When you’re trying to decide which online learning platform to go with You’ll likely be presented with a variety of options. Thinkific is a worthy standout due to its numerous useful features.
There are many criteria to watch out for in an online course platform and Thinkific offers them all. Keep reading this Thinkific reviews below to find more information about its unique features and benefits.
A brief overview of Thinkific Review Thinkific Lti
Thinkific is among the more popular choices for selling and creating online courses. Besides having an easy-to-navigate design, this platform offers already-designed templates that you can use for building your brand site.
With just a few mouse clicks, you’ll get to make and sell online courses, even if you have no prior experience. The drag and drop feature of the website makes it simple to get started.
Online course creators will be especially curious about the advanced quiz components for every course you make. They will make the course more interesting to the students.
This online tool for creating courses also lets you upload different types of files to enrich the content of your Thinkific course.
Like many online course platforms, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. You can send out email sequences through Thinkific itself or via outside apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Continue reading this Thinkific review to learn more about this well-known online learning platform.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Pre-made templates
- 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 any hidden costs
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Insufficient email marketing tools
- There is no live chat support
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is a cloud-based online course platform. This means that anything you create on it is automatically saved online. This helps to make course creation more efficient and simple.
Plus that, as an Learning Management System (LMS) offers many customizable options for course creators. You can create an easy course, and then upload other materials to supplement your lessons.
If you’re one of those course creators who prefer writing your course offline prior to uploading it, then Thinkific is the right choice for you. It allows you to do this and then upload your course later to the internet.
Thinkific is also the host for all of the web pages that you create on it so can basically upload as much content you’d like.
You can create an entirely new online course site even with no design experience 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 to help speed up the sales course’s selling Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community that you can market your courses and interact with other creators of courses.
Finally, Thinkific is also a good option for people who have their own website but want to improve their marketing, and also gain students. It is possible to connect third-party websites to Thinkific to reach a wider market.
Features and Benefits of Thinkific
In this Thinkific review We break down the key features and benefits to are what make Thinkific stand out.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses appear on your website can greatly influence conversion rates. This is the reason we love that Thinkific comes with an editor that drags and drops. It helps you manage your website and digital products.
You are able to arrange the courses and lessons however way you want. There is no need to learn complicated codes or techniques. All you need to do is click on the item you’d like to display and drag it to where you want it to appear.
The majority of the essential elements that make your site look more professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From the logos, color schemes, as well as fonts to find everything you require from the site.
But if you do want to go that extra mile and make your site better you can still choose to input CSS and HTML code into Thinkific. It’s up to you to decide.
Additionally, you can utilize the drag and drop feature for uploading supplemental materials to your classes. Almost every kind of media file is supported by the editor’s uploader. You can upload the audio of your course, as well as quizzes, as well as PDFs, to add value to your class.
Even the quiz types that you create can easily be altered using the editor. Simply select the type of assessment you want to be under your instruction and drag it into the course. You can select from type forms, surveys, and multiple-choice types, among many others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific goes beyond the drag-and-drop editor. Its site builder for the course can be effective in getting everything up and in place.
As we mentioned earlier, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means you don’t have to worry about uploading limits. Your online storage capacity is infinite when you’re using Thinkific.
If you’re thinking about Domains Thinkific lets you select a unique URL you can use in conjunction with its subdomain. Your URL will look like this: .thinkific.com
This way, your site is more memorable and easier for students to remember.
If you’d like to forego your Thinkific subdomain, there’s also the option of registering an individual domain to your site. It’s just a matter of paying slightly more to get it.
Templates that are pre-made
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With regard to the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-made layout and course templates you can choose from. It saves you from the need to create your own website completely from scratch.
The platform offers template choices, depending on the kind of Thinkific course you’re making. If, for instance, you’re creating an introduction course, you could choose the mini-course template. For assessments and culmination for your course, you could pick a review template.
As for themes and layout templates There are many to select from. Once you’ve picked one that fits your course, Thinkific offers settings to alter the colors, fonts and design of the elements of the template.
Again, there is absolutely no requirement to enter complex codes or even text. You simply have to click on the content you wish to include on your site and drag it onto the layout.
But yes, if you’re still interested in using HTML and CSS There’s an option.
You can also alter the arrangement and layout of your site periodically. The different sections can be organized chronologically so that your students know which lessons to focus on.
Payment Options
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As for payment, Thinkific offers options to connect Stripe and PayPal into your website. With these third-party processors it is possible to get your earnings as quickly as 1 to 2 days.
This is a sharp contrast with other online courses with a payment schedule of 30-day intervals. With Thinkific, you can cash out more easily.
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For your students, they can choose from an one-time payment plan or an installment-based subscription plan. You can also offer discounts, bundles coupons, and bundles with the payment option they choose.
Take note that when you use the one-time payment plan your customers will have to pay a one-time transaction fee in addition. The same goes for the installment subscription scheme, except that transaction fees will be broken down across the installment period.
Marketing and Sales Highlights
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Beyond being an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective in marketing online courses. Like we said, it comes with features that allow you to create and market courses in just a few clicks.
Once you publish your class, you are able to immediately make it available for sale using your Market and Sell feature on the dashboard.
You can customize your website to optimize the conversion rates of your customers. You can alter the way your checkout and sign-up pages will look like to visitors. This way they’ll be more enticed to take a look at an online course.
You can also improve how your courses appear on your website. They can be more attractive by categorizing your courses into groups that users can easily explore.
In addition, as we’ve discussed previously it is possible to bundle your courses using discount coupons and freebies. This way, your students will be enticed to sign up more often in your class.
A sales widget may also be developed using Thinkific. It’s basically a button that can be embedded on third-party websites which will connect directly to your platform for courses. You can personalize the buttons to use a particular color scheme and logo so that they are more in line with your brand and also look more professional.
Thinkific can also allow you to create an affiliate program to allow you to reach more audiences. Right on the site you can design affiliate links which you can transmit to the affiliates you have. These links will be used to lead their audience to your site and sign up in a class.
And once the affiliate program is in operation, you can access its progress on the Thinkific website. You’ll get 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 email marketing campaigns, Aweber is a good tool that can be synced to your Thinkific account.
Student Management
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A learning management system can not be effective when it does not cover all aspects of online education. This includes keeping an eye on student development.
Thinkific has a convenient student management system. It lets you easily pull up your students’ contact details and basic information.
You can also customize the sign-up sheet for your subscribers to ask for specific information. Thinkific’s template asks for names emails, names, as well as contact phone numbers. If you’re looking for more specific details, you can toggle with your settings and add an extra field to the sign-up form.
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Once you have your subscribers pooled you can then categorize them based on the courses they have signed up for. This way, you’ll be able to keep track of them for each course easier.
In addition, with the Pro and Premier plans, you can find 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 when you explore the page.
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 when enrolled in an online course.
Discussions that are open between students and their instructors can greatly reduce the learning curve of lessons.
There is a discussion area on Thinkific where students can ask questions they have regarding their online classes. After that, course instructors can reply and provide clarification.
Students are also able to rate and review the courses they’ve attended. The rating will include the performance of the online course instructor as well. In this way, instructors can prove their expertise on Thinkific.
The reviews will also help other students determine whether or not a course is suitable for them. It decreases the chances of a student being dropped out in the middle of an entire class all of a abruptly.
If course creators are worried the reviews might impact them negatively but they don’t have to. They’ll have to decide whether they’d like a review published or not. Thinkific will never publish them without their permission.
Finally, a good way to keep students motivated is to send them constant updates. The Thinkific platform lets instructors send push notifications to students whenever they publish new content or other resources through the site.
Customer Support
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As one would expect from learning management systems, Thinkific does quite a great job with its customer service.
Before you even sign up before you sign up, you can read case studies and article guides on the official website. There are also easily accessible videos and product demonstrations which you can browse.
If you’re already subscribed You can log into Thinkific’s Help Center. There, you’ll find information that can aid you in understanding how to market online courses.
Thinkific includes guides, articles and instructional videos that help you navigate the interface. Plus, as mentioned, there are forums where you can express your worries. Users and instructors can be available to assist you.
If you have more serious problems you may submit an inquiry to seek assistance from the customer service team. If you’re a subscriber to the Business plan or higher, you get priority response.
The only problem is that Thinkific does not have an option to chat live, however. You’ll have to wait patiently for the ticket response.
How Thinkific Works
Like any other course platform review, this Thinkific review will teach you 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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It’s the first thing to do is register and set up your Thinkific account. You’ll automatically be enrolled in 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 the course players. You can select a certain color scheme that corresponds with your company’s logo and themes.
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The course player is the tool your users will use to access your course content. Videos, audio files and quizzes will be available through your course’s player.
Step 3: Design Your Course
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After that, you can design an online learning course. Using the Course Builder tool, you are able to start a new course by adding modules, lessons, and other files to it.
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The content of the course is divided into categories and sections. You can also give your online courses personalized labels that facilitate searching.
Step 4: Customize Your Site
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Once your content is all set, you can finalize the overall look of your website. With Thinkific You have the option of customizing every landing page to suit each course you offer.
It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you create a color scheme and theme for your home page. This is where all the courses you have created will be put up. Students will be able go through it and choose which one interests them from there.
You can also personalize the landing pages for each course. It’s best to set the look of each course so that they’re easy to differentiate but still fit in with your overall branding.
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. Be sure the name is memorable and is still appropriate for your brand.
Step 6: Make Your Course
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When everything is set and you are ready to publish the course. To publish, you just need to decide on a price and specific payment information.
A card that is referred to as a course will have to be created. The course card is the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. If they view it they’ll look up quick information about your online course and the content.
A well-designed course card can be a great help for selling courses on Thinkific.
What is the need for improvement on thinkific
While there’s plenty to love about Thinkific however, it’s not with no flaws. For this Thinkific review we’ve listed down what we think can still be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
While we think that Thinkific does a good job at course creation and uploading content however, we believe that the quiz features can still be enhanced.
The assessment form on Thinkific is fairly basic. While it’s adequate 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 exams at the conclusion of every course, then that’s exactly what Thinkific offers you. If your questions require longer and more specific results, you might want to try another platform.
The absence of Email Marketing Tools
As previously mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party software and include tools for marketing via email. However, this is only because it doesn’t have email marketing tools on its own.
Although there are a lot of third-party tools that work however, it would be great to know that Thinkific already had the software by itself. It would have speeded up the process.
There is no live chat support
We’re sure that the response from customer service is quick, it still isn’t enough to make up for lack of a live chat feature.
Users who have more urgent issues aren’t likely to get the issue resolved in a hurry. They’ll have to just sit and wait for the response particularly if they’re not subscribed to the paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific has three paid plans you can subscribe to. After signing to the plan, you’ll then be able to sign up for the free plan with no fee for transactions or other hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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The free plan offered by Thinkific is unique in that, unlike other plans the plan doesn’t expire. It is possible to use the free plan as long as you want to use Thinkific. Thinkific Lti
Apart from being absolutely free, it doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction fees regardless of whether you sell courses. It’s perfect for course creators who are looking to cut back on expenses or for small-scale entrepreneurs just starting out.
The Thinkific free plan, you are able to create three courses and then customize them by incorporating your personal branding. Your courses can be enhanced by adding quizzes, other materials and more as well.
You are able to enroll in a quantity of pupils, streamline their signup process, and monitor their progression. Surveys can also be sent to them so that you can determine how they feel about the course they’re studying. Thinkific Lti
The free plan of Thinkific also provides 1 authorized site administrator as well as multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your the students’ information. It also allows you to monitor the click rate and conversion rates for your learners.
The free plan also allows for search engine optimization for your content. So, your course will be more easily discovered by potential customers. You may also add third-party websites and applications to your own website to improve the user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 per month, but if you choose to pay annually, it’ll only cost $39 per month.
With it, you get all the same features that the free plan offers along with additional benefits that are premium. First, you can make unlimited courses. This way, selling your courses is also easier. Thinkific Lti
Another thing you wouldn’t get with the free plan is the option to distribute your contents, send coupons to customers, and gain access to analytics.
To put it into perspective in two steps, firstly, drip content means to release information to your students on an interval that is set and gradually. Additionally, you can mail out coupons for discounts and other freebies to students who may need a boost in incentive to remain subscribed. The third option you can access are marketing conversion and affiliate reporting rates.
With this plan you are able to easily connect third-party tools you want to use. These include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp as well as others.
Finally, you can also create a custom domain for your site with the standard plan. No need to use the Thinkific domain for your website’s URL any longer.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month but if you get annual billing, it’s $79 per month.
This plan receive the same features as you would with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only distinction is that you have higher-end settings as well as advantages.
The Thinkific Pro plan lets you have 2 site administrators and five course administrator accounts. There will also be advanced pricing options for courses and editing HTML/CSS codes. Thinkific Lti
You’ll be able create private courses that only a certain amount of users are able to access. In addition, you’ll be able to offer subscription bundles and freebies for your users.
Course creators can also use the more advanced assessment, quiz and assessment tools.
Growth Package
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In it being the Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Package that is available. It’s a good thing that once you get more than 100 users subscribed to your plan, 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 additional features. It is possible to send mass emails, incorporate third-party software, and organize your users according to various parameters.
Thinkific Premier
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The Thinkific Premier plan is the most expensive plan. It costs $499 per month but when it is billed annually, it will cost $399 per month. Thinkific Lti
If you’re subscribed for this package, you’ll access the same features that are available in the Free, Basic, as well as the Pro plan. What gives it its edge and the higher price is that it’s geared towards larger organizations with more members.
Its Thinkific Premier plan lets you have five site admin accounts and 50 courses admin accounts. There is also a feature called a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is useful when you have a huge bulk of subscribers that will have access to the same web page.
The plan also includes an onboarding program that is a 30-minute onboarding call, as well as an onboarding review of preparations and an online training guides.
Additionally, you’ll have an access Growth package at a lower fee. There will be a flat cost that you only have to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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Reviewers and users of Thinkific particularly love how cost-efficient it is. Even with the free plan, you will have access to useful features. Also, there aren’t any hidden charges so you won’t be spending more than you anticipated to.
Other users also adored the white-labeling feature of Thinkific. It allows you to enhance your brand’s image even if you’re a small company.
Finally, many educators love using Thinkific because it’s perfect for students. It’s easy to use and explore.
“I liked that this had an option to upload documents in the discussions. It’s a good thing I picked this one because others take an amount of your income and you have to wait longer for money. There are no transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I enjoyed the ability to make an access gateway, the courses and payment methods in one interface without any needs for additional software. I really appreciate how simple you can set up the courses if you’ve had your curriculum designed and white-labeling is enabled.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific will let you start creating courses for free and keep them free forever. Really, this is an excellent way to get started with how to create courses without having to pay a cent.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it simple to develop and run our online course for financial advisors. Thinkific’s support team was always quick to get back to us and helped us to understand the process. And I love the possibility of white-labeling and use an individual domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were fun engaging, enjoyable, and simple especially for our more advanced learners. Teachers loved using it to create their classes and to share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
In case this Thinkific review isn’t convincing you of its potential as an online learning 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 recommend to you when you begin asking questions. It’s an all-in-one system that allows you to create and sell your courses online. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in that way.
When you sign up with Kajabi the platform, you’ll be able to create your own course and then add content. The platform offers built-in templates and themes that you could make use of to personalize your site right from the beginning. The site editor allows you to add several sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Lti
As for quiz features, it has an edge against Thinkific because it has more advanced options. You can create more customized quizzes and assessment types. Additionally, you can host videos and webinars to provide greater clarity in teaching.
Many educators particularly love the fact that they can award their students with certificates for every successful course. Additionally, they are able to send content out to their subscribers, much as Thinkific.
But another difference that Kajabi has from Thinkific is that it has more effective marketing tools. Though Thinkific allows you to easily market online courses, it doesn’t allow you to create an automated sales funnel which could make your process more well-organized.
Kajabi also provides tools for marketing emails and email automation, which is different from Thinkific. You won’t have to integrate an application from a third party to send emails and broadcasts to your customers.
You do have to note that Kajabi is more expensive than Thinkific.
Read: Review of Kajabi – the All-in-1 Online Course Platform
Teachable
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Following Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar rival. It’s because they have plenty of similarities as online courses platforms.
Teachable’s interface is user-friendly and comes with useful features that can help you get started with creating content. There are pre-made theme templates which you can use to make your site look attractive, even if you have no previous experience in web design.
As with Thinkific, instructors can choose to distribute the content they release to their subscribers.
What distinguishes Teachable apart from Thinkific is its quiz-taking options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your quizzes and assessments.
Similar to Kajabi, you can organize webinars and videos to encourage participation from your customers. You can also create a sales page for your online course to increase conversion rates.
Another thing we like about Teachable is the ability to give your subscribers certificates for every course they complete. And unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools you can utilize to send out bulk emails to our users.
Read: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Verdict on Thinkific Review
Thinkific Lti
Thinkific has a variety of advantages which make it worthy of the cost of a subscription. It’s simple to use. You can create a unique online course and then market it, even if an aspiring seller.
It also comes with pre-made templates and layouts to help you set up the website. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML-related codes in order to create professional-looking websites.
If you choose one of the plans that are paid you get access to advanced options that will improve your brand. You can opt out of using the Thinkific subdomain and instead use Advanced users will set up their own domain names with hosting and build out most of the pages of their website on their own URL.
It is possible to integrate third-party applications to Thinkific particularly as it doesn’t have its own built-in tools for marketing via email.
Students are also able to interact with their instructors via online discussion on Thinkific. They can request assistance during classes and ask questions on their modules. In turn, the teachers can assist the questions in person.
Customer service isn’t terrible either. Prioritization of responses is given when you’re subscribed to other plans with a paid subscription. Be aware that this plan doesn’t have a live chat option.
Overall though, our verdict on our Thinkific evaluation is well worth a test. If you’re a beginner course creator, Thinkific seems to be an excellent starting point for learning how to create courses.
The free plan lasts for a lifetime and is not tied to other platforms. If you’re tight on money this is a great option since you’ll have access to amazing features for zero cost.
We strongly recommend that you try Thinkific out.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this Thinkific reviews, you can also read through our review of our pick of Best Online Course Platforms available today here.