When deciding which online course platform to use, you’ll probably be presented with a variety of options. Thinkific is a worthy standout because of its many helpful features.
There are a variety of aspects to be aware of in an online course platform and Thinkific is one of them. Read through the Thinkific Review below and find more about its unique advantages and features.
Review of Thinkific Review Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
Thinkific is among the most well-known options for creating and selling online courses. Apart from having an easy-to-use interface, it also has pre-designed templates you can build your own brand-new website.
With just a few clicks it’s possible to create and sell online courses without any prior knowledge. Drag and drop functionality of the website makes it simple to begin.
Online course creators will be particularly interested in the advanced quiz elements for every course you make. They will make the course more appealing to the students.
The online course builder lets you upload different kinds of files to enhance the content of your Thinkific course.
And like most online course platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. You can send out emails either via Thinkific itself or via external apps such as MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Continue reading this 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
- Student feedback capabilities
- Affordable customer support
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- No transaction fees , or hidden charges
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Lack of email marketing tools
- No live chat support
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online course platform built on cloud technology. This means that anything you make on it is automatically saved online. This makes course creation more efficient and simple.
Plus, as an Learning Management System (LMS), it provides many custom options for instructors. You can easily create a course and then upload various materials to supplement your lessons.
If you’re among those instructors who like to draft your course offline before uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is perfect for you. You can do just that and then upload your course online later on.
Thinkific can also host all web pages you make on it so can basically upload whatever content you want.
It is possible to create an online course site even with no design experience also. You won’t have to endure a lengthy learning curve when you use Thinkific It’s that simple.
There are a variety of distribution and marketing options that will speed up the selling course’s selling Thinkific course. There’s an online marketplace community that you can market your courses and interact with other creators of courses.
Finally, Thinkific is also a great option for people who have their own website but just want to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more students. It is possible to connect third-party websites to Thinkific for a greater reach audience.
The Benefits and Features of Thinkific
This Thinkific review, we break down the key features and advantages that are what make Thinkific shine.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way your courses appear on your website will significantly affect conversion rates. This is the reason we love that Thinkific has a drag and drop editor. It helps you manage your website and digital products.
You are able to arrange the courses and lessons the way you want. No need to be concerned with complicated code or methods. Simply select the item you’d like to display and drag it over to the place you want it to appear.
The majority of the essential elements that create a website that looks professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From logos to the color schemes as well as fonts to discover everything you require to make your site look professional on this platform.
But if you do want to go that extra mile and personalize your website There’s still the option to enter CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you decide.
Plus, you can also make use of drag and drop to upload additional material for your classes. Almost every kind of media file can be uploaded by the editor’s uploader. It is possible to upload audio files, quizzes, as well as PDFs, to add value to your class.
Even the quiz types that you create can easily be altered with the help of the editor. Choose the assessment type you would like to include in your instruction and drag it there. You can pick from types of surveys, type forms as well as multiple-choice assessments among others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific is much more than the drag and drop editors. Its overall course site builder helps you get everything set up and up and running.
As we mentioned earlier, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means you don’t have to worry about uploading limitations. Your online storage is basically infinite when you’re using Thinkific.
If you’re thinking about subdomains Thinkific lets you choose a unique URL that can be used 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 recall.
If you’d like to forego the Thinkific subdomain, there’s also an option to register an individual domain to your site. You’ll need to pay an extra amount for 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 will help you avoid needing to create your site totally from scratch.
The platform gives you template choices, depending on the kind of Thinkific course it is that you’re making. If, for instance, you’re creating an introduction to course, you could choose a mini course-type template. For assessment and culminating it is possible to pick a review template.
For layout and theme templates There are several to choose from. After you’ve selected one which is appropriate for your style, Thinkific offers settings to modify the colors, fonts and layout of the elements in the template.
Again, there is absolutely no requirement to input complicated codes or even text. Simply click on the content you wish to put on your website and drag it onto the layout.
However, if you still want to use HTML and CSS it’s still an option to do so.
It is also possible to alter the arrangement and layout of your website from time to time. The various sections can be placed in a chronological order so that your students are aware of which lessons to focus on.
Payment Options
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In terms of payment options, Thinkific offers options to connect Stripe and PayPal to your site. With these third-party processors, you can easily access your earnings in as soon as 1 to 2 days.
This is a sharp contrast to other online course platforms which have a pay-out schedule of 30-day intervals. With Thinkific it is possible to withdraw more quickly.
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For your students, they can choose from one-time payment plans or an installment subscription plan. And you can offer bundles, discounts, coupons, and bundles with the payment option they pick.
Just note that for the one-time payment option, your subscribers will pay an one-time transaction fee in addition. Similar to the installment subscription plan, only that the transaction fees will be broken down across the duration of the installment.
Marketing and Sales Features
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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 develop and sell courses in just a few clicks.
Once you publish the course you can immediately place it for sale using the Market and Sell choice on the menu on your Dashboard.
You can customize your website to optimize the conversion rates of your clients. You can improve how your checkout and sign-up pages will look like to visitors. That way users will be more inclined to check out the online course.
You can also improve how your courses appear on your site. Make them look more interesting by filtering your courses into groups that the users are able to easily navigate.
In addition, as we’ve discussed previously You can also bundle your courses with discount coupons and freebies. That way, your users will be motivated to subscribe more often in your class.
A sales widget may also be created through Thinkific. It’s basically a button that can be embedded on third-party websites which will direct users to your platform for courses. It is possible to personalize the buttons to use a particular design and color scheme so that they look more on-brand as well.
Thinkific also lets you manage an affiliate program that will allow you to reach more audiences. Through the website, you can create affiliate links which you can send to affiliate partners. They’ll use these links to direct their customers to your site and sign up in a course.
And once the affiliate program is running, you can access its progress right on the Thinkific site. You’ll be able to track sales, revenue, and other commissions.
You can also choose to integrate other applications to Thinkific. If you’re interested in email marketing campaigns, then Aweber is a great tool that can be synced directly with the account you have.
Student Management
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A learning management system can not be effective when it does not cover every aspect of online teaching. It’s also important to keep track of student performance.
Thinkific provides a simple student management system for students. With it, you are able to easily pull up the contact information of your students and other basic details.
You can also personalize the sign-up sheet for your subscribers by asking for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names, email addresses, along with contact number. If you’re seeking specific information, simply switch your settings to add a new field to the sign-up sheet.
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When you’ve had your subscribers pooled, you can classify them based on the courses they signed up for. This way, you’ll be able to monitor them per course much simpler.
In addition, with the Pro and Premier plans, you are able to find a specific user based on his/her registration date, the date of their enrollment, subscribed courses and job type. There are different categories you can choose from as you browse the site.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators but also students. So, feedback from students is encouraged when enrolled in an online course.
An open discussion between the students and instructors can greatly reduce the learning curve associated with lessons.
There is a discussion section on Thinkific wherein students can post questions they have regarding their online classes. The instructors of the course can respond and clarify their answers.
Students are also able to rate and evaluate the courses they’ve completed. The rating will include the quality of the online instructor as well. In this way, instructors can establish their credibility on Thinkific.
These reviews can also assist other students determine which course is suitable for them. It decreases the chances of a student being dropped out within the middle of a lesson all of a suddenly.
And if course creators are worried that the reviews might affect them negatively, 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 permission.
Finally, a good way to keep students interested is to provide them with regular updates. The Thinkific platform lets instructors send push notifications to students when they post new lessons or resources via the website.
Customer Support
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As one would expect from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a excellent job in providing customer support.
Before you sign-up You can look up articles and case studies on the official website. You can also access videos and product demonstrations which you can browse.
And once you’re already subscribed, you can access Thinkific’s Help Center. There, you’ll find tools to help you get started on how to sell online courses.
Thinkific includes guides, articles and instructional videos that help you navigate the interface. In addition, as we mentioned, there are user discussions wherein you can express your worries. Other users and instructors are able to respond to help you out.
For more severe issues You can submit a ticket to ask for assistance from our service department. And if you’re subscribed to the Business plan or higher, you get priority response.
One catch is that Thinkific does not offer a live chat feature though. It’s just a matter of waiting patiently for the ticket response.
How Does Thinkific Work
Similar to any other platform review of course This Thinkific review will help you understand how to get started with 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 register and then create an account on Thinkific account. You’ll automatically be enrolled in the trial for free upon signing up.
Step 2: Customize Your Course Player
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Once you have a login then you can begin to personalize your course player. You can choose a particular colour scheme to ensure it is in line with your logo and the theme.
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Your course player is what your subscribers will be using to access your course content. Audio files, videos, and quizzes will be available through this player.
Step 3: Build Your Course
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The next step is to create an online learning course. Using the course Builder program, you can set up the course by adding modules, lessons, and other files to it.
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The content of the course can be divided into sections and categories. You may also assign your online courses customized labels to help them be easier to find.
Step 4: Customize Your Site
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After your content is set, you can finalize the design of your site. With Thinkific, you are able to personalize every landing page to suit each course you’ve got.
It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you choose a color scheme as well as a theme for your home page. This is where all of the courses you have created will be set up. Students can go through it and choose which one interests them from there.
You can also personalize the landing pages for each course. It’s recommended to create an entirely different design for each course to make them easily identifiable, yet fit in with your overall branding.
Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website
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The next thing to do once the content, course player, and customization are done is to identify the name of your website. Make sure that the name is memorable but still the right fit for your brand.
Step 6: Publish Your Course
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When everything is all set and you are ready to publish the course. For publishing, you only must set a cost and provide specific details for payment.
Something called a course card must be designed. The course card is what appears on your students’ dashboards. When they see it, they’ll be able to get a quick overview of your online course and content.
A good course card will be a great help for making courses available on Thinkific.
What Needs Improvement on Thinkific
And while there’s so much to love about Thinkific however, it’s not without a few flaws. For this Thinkific review we’ve listed the areas we believe could be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
Although we believe that Thinkific does an excellent job at course creation and content uploading however, we believe that the quiz features can still be enhanced.
The assessment template on Thinkific is very basic. Though it’s enough to get an idea of how much your pupils know, it’s not enough to ask more difficult questions.
If you’re happy with short check-up type quizzes at the end of each course, then that’s what Thinkific offers you. If your questions require longer and more specific outputs 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 email marketing. However, it doesn’t provide email marketing tools of its own.
Though there are many third-party tools that are efficient, it still would be nice to have Thinkific already had it by itself. It would’ve sped up the process.
No live chat support
We’re sure that the response time to customer inquiries is swift, it isn’t enough to make up for lack of a live chat option.
Users who have more urgent issues won’t be able to get the issue resolved in a hurry. They’ll have to just wait for a response to their ticket, especially if they aren’t signed up to paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific offers three paid plans you can subscribe to. And upon signing up, you’ll be able to access an unpaid plan, without fee for transactions or other hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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The free plan offered by Thinkific is unique because unlike that of competitors, it doesn’t expire. You can use the plan for as long as you want to continue using Thinkific. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
In addition to being completely free, it doesn’t charge any hidden fees or transaction fees even when you offer courses. It’s perfect for course designers who wish to cut down on costs or small entrepreneurs just getting started.
The Thinkific free plan, you can design three courses that you can customize with your own branding. You can enrich your courses with quizzes and other resources as well.
You can sign up any number of students, and automate the sign-up process, monitor their performance. Surveys can also be distributed to them, so you can gauge what they think about the classes they’re taking. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
Thinkific’s free plan also allows one administrator for your site and multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your students’ data. You can also keep track of the conversion rates and click rates of your students.
Finally, the free plan will also allow search engine optimization of your content. So, your course are more easily found by potential customers. You may also add third-party websites and applications to your own site to enhance the user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 a month but when you opt for a payment plan that is annual, it’ll only cost $39 per month.
It comes with all the same features that the free plan offers, as well as added premium benefits. You can first create unlimited courses. Selling courses will be much easier. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
One more thing that you won’t have in this plan for free is ability for drip-feeding your posts, to send out coupons, and accessing analytics.
To simplify into two parts, drip content, you must release data to your students at regular intervals over time. Additionally, you can mail out coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who may require additional incentive to remain engaged. And third, the analytics that you have access to are the affiliate reports and conversion rates.
And with this plan, you can easily integrate the third-party tools that you want to use. They include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp as well as others.
In addition, you could design a custom domain to your website with the basic plan. You don’t need the Thinkific domain for your URL now.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month. However, if you’re annual billing, it’s $79 each month.
This plan get all the same features as you would with the Free and Basic plans. The only distinction is that you have greater options for setting up and advantages.
Thinkific’s Pro plan will let you have 2 site administrators and five course admin accounts. Additionally, there will be advanced pricing options for courses and editing HTML/CSS codes. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
You’ll have the ability to design individual courses only accessible to a limited number of people can access as well. Plus, you can offer subscription bundles and freebies for your subscribers.
Course creators also have access to the more sophisticated quiz, assignment, and assessment features.
Growth Package
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In The Pro plan, you can avail something called a Growth Package is available. The best part is that once you’ve got more than 100 people subscribed to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge additional fees in addition to the $99 per month.
However, don’t worry because the fee entitles you to extra features. You can distribute large quantities of emails, use third-party toolsand groups users based on different parameters.
Thinkific Premier
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The Thinkific Premier plan is the most expensive plan. It is priced at $499 per month. However, when billed annually, it costs $399 per month. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
If you’re subscribed with this program, you’ll have access to the same features that are available in the Basic, Free, and Pro plans. What makes it stand out and the higher price is that it’s designed for bigger companies with more members.
Its Thinkific Premier plan lets you manage 5 sites and 50 account admins for courses. It also allows for something known as a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a large number of subscribers that will have access to the same web page.
Additionally, this plan comes with an onboarding plan that’s an onboarding call lasting 30 minutes along with an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guides.
Additionally, you’ll have an access Growth package at a cheaper price. There’ll be a flat cost that you only have to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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People who’ve used and reviewed Thinkific especially appreciate how affordable it is. Even with its free plans, you get access to helpful features. There aren’t any hidden charges so you won’t spend more than you planned to.
Others also liked the white-labeling feature of Thinkific. It lets you enhance your brand’s image even if you’re an individual company.
In the end, educators are enthralled the use of Thinkific because it’s perfect for children. The interface is easy to navigate and explore.
“I found it interesting that this site had the option to upload files in the discussions. Then I’m glad I choose this particular option as others require a % of income AND it takes longer to wait to receive money. There are no transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I liked that you could make an access gateway, the course, and the payment methods in one interface, without the need for additional software. I especially like how simple it is to set up the courses up , if you’ve got your curriculum designed and has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific lets you begin producing courses for free and allow them to remain free for as long as you want. It’s a great way to learn how to create courses without having to pay a cent.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it easy to design and host our digital course for financial advisors. Thinkific’s support team was always quick to reply and help us to understand the process. I also love the fact the ability to white-label and have a custom domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were more fun as well as entertaining and easy especially for our older learners. Teachers were thrilled using it to build their classes and to share their work.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If the Thinkific review still hasn’t convinced you of its capabilities as an online platform for online courses If you’re still not convinced, check out these two alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is among the very first online course platforms that is likely to recommend to you when you begin asking questions. It’s a complete platform that allows you to create and sell your courses online. Thinkific is like Kajabi in that sense.
When you subscribe to Kajabi, you’ll be able to create your own course and add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes you can make use of to personalize your site immediately. The editor for your website lets you add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
For quiz functions, it has an edge against Thinkific because it comes with more sophisticated options. You can make more personalized 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 the idea of rewarding their students with certificates after every successful course. They can also opt to drip content to their subscribers, just like Thinkific.
Another difference Kajabi differs over Thinkific has to do with the fact it comes with more effective marketing tools. Though Thinkific does let you easily market your on-line courses but it does not allow you to create a sales funnel builder which will help keep your process efficient.
Kajabi also provides 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 customers.
Do note however that Kajabi is pricier than Thinkific.
READ: Kajabi Review – All-in-One Online Course Platform
Teachable
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In addition to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar competitor. This is because they share a lot of similarities in their online courses platforms.
Teachable’s interface is easy to use and includes useful features that will assist you in creating your content. There are pre-made theme templates which you can use to make your site look nice even without previous web design experience.
Like Thinkific, instructors can choose to drip content they release to their subscribers.
What is what sets Teachable different from Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your quizzes and assessments.
Like Kajabi, you can organize webinars and videos to increase the participation of your followers. It is also possible to create a sales page for your online course to increase conversion rates.
One last thing that we love about Teachable is the ability to give your subscribers certificates for every course they finish. And , unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools that you can use to send bulk email to our subscribers.
READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
READ: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Review and Conclusion on Thinkific Review
Thinkific Internal Custom Fields
Thinkific is a great product with a lot of advantages that make it worth a subscription. For one, it’s extremely user-friendly. It’s possible to create an original online course and then market it, even if you’re a first-timer.
Additionally, it comes with pre-made layouts and templates to help you set up up your website. You don’t need to input complex CSS or HTML code to get a professional-looking site.
And if you opt for one of the plans that are paid, you’ll have access to the latest features that will enhance your brand. You can choose to skip using the Thinkific subdomain and opt for Advanced users to create their own domain names using hosting and develop the majority of the pages on their website on the domain’s own address.
You can even connect third-party software to Thinkific in particular since it doesn’t have its own integrated marketing tools for email.
Students are also able to interact with their instructors online via a discussion forum on Thinkific. Students can easily ask for help with classes and ask questions regarding their courses. The teachers can assist the questions promptly.
Support for customers isn’t bad also. Prioritization of responses is given when you’re a subscriber to one of other plans with a paid subscription. Be aware that this plan doesn’t have a live chat function.
In the end, our conclusion for this Thinkific review is that it’s well worth a shot. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be a good starting point for developing courses.
The free plan also lasts for the duration of time unlike other platforms. If you’re strapped for cash and want to save money, this is an excellent option since you’ll have access to amazing features for zero cost.
We strongly suggest that you try Thinkific out.
If you’ve enjoyed this Thinkific reviews, you can also read through our review on one of the Best Online Course Platforms available right now here.
