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Thinkific Vs Skillshare

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When you’re trying to decide which online learning platform to go with there’s a chance you’ll get a lot of options. The Thinkific platform is an outstanding choice because of its many helpful features.

There are many criteria to watch out for in an online course platform and Thinkific is one of them. Read the Thinkific Review below and discover more information about its unique features and advantages.

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A brief overview of Thinkific Review Thinkific Vs Skillshare

Thinkific is among the more popular choices for selling and creating online courses. In addition to having an easy-to-use interface, it also has ready-made templates that you can build your personal website.

With just a few mouse clicks, you’ll get to make and sell online courses without any prior experience. The drag and drop mechanism of the website allows you to easily start.

Online course creators will be particularly interested in the advanced quiz features in every course you design. These can make your lessons more enticing to learn by the students.

The online course builder also allows you to upload various types of files to enrich 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 email sequences through Thinkific itself or via external apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.

Continue reading the Thinkific review to find out more about this popular online course platform.

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 student management
  • Capacity for student feedback
  • Support for customers in a timely manner
  • Access to the plan for life. plan
  • There are no transaction fees or concealed charges

Cons

What is Thinkific?

Thinkific is an online course platform that is cloud-based. It means that all content you make on it is automatically backed up online. This makes course creation more efficient and convenient.

Plus it functions as it is a Learning Management System (LMS) offers many customizable options for course creators. It is easy to create a course, and then upload other material to complement your lessons.

If you’re among those instructors who like to draft your course offline before uploading it, then Thinkific is just right 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 online course website even without site design knowledge and. There’s no need 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 accelerate the selling process of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community that you can sell courses on and interact with other creators of courses.

Finally, Thinkific is also a great option for people who have their own site but would like to improve their marketing and gain more students. You can link third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a wider public.

The benefits and features of Thinkific

This Thinkific review we review the key features and benefits to are what make Thinkific shine.

Drag and Drop Editor

Drag-and-Drop-Editor

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The way that your courses look on your site will greatly impact the conversion rate. That’s why we love the fact that Thinkific has an editor that you can drag and drop. It helps you organize your website and other digital products.

You can arrange the classes and lessons however way you want. No need for any complicated code or methods. Simply select the element you want and then drag it to where you would like it to appear.

The majority of the essential components needed to make your website appear more professional are covered by the Thinkific editor. From logos to colors, and fonts, you’ll discover everything you need from the site.

If you’re looking to go that extra mile and make your website, there’s still the option to enter CSS and HTML codes into Thinkific. It’s your choice to choose.

In addition, you may utilize drag and drop to upload additional material for your classes. The majority of types of media file can be uploaded by the editor’s uploader. It is possible to upload questions, audio file and PDFs to enhance your course.

The quiz types you create can easily be altered with the help of the editor. Just choose which assessment type you wish to use for your course and then drag it into the course. You can pick from surveys, type forms and multiple-choice forms as well as many more.

Course Site Builder

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Thinkific is much more than simply a drag and drop editors. Its general course website builder can be effective in getting everything all set up and in place.

As mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. This means you don’t be concerned about uploading limitations. Your online storage capacity is unlimited with Thinkific.

If you’re thinking about Domains Thinkific lets you select a unique URL you can use with its subdomain. The URL you choose will look like this: .thinkific.com

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

If you prefer to skip your Thinkific subdomain, you have the option of registering the domain as a separate domain for your site. It’s just a matter of paying slightly more to get it.

Pre-Made Templates

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With regard to the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-designed layouts and course templates you can choose from. It saves you from having to design your website completely from scratch.

The platform offers templates that are based 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 an outline-type template. For assessments and culmination, you can choose a review-type template.

In terms of template layouts and themes There are several to choose from. And once you’ve chosen something that is suitable for your needs, Thinkific offers settings to modify the colors, fonts, and the layout of the elements within the template.

There is no need for you to enter complex codes or text. All you have to do is click on what you want to add to your website and drag it into the layout.

But yes, if you’re still interested in using HTML and CSS it’s still the option of doing so.

You may also rearrange and reorganize the elements of your website periodically. The various sections can be organized in order of priority so that students know which lesson they should be focusing on.

Payment Options

Payment-Options

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As for payment, Thinkific offers options to integrate Stripe and PayPal into your website. With these third-party payment processors, you can easily access your earnings as quickly as 1 – 2 days.

This is a sharp contrast from other online course platforms with a payment schedule of 30-day intervals. With Thinkific it is possible to make cash withdrawals more quickly.

Payment-Options

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For your students they have the option of choosing between a one-time payment scheme or an installment subscription plan. And you can offer discounts, bundles and coupons with any payment option they pick.

Just note that for the one-time payment plan the subscribers will be charged one-time transaction fees as well. The same goes for the installment plan, with the exception that the transaction fees will be divided over the period of installment.

Marketing and Sales Highlights

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Beyond being an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective at marketing online courses. As already mentioned, it comes with features that allow you to create and market courses in just a few clicks.

Once you publish the course you can immediately place it for sale by using Market and Sell. Market and Sell feature on the dashboard.

From there, you can modify your website in order to increase the conversion rates of your visitors. You can improve how your checkout and sign-up pages look to users. This way, they’ll be more encouraged to check out the online course.

You can also enhance how your courses are presented on your site. They can be more attractive by filtering your courses into groups that users are able to easily navigate.

In addition, as we’ve discussed previously You can also bundle your courses using discount coupons and freebies. So, your customers will be more motivated to commit longer in your class.

A sales widget may also be developed using Thinkific. It’s basically a button that can be embedded on other third-party sites that will link straight to your platform for courses. You can personalize them with a certain color scheme and logo so that they are more in line with your brand as well.

Thinkific also allows you to create an affiliate program to assist you in reaching more people. Right on the site you can design affiliate links which you can forward to your affiliate partners. These links will be used in order to bring their followers to your site and sign up in a course.

Once the affiliate program is in operation, you can access its progress on the Thinkific website. You’ll be able to track the revenue, sales, and other commissions.

In the end, you have the option to integrate other applications to Thinkific. If you’re considering email marketing campaigns, Aweber is an excellent tool to sync with your account.

Student Management

Student-Management

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Learning management systems can not be efficient when it does not cover all aspects of online teaching. This includes keeping an eye on student performance.

Thinkific has a convenient 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 form to sign-up your subscribers to ask for specific information. Thinkific’s template asks for names emails, names, as well as contact phone numbers. If you’re seeking more particular details, just toggle with your settings and add a new field to the form to sign up.

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After you’ve got your subscribers pooled you can then categorize them, depending on which courses they signed up for. So, you can track them by course easier.

With the Premier and Pro plans, you can search for a specific user by his/her enrollment date, subscribed courses as well as job-type. There are many more categories to choose from when you explore the page.

Student Feedback

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Thinkific is not only focused on the course creators but also the students. This is why feedback from students is highly encouraged when you’re enrolled in a course.

Discussions that are open between students and the instructors can greatly reduce the learning curve associated with lessons.

There is a discussion area on Thinkific wherein students can post questions about their online courses. The course instructors can reply and provide clarification.

Students can also choose to rate and review the courses they’ve completed. The ratings will reflect the quality of the online course instructor as well. So, instructors can establish their credibility on Thinkific.

These reviews can also assist other students decide which course is suitable for them. It reduces the likelihood of a student being dropped out in the middle of the lesson all of suddenly.

If course creators are worried the reviews could potentially impact them negatively and negatively, they don’t need to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide if they want a review published or not. Thinkific will never publish reviews without permission.

Another way to keep students interested is to provide them with regular updates. The Thinkific platform lets instructors send push notifications to their students whenever they publish new materials or lessons on the platform.

Customer Support

Customer-Support

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As one would expect from systems for learning management, Thinkific does quite a good job with 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 product demos and video tutorials to browse through.

Once you’ve signed up to Thinkific, you’ll be able to access the Help Center. There, you’ll find information that can help you get started on how to market online courses.

Thinkific offers guides and instructional videos that assist you in navigating the interface. In addition, as we stated earlier, there are also forums for users to voice out your concerns. Users and instructors can respond to help you out.

For more serious issues, you can place a ticket to ask for assistance from the customer service team. If you’re a subscriber to an Enterprise plan, or higher you get first-of-the-line responses.

One issue is that Thinkific doesn’t have live chat, but it does have. You’ll have to wait long enough for a response from the company.

How Does Thinkific Works

Similar to any other platform review of course, this Thinkific review will show you how to begin using Thinkific. It is as easy as following these simple steps.

Step 1: Create an account

Step-1-Create-An-Account

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First, sign-up and set up 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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Once you have a login, you can begin customizing your player. You can use a specific color scheme that matches your brand logo and themes.

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The course player is the tool your users will utilize to access your course content. Videos, audio files and quizzes will be accessible through your course’s player.

Step 3: Create Your Course

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The next step is to create your online course. Using this Course Builder software, you are able to set up a new course by adding modules, lessons and other documents to it.

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The course material can be divided into categories and sections. It is also possible to give your online courses customized labels that facilitate searching.

Step 4: Customize Your Website

Step-4-Customize

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After your content is set, you can finalize the design of your website. With Thinkific you can are able to personalize each landing page for each course you offer.

It is the Thinkific Site Builder lets you choose a color scheme as well as a theme for our home page. This is where all your courses will be put up. Students will be able to browse through the course and select which ones they like from there.

You can also personalize the landing pages for each course. It’s recommended to create the look of each course so that they’re simple to distinguish but fit in with the overall brand.

Step 5 Step 5: Name Your Website

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The next thing to do after the content, course player and customization are done is to name your site. Be sure the name is memorable and still the right fit for your brand.

Step 6: Make Your Course

Step-6-Publish

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When everything is in place and you are ready to publish the course. For publishing, you only have to set a price and the specific payment information.

Something called a course card is required to be developed. The course card is the thing that students see on their’ dashboards. When they look it up they’ll be able get a quick overview of your online course as well as the content.

A great course card can make a huge difference when marketing courses through Thinkific.

What is the need for improvement on thinkific

While there’s plenty to love about Thinkific however, it’s not with no shortcomings. For this Thinkific review, we’ve listed below what we believe could be improved.

Limited Quizzing Features

Although we believe that Thinkific does an excellent job in creating courses and uploading content, we think that quiz features could still be enhanced.

The assessment template available on Thinkific is very basic. Though it’s enough to get an idea of how well your pupils are aware of, it’s not enough to ask more difficult questions.

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

Insufficient Email Marketing Tools

As previously mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications , and these include tools for email marketing. However, this is only because it doesn’t come with email marketing tools on its own.

Though there are many third-party tools that work, it still would be nice to have Thinkific already had it on its own. It would have accelerated the process.

No live chat support

And even though we think that the customer service response is quick, it still isn’t enough to make up for absence of a live chat option.

Users with more urgent issues won’t be able to get their issues resolved fast. They’ll have to just wait for a response to their ticket particularly if they’re not signed up to paid plans.

Thinkific Pricing

FTK-Pricing-Plans_THINKIFIC

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Thinkific has three paid plans you can subscribe to. And upon signing to the plan, you’ll then be able to sign up for the free plan with no costs for transactions or hidden fees.

Thinkific Free

Thinkific Vs Skillshare

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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive as, unlike the plans of rivals, it doesn’t expire. You can avail of the free plan for all the time you’d like to continue using Thinkific. Thinkific Vs Skillshare

Apart from being absolutely free, it does not contain any hidden costs or transaction costs regardless of whether you sell courses. It’s perfect for course creators who are looking to cut back on costs or small business owners that are just getting started.

With the Thinkific free plan, you can design 3 courses and customize them with your own branding. Your courses can be enhanced with quizzes and other resources as well.

You can sign up in a number of students, and automate their signup process, and follow their progression. Surveys can also be sent to them, so you can determine their opinions about the classes they’re taking. Thinkific Vs Skillshare

Thinkific’s free plans also allow 1 authorized site administrator as well as multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your students’ data. It also allows you to track the conversion rates and click rates for your learners.

The free plan also allows for search engine optimization of your content. That way, your courses will be easier to find by customers. You can even embed third-party applications and websites to your own website to improve the user experience.

Thinkific Basic

basic-pricing

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Thinkific Basic is $49 per month, but if you choose to make your payments annually it’ll only cost $39 per month.

You get 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 Vs Skillshare

Another thing you won’t have with your free subscription is the capability to drip your content, send out coupons, and accessing analytics.

To put it into perspective in two steps, firstly, drip content, you must release information to your students at an interval that is set and gradually. Second, you can send out coupons for discounts and other freebies to learners that may require additional incentive to remain engaged. Thirdly, the analytics you can access are affiliate reporting and marketing conversion rates.

In this way, you can easily integrate the third-party tools that you want to use. This includes Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp and many more.

Finally, you can also create a custom domain for your site with the standard plan. There is no need to use the Thinkific domain for your URL now.

Thinkific Pro

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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month but if you get billed annually, it’s only $79 each month.

With this plan, you receive the same features as you would with the Free and Basic plans. The only difference is that there are higher-end settings as well as advantages.

Thinkific’s Pro plan will let you have two site administrators and 5 course admin accounts. Additionally, there will be advanced pricing options for your courses as well as editing HTML/CSS codes. Thinkific Vs Skillshare

You’ll have the ability to design private courses that only a limited number of users can access as well. Additionally, you can provide membership bundles and freebies to your subscribers.

Course creators can also use the more sophisticated assignments, quizzes and assessment tools.

Growth Package

growth-package

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In the Pro plan, there’s a feature called a Growth Package that you can avail of. It’s a good thing that once you’ve got more than 100 subscribers to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge an additional fee 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 mass emails, incorporate third-party software, and organize users based on different 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 is $399 per month. Thinkific Vs Skillshare

If you’re a subscriber with this program, you’ll access the same features that are available in the Basic, Free, or Pro plans. What makes it stand out and higher price point is that it’s geared towards larger organizations with more members.

The Thinkific Premier plan lets you have five site admin accounts and 50 account admins for courses. It also allows for something called a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is helpful when you have a huge bulk of users who need to access the same page.

Additionally, this plan comes with an onboarding plan that’s 30 minutes of onboarding along with an overview of the launch process and online training guide.

And you’ll also get acces to our Growth package for a much cheaper price. There’ll be a fixed cost that you only have to pay.

Thinkific Reviews

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Users who have reviewed and used Thinkific particularly appreciate how economical it is. Even when using its free plans, you will have access to useful features. There aren’t any hidden charges so you won’t be spending more than you originally planned to.

And other users also loved the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It lets you improve your brand’s image even if it’s a small business.

In the end, educators are enthralled the use of Thinkific because it’s ideal for students. It’s easy to navigate and explore.

“I found it interesting that this site had a place to upload documents in the discussions. I’m happy I chose this particular option as others require an amount of your income and you have to wait longer to receive money. There are no transaction fees!” -Anonymous

“I liked that you could make your access platform, courses, and the payment options all within one interface without having to purchase additional products. I really appreciate how simple it is to set up the courses up if you have your own curriculum and white-labeling is enabled.” – Anonymous

“Thinkific will let you start creating courses for free and allow them to remain free for as long as you want. It’s the best way to master the art of course creation without having to pay a cent.” -Anonymous

“Thinkific made it easy to develop and offer our online course to financial advisors. The Thinkific support team was quick to get back to us and helped us get started. I am also impressed the ability to white-label and have the domain of your choice.” – Anonymous

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

Alternatives to Thinkific

If the Thinkific review isn’t convincing you of its capabilities as an online learning platform If you’re still not convinced, check out these two alternatives:

Kajabi

Kajabi is among the very first online course platforms that will probably get your attention once you start asking around. It’s an all-in-one platform that lets you create and sell your online courses. Thinkific is similar to Kajabi in this way.

When you subscribe to Kajabi, you’ll be able to create your own course and add content. Kajabi has built-in templates and themes that you could modify your website immediately. The site editor allows you to add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Vs Skillshare

In terms of quiz features, it has an edge against Thinkific because it comes with more sophisticated settings. It allows you to create more customized quizzes and assessment types. In addition, you can hold webinars and video tutorials for greater clarity in teaching.

Many teachers particularly like the fact that they can award their pupils with certificates for every successful course. And they can also choose to send content out to their followers, just like Thinkific.

Another distinction that Kajabi differs from Thinkific has to do with the fact it offers more effective marketing tools. Though Thinkific does let you easily market online courses, it does not permit you to build an automated sales funnel which can help you get your processes more efficient.

Kajabi also has tools for marketing emails and automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. It isn’t necessary to incorporate with a third-party program to send broadcasts and email sequences to your subscribers.

Do note though that Kajabi is much costlier than Thinkific.

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

Teachable

learning-platform

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In addition to Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar competitor. It’s because they have plenty of resemblances as online course platforms.

Teachable’s interface is easy to use and comes with useful features that can help you get started with creating your content. There are themes pre-designed that you can use to make your website look attractive, even if you have no previous web design experience.

Also, like Thinkific, instructors can choose to drip content they distribute to their subscribers.

However, what distinguishes Teachable against Thinkific is its quiz-taking options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your assessments 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 include a sales page to your online course to increase conversion rates.

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

Please read: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features

READ: Kajabi vs. Teachable

Final Report on Thinkific Review

Thinkific Vs Skillshare

Thinkific has a variety of features which make it worthy of the cost of a subscription. It’s easy to use. You can design a unique online course and then sell it even if you’re an aspiring seller.

The software also includes pre-made templates and layouts to simplify setting up your website. You don’t have to input complex CSS or HTML codes to get a professional-looking site.

If you select any of these paid options, you will have access to more advanced options that will improve your branding. You can choose to skip using the Thinkific subdomain and use Advanced users will set up their own domain names with hosting and build out most of the pages of their site on your own domain name.

You can also connect third-party software to Thinkific particularly since it doesn’t have its own integrated email marketing tools.

Students are also able to interact with their instructors through online discussions on Thinkific. They can conveniently request assistance during lessons and post queries about their classes. The teachers will be able to respond to the questions directly.

Support for customers isn’t bad either. You get prioritized for responses when you’re a subscriber to one of the other paid plans. But just remember that there is no live chat feature.

Our overall conclusion for the Thinkific evaluation is worth giving it a test. If you’re a beginner author, Thinkific seems to be an excellent starting point for creating courses.

The free plan lasts forever, unlike other platforms. If you’re tight on money this is a great option since you’ll have access to incredible features at no cost at all.

We strongly recommend that you test Thinkific out.

If you enjoyed the Thinkific review, you may also read our review on one of the 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.