at zero cost.
We strongly suggest to try Thinkific out.
If you liked the Thinkific review, you may also read through our review of the Best Online Course Platforms available today . Click here.
