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When you’re trying to decide which online learning platform to use You’ll likely get a lot of possibilities. The Thinkific platform is an outstanding choice due to its numerous useful features.

There are a variety of factors to look out for in an online course platform and Thinkific has them all. Continue reading this Thinkific review below to learn more about its unique features and benefits.

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Review of Thinkific Review Thinkific Gift Cards

Thinkific is one of the most widely used options to create and sell online courses. Apart from having an easy-to-use user interface, the platform also offers ready-made templates that you can utilize to build your personal website.

With just a few mouse clicks, you’ll get to create and sell online courses even without prior experience. The drag and drop feature of the website makes it simple to begin.

Online course creators are interested in the advanced quiz features for every course you make. These will make the lessons more enticing to learn by the students.

It is an online builder of course s. also allows you to upload various types of files that can be used to build the content of your Thinkific course.

As with other online courses, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as third-party app integration. It is possible to send email sequences either through Thinkific itself or via external apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.

Read the Thinkific review to learn more about this online learning 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
  • Support for customers in a timely manner
  • Lifetime access to the free plan
  • No transaction fees or hidden charges

Cons

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an online course platform that is cloud-based. It means that all content you create there is automatically saved online. It helps to make course creation more efficient and convenient.

Plus it functions as an Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for creators of courses. It is easy to create a course and then upload different materials to supplement your lessons.

If you’re one of those instructors who like to draft your course offline before uploading it, then Thinkific is just right for you. You can do just that and then upload your course later online.

Thinkific can also host all web pages that you create with it, so you can upload whatever content you’d like.

It is possible to create an online course website even without any design expertise and. You won’t have to endure an arduous learning curve with Thinkific It’s that simple.

There are a variety of distribution and marketing options that will accelerate the selling course’s selling Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community where you can offer courses and communicate with other course creators.

Additionally, Thinkific is also a good platform for those who have their own website but want to improve their marketing and gain more students. You can connect third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a larger market.

Features and Benefits of Thinkific

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

Drag and Drop Editor

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The way that your courses appear on your website can greatly influence conversion rates. This is why we are so happy the fact that Thinkific offers an editor that drags and drops. It helps you organize your website and other digital products.

You can rearrange the courses and lessons in any you like. There is no need to learn complicated codes or techniques. Simply click on whatever object you’re looking for and drag it to where you want it to appear.

A majority of the crucial elements needed to make your website appear more professional is covered by Thinkific’s editor. From the logos, colors, and fonts, you’ll find everything you require on the platform.

But if you do want to go that extra mile to make your site better There’s still the option to enter CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s your choice to make the decision.

In addition, you may use drag and drop for uploading supplemental materials to your lessons. Almost every kind of media is supported with the uploader of your editor. It is possible to upload questions, audio file and PDFs to enrich your learning.

Even the quiz types you design can be easily altered with the help of the editor. Just choose which assessment type you want to be under your instruction and drag it to the appropriate place. You can select from type forms, surveys and multiple-choice forms, among many others.

Course Site Builder

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Thinkific goes beyond the drag and drop editor. Its overall course site builder is effective for getting everything all set up and ready.

As mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means you don’t be concerned about uploading limits. 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 you can use along with its subdomain. Your URL will look like this: .thinkific.com

That way, your website will be more memorable and easier for students to remember.

If you’d like to forego the Thinkific subdomain, you have the option of registering an individual domain to your site. It’s just a matter of paying an extra amount to get it.

Templates Pre-Made

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Regarding the builder for course websites, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layouts and course templates you can make use of. It saves you from needing to create your site completely 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 making an introduction course, you can select the mini-course template. For assessments and culmination it is possible to select a template that is review-oriented.

As for template layouts and themes There are many to pick from. After you’ve selected one which is appropriate for your style, Thinkific offers settings to alter the colors, fonts, and layout of the elements in the template.

In addition, there is no need for you to enter complex code or words. All you have to do is click on the content you wish to add to your website and drag it onto the layout.

However, if you’re still interested in using HTML and CSS There’s the option of doing so.

You may also change the layout and arrangement of your site periodically. The various sections can be arranged in a chronological order so that your students know what lesson they should be focusing on.

Payment Options

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As for payment, Thinkific offers options to integrate Stripe and PayPal to your site. With these third-party processors it is possible to get your earnings as quickly as 1 to 2 days.

It’s a stark contrast with other online courses with a payment time of 30 days. With Thinkific, you can withdraw more quickly.

Payment-Options

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Students they have the option of choosing between an one-time payment plan or an installment subscription plan. Additionally, you can provide discounts, bundles, and coupons with any payment option they choose.

Just note that for the one-time payment option the subscribers will be charged an one-time transaction fee too. Same applies to the installment subscription plan, only that the transaction fees will be broken down across the installment period.

Marketing and Sales Features

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In addition to being an online course creation tool, Thinkific is also effective in marketing online courses. Like we said, it includes features that let you create and sell courses with just a few clicks.

After you have published the course you may immediately put it up for sale through Market and Sell. Market and Sell choice on the menu on your Dashboard.

From there, you can alter your website’s design to improve the conversion rate of your customers. You can alter the way your checkout and sign up pages look to users. This way users will be more inclined to take a look at an online course.

You can also improve how your courses are displayed on your site. Make them look more interesting by filtering them into categories that the users can easily explore.

And as we discussed earlier it is possible to bundle your courses with discounts coupons or freebies. That way, your users will be enticed to sign up more often to your course.

A sales widget could also be created through Thinkific. It’s basically a button that you can embed to other third-party sites that will connect directly to your platform for courses. You can personalize them with a certain color scheme and logo to ensure they appear more consistent with your brand and also look more professional.

Thinkific can also allow you to run an affiliate program to help you reach more audiences. Through the website you can make affiliate links to forward to your affiliate partners. These links will be used in order to bring their followers to your platform and enroll in a class.

Once the affiliate program has been running it is possible to check its progress right on the Thinkific website. You’ll have the ability to monitor sales, revenue, and other commissions.

In the end, you have the option to incorporate other apps into Thinkific. If you’re interested in email marketing campaigns, then Aweber is a good tool that you can sync directly with the account you have.

Student Management

Student-Management

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A learning management system will not be efficient if it doesn’t cover every aspect of online teaching. And that includes keeping the track of students’ progress.

Thinkific offers a user-friendly student management system. With it, you can easily access the contact information of your students and basic information.

You can also personalize the sign-up form for your subscribers, asking them for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names, email addresses, along with contact number. If you’re seeking more particular details, just switch your settings to add an extra field to the sign-up sheet.

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Once you have your subscribers pooled you can classify them, depending on which courses they signed up for. That way, you can track them by course simpler.

In addition, with the Pro and Premier plans, you can also search for a specific user based on their enrollment date, subscribed courses as well as job-type. There are many different categories you can choose from on the website.

Student Feedback

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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators but as well the students. So, feedback from students is encouraged when taking a course.

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

There is a discussion area on Thinkific in which students can submit questions about their online courses. The instructors of the course can respond and provide clarification.

Students are also able to rate and review the courses they’ve attended. The rating will include the quality of the instructor online as well. This way, course instructors can demonstrate their authority on Thinkific.

The reviews will also help other students decide which course is right for them. It reduces the likelihood of a student dropping out within the middle of the lesson all of abruptly.

If course creators are worried that the reviews could potentially impact them negatively but they don’t have to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide if they want a review published or not. Thinkific will not publish any reviews without their permission.

Another way to keep students interested is to send them constant updates. Thinkific lets course instructors send push notifications to their students whenever they publish new content or other resources via the website.

Customer Support

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In addition, as one would expect from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a excellent job in providing customer support.

Before you sign-up before you sign up, you can read cases studies and articles on the official website. There are also easily accessible videos and demos of the product to browse through.

And once you’re already subscribed You can log into Thinkific’s Help Center. There, you’ll find tools to help you get started on how to sell online courses.

Thinkific offers guides as well as training videos to guide you through the interface. In addition, as we stated earlier, there are also forums for users to voice out your concerns. Other users and instructors are able to be available to assist you.

For more severe issues You can submit a ticket to ask for assistance from the customer service team. And if you’re subscribed to business plan and above, you get prioritised response.

One catch is that Thinkific doesn’t have a live chat feature though. It’s just a matter of waiting long enough for a response from the company.

How Does Thinkific Work

As with any other platform review of course, this Thinkific review will help you understand how to begin using Thinkific. All you have to do is follow these steps.

Step 1: Create an account

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The first step is to sign-up and then create your Thinkific account. You’ll be automatically subscribed to the trial trial that is free after registration.

Step 2: Personalize Your Course Player

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After you have created your account then you can begin to personalize the course players. You can use a specific colour scheme to ensure it corresponds with your company’s logo and theme.

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The course player is the tool your subscribers will be using to access the content of your course. Videos, audio files, and quizzes will all be available through the course player.

Step 3: Create Your Course

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The next step is to create an online learning course. Utilizing the course Builder program, you are able to set up the course by adding lessons, modules and other files to it.

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The content of the course can be divided into categories and sections. You can also give your online courses customized labels that help them be easier to find.

Step 4: Personalize Your Website

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After your content is ready, you can finish the overall look of your website. With Thinkific You are able to personalize every landing page to suit each course you’ve got.

The Thinkific Site Builder lets you create a color scheme and theme for your home page. This is where classes will be set up. Students will be able browse through the course and select which ones they like from there.

You can also personalize the landing pages for each course. It’s best to set an entirely different design for each course so that they’re simple to distinguish but blend into your overall branding.

Step 5: Name Your Website

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What you have to do after material, courses player and the customization is to name your site. Make sure the name is memorable and still appropriate to your brand.

Step 6: Publish Your Course

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When everything is in place, you can publish the course. For publishing, you only must set a cost and the specific payment details.

A card that is referred to as a course will have to be created. The course card is the one that appears on your students’ dashboards. When they look it up they’ll be able get a quick overview of your online course as well as the content.

A good course card will prove invaluable when selling courses on Thinkific.

What needs to be improved on in Thinkific

There’s a lot to be awed by about Thinkific but it’s not without flaws. In this Thinkific review we’ve listed the areas we think can still be improved.

Limited Quizzing Features

We think Thinkific does an excellent job at course creation and content uploading but we feel that quiz features could be improved.

The assessment template available on Thinkific is extremely basic. Although it’s sufficient to gain an idea of how much your pupils know, it’s not enough for asking more complex questions.

If you’re happy with short check-up style tests at the end of each course, then that’s exactly what Thinkific can provide you with. For questions that require longer and more precise outputs, you might want to consider a different platform.

The absence of Email Marketing Tools

As previously mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications , and these include tools for marketing via email. However, it doesn’t provide email marketing tools of its own.

Though there are many third-party tools that work but it would still be great to have Thinkific already had this on its own. It would have speeded up the process.

There is no live chat support

And even though we think that the response time to customer inquiries is swift, it doesn’t make up for the absence of a live chat option.

Customers with more urgent problems will not be able to have them resolved quickly. They’ll be forced to wait for the ticket response particularly if they’re not subscribed to the paid plans.

Thinkific Pricing

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Thinkific offers three paid plans that you can subscribe to. When you sign up, you’ll have access to the free plan with no fee for transactions or other hidden charges.

Thinkific Free

Thinkific Gift Cards

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Thinkific’s free plan is unique in that, unlike other plans, it doesn’t expire. You can use the free plan for as long as you want to use Thinkific. Thinkific Gift Cards

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

With the Thinkific FREE plan, users are able to create three courses and then customize them by incorporating your personal branding. You can enrich your courses with quizzes and other resources as well.

You can enroll an unlimited quantity of pupils, streamline the sign-up process, monitor their progress. Surveys can be also distributed to them so that you can gauge what they think about the classes they’re taking. Thinkific Gift Cards

Thinkific’s free plans also allow one administrator for your site and multiple instructor profiles and 24/7 access to the students’ information. It also allows you to keep track of the conversion rates and click rates of your learners.

The free plan allows search engine optimization for your content. So, your course are more easily found by your customers. You can also embed third-party applications and websites to your site to improve the user experience.

Thinkific Basic

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Thinkific Basic is $49 per month. However, if you decide for a payment plan that is annual, it’ll only cost you $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. That way, selling courses will be much easier. Thinkific Gift Cards

Another thing you don’t get in this plan for free is option for drip-feeding your posts, to send coupons to customers, and gain access to analytics.

To break that down into two parts, drip content, you must release data to your students at regular intervals over time. Second, you can send coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who may need a boost in incentive to keep them subscribed. The third option that you have access to are marketing conversion and affiliate reporting rates.

And with this plan it is easy to connect third-party tools you’d like to use. These include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp and many more.

Additionally, you can 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. However, if you’re annual billing, it’s $79 per month.

This plan get all the same features as you would with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only difference is that you get greater options for setting up and benefits.

The Thinkific Pro plan lets you have 2 site administrators and 5 course admin accounts. It will also include advanced course pricing options and editing HTML/CSS codes. Thinkific Gift Cards

You’ll have the ability to design exclusive courses which only a specific number of people can access. In addition, you’ll be able to offer subscription bundles and freebies for your subscribers.

Course creators also have access to the more sophisticated assessment, quiz, and assessment features.

Growth Package

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With The Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Plan that is available. The best part is that once you have more than 100 people subscribed to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge additional fees over the monthly fee of $99.

However, don’t worry because the cost of your subscription grants you access to extra features. You can send out bulk emails, integrate third-party tools, and group your users according to different criteria.

Thinkific Premier

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The Thinkific Premier is the least expensive plan. It is priced at $499 per month but when it’s billed annually, it is $399 per month. Thinkific Gift Cards

When subscribed for this package, you’ll have access to all the same features as the Basic, Free and Pro plans. The reason it has a distinct advantage and the higher price is that it’s geared towards larger companies that have more members.

This Thinkific Premier plan lets you manage 5 sites and 50 courses admin accounts. It also allows for something called a Single-Sign-On (SSO). This is helpful when you have a lot of subscribers that will have access to the same web page.

The plan also includes an onboarding program that is 30 minutes of onboarding, as well as an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guide.

You’ll also have access to the Growth package for a cheaper price. There’ll be a fixed 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 get access to useful features. There aren’t any fees hidden, so you don’t be spending more than you planned to.

Others also liked the white-labeling option of Thinkific. It lets you improve the branding of your company even if it’s an individual business.

Finally, many educators love using Thinkific because it’s great for learners. It’s easy to navigate and explore.

“I liked that this had the option to upload files in the discussions. It’s a good thing I picked this option because other sites take an amount of your income and you have to wait longer for money. There are no transaction fees!” -Anonymous

“I liked that you could make an access gateway, the course and payment methods all in 1 interface without having to purchase additional products. I particularly enjoy how easy you can set up the courses up , if you’ve got your curriculum designed and has white-labeling.” – Anonymous

“Thinkific lets you begin making courses for free, and will keep them for free for the rest of your life. It’s a great way to learn how to create courses without spending a dime.” -Anonymous

“Thinkific made it simple to design and run our online course for financial advisors. The support team at Thinkific was always quick to reply and help us to understand the process. I also love the fact the ability to white-label and have an individual domain.” – Anonymous

“Classes were more fun, entertaining, and easy particularly for our students who were older. Teachers enjoyed making use of it to design their classes and share their work.” -Anonymous

Alternatives to Thinkific

If the Thinkific review hasn’t convinced you of its potential as an online course platform If you’re still not convinced, check out these two alternatives:

Kajabi

Kajabi is one of the very first online course platforms that will probably get your attention when you begin asking questions. It’s a complete platform that allows you to create and sell your online courses. Thinkific is like Kajabi in this way.

If you sign up to Kajabi, you’ll be able to easily create a course and then add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes that you can modify your website from the get-go. The site editor lets you add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Gift Cards

As for quiz features It has an advantage over Thinkific due to its more sophisticated options. You can make more personalized quizzes and assessment types. Additionally, you can host webinars and video tutorials for better clarity in teaching.

A lot of teachers love the fact that they can reward their students with certificates for every successful course. And they can also choose to send content out to their subscribers, just like Thinkific.

Another difference Kajabi is different over Thinkific has to do with the fact it has superior marketing features. Though Thinkific does let you easily sell online courses, it does not allow you to create a sales funnel builder which could make your process more well-organized.

Kajabi also provides tools for marketing emails and automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. You don’t need to install with a third-party program to send email sequences and broadcasts to your subscribers.

It is worth noting though that Kajabi is much pricier than Thinkific.

Check out the Kajabi review – The All-in-One online course platform

Teachable

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In addition to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s other closest competitor. It’s because they have plenty of similarities as online course platforms.

Teachable’s interface is user-friendly and includes useful features that can aid you in creating your content. There are templates for themes that have been created which you can use to make your website look nice even without previous web design experience.

As with Thinkific, instructors can choose to distribute the content they share to their subscribers.

But what is what sets Teachable against Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of using templates that are basic, Teachable lets you customize your tests and quizzes.

Like Kajabi it is possible to organize webinars and videos to encourage the participation of your followers. There’s also an option to create a sales page for your online course for better conversion rates.

One more thing we like about Teachable is that you can also give your subscribers certificates for every course they complete. In contrast to Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can utilize to send bulk emails to our users.

READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features

READ: Kajabi vs. Teachable

Final Review and Conclusion on Thinkific Review

Thinkific Gift Cards

Thinkific has a variety of features that make it worth an annual subscription. It’s easy to use. You can design a unique online course and then market it, even if you’re new to the market.

The software also includes pre-made layouts and templates that help you set up your site. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML codes to create a professional-looking site.

If you choose any of these paid options, you’ll have access to the latest features that can enhance your branding. You can opt out of the Thinkific subdomain and instead use Advanced users to set up their own domain name with hosting and build out most of the pages of their site on their own URL.

You can also integrate third-party applications to Thinkific, especially as it doesn’t have its own email marketing tools.

Students can also interact with their instructors via online discussion on Thinkific. They can conveniently request assistance during classes and ask questions on their modules. Teachers can assist the questions promptly.

Customer support isn’t too bad also. Prioritization of responses is given in the event you’re on other plans with a paid subscription. But just remember that there is no live chat option.

Overall though, our verdict in our Thinkific Review is it’s well worth a test. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be a good starting point for creating courses.

The free plan is also available for the duration of time, unlike other platforms. If you’re in a pinch for money and want to save money, this is an excellent choice as you’ll be able to access amazing features for no cost at all.

We strongly recommend to try Thinkific out.

If you liked reading this Thinkific reviews, you may take a look at our review of our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today 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.