When you’re trying to decide which online learning platform to choose, you’ll probably get a lot of suggestions. It’s a standout due to its numerous useful features.
There are various criteria to watch out for when using an online course platform and Thinkific has them all. Continue reading the Thinkific Review below and learn more about its unique advantages and features.
Overview of Thinkific Review Thinkific Wikipedia
Thinkific is among the most popular choices for selling and creating online courses. Apart from having an easy-to-use design, this platform has already-designed templates that you can utilize to build your own brand-new website.
With just a few mouse clicks, you’ll get to develop and market online courses even without prior knowledge. Drag and drop functionality of the site makes it easy to start.
Online course creators will be especially interested to know about the advanced quiz features for every course you make. These will make the lessons more interesting to the students.
It is an online builder of course s. also allows you to upload various types of files to enhance the content of your Thinkific course.
Like many online courses, Thinkific offers email marketing tools as well as integration with third-party apps. You can distribute email sequences through Thinkific itself or via outside apps like MailChimp, Zapier, etc.
Continue reading this Thinkific review to find out more about this well-known online course platform.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag & drop editor
- Efficient course site builder
- Pre-made templates
- Different payment options
- Features for marketing and sales
- Options for student management
- Feedback capabilities for students
- Support for customers in a timely manner
- Lifetime access to the free plan
- There are no transaction fees or concealed charges
Cons
- Limited quizzing features
- Lack of email marketing tools
- Live chat is not available.
What is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an online course platform built on cloud technology. It means that all content you create on it is automatically saved online. This makes course creation more efficient and convenient.
Furthermore, as it is a Learning Management System (LMS) offers a variety of custom options for creators of courses. You can easily create a course, and then upload other material to complement your lessons.
If you’re among those course creators who prefer to draft your course offline before uploading it to the internet, Thinkific is just right for you. You can do that and then upload the course later to the internet.
Thinkific also hosts all web pages you make and can upload as much content as you’d like.
It is possible to create a brand new online course site even without site design knowledge as well. There’s no need to go through an excruciating learning curve when you use Thinkific it’s a fact.
There are a variety of ways to market and distribute your course that will help speed up the sales procedure of your Thinkific course. There is an online marketplace community that you can market your courses and collaborate with other creators of courses.
In addition, Thinkific is also a good option for people who have their own websites but just want to enhance their marketing and gain more students. You can connect third-party sites to Thinkific to reach a larger market.
The Benefits and Features of Thinkific
This Thinkific review, we break down the key features and benefits to make Thinkific stand out.
Drag and Drop Editor
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The way that your courses appear on your site will greatly influence the conversion rate. This is the reason we love that Thinkific offers a drag and drop editor. It helps you manage your website and digital products.
You are able to arrange the courses and lessons the you like. There is no need to learn complicated codes or methods. All you need to do is click on whatever item you’d like to display and drag it to where you’d like it to be.
A majority of the crucial elements that make your website appear more professional is covered by Thinkific’s editor. From logos to the color schemes and even fonts. You’ll discover everything you require on the platform.
If you’re looking to go that extra mile and personalize your website, there’s still the option to enter CSS and HTML codes into Thinkific. It’s up to you to make the decision.
Plus, you can also use drag and drop to upload additional materials to your classes. Almost every kind of media file can be uploaded by the editor’s uploader. You can include audio files, quizzes and PDFs to enhance your learning.
Even the quiz types that you design can be easily altered with the help of the editor. Choose the assessment type you want to be under your course and then drag it there. You can select from surveys, type forms and multiple-choice forms among others.
Course Site Builder
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Thinkific offers more than the drag and drop editor. Its overall course site builder can be effective in getting everything up and ready.
As mentioned, Thinkific does its own web hosting. That means that you don’t be concerned about uploading limitations. The storage space you can upload online is unlimited when you use Thinkific.
If you’re thinking about subdomains Thinkific allows you to 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 easy for students to recall.
And if you want to avoid your Thinkific subdomain, you have an option to get the domain as a separate domain for your site. It’s just a matter of paying an extra amount to get it.
Templates Pre-Made
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Regarding the course site builder, Thinkific has a slew of pre-made layout and course templates you can choose from. It will help you avoid needing to create your site entirely from scratch.
The platform gives you templates, based on what type of Thinkific course you’re creating. If, for instance, you’re creating an introduction to course, you can choose a mini course-type template. For the assessment and culmination it is possible to select a template that is review-oriented.
For template layouts and themes There’s also many to pick from. Once you’ve picked one that fits your course, Thinkific offers settings to modify the fonts, colors, and design of the elements of the template.
In addition, there is no need for you to input complicated code or words. Simply select what you would like to add to your website and drag it into the layout.
If you still want to use HTML and CSS it’s still an option.
You can also alter the arrangement and layout of your site from time to time. The different sections can be arranged in order of priority so that students are aware of which lessons to focus on.
Payment Options
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As for payment, Thinkific offers options to incorporate Stripe and PayPal on your website. With these third-party processors, you can easily access your earnings in as soon as 1 to 2 days.
It’s a stark contrast from other online course platforms which have a pay-out schedule that is 30-day intervals. With Thinkific you can cash out more easily.
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For your students they have the option of choosing between an one-time payment plan or an installment subscription plan. And you can offer discounts, bundles coupons, and bundles with the payment method they select.
Just note that for the one-time payment scheme, your subscribers will pay one-time transaction fees too. Same applies to the installment subscription scheme, except that the transaction fee will be divided over the period of installment.
Marketing and Sales Features
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Beyond being an online course creator, Thinkific is also effective at marketing online courses. Like we said, it comes with features that allow you to develop and sell courses in only a couple of clicks.
When you’ve published your class, you are able to immediately place it for sale using your Market and Sell option on your dashboard.
You can customize your website to optimize the conversion rate of your customers. You can improve how your checkout and sign-up pages appear to visitors. So they’ll be more enticed to sign up for an online course.
It is also possible to improve the way your courses are presented on your website. Make them look more interesting by separating your courses into groups that users can easily explore.
And as we discussed earlier it is possible to bundle your courses using discount coupons and freebies. This way, your students will be enticed to sign up for a longer time in your class.
A sales widget can be made using Thinkific. It’s essentially a button you can embed to other websites that connect directly to your platform for courses. You can personalize them to have a specific color scheme and logo so they appear more consistent with your brand too.
Thinkific can also allow you to create an affiliate program to allow you to reach more audiences. Through the website you can design affiliate links to forward to your affiliate partners. They’ll use these links to lead their audience to your site and sign up in a class.
When the affiliate program is in operation it is possible to check its progress right on the Thinkific site. You’ll have the ability to monitor revenue, sales, as well as other commissions.
In the end, you have the option to integrate other applications to Thinkific. If you’re interested in emails for marketing, Aweber is a great tool that you can sync directly with the account you have.
Student Management
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Learning management systems can not be effective when it does not cover all aspects of online education. And that includes keeping track of student development.
Thinkific has a convenient student management system for managing students. With it, you can quickly access your students’ contact details and basic information.
You can also personalize the form to sign-up your subscribers to ask for specific information. The template by Thinkific requires names, email addresses, along with contact number. If you’re looking for more particular details, just change your settings and include a second field on the form to sign up.
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After you’ve got your subscribers pooled you can categorize them according to the courses they have signed up for. This way, you’ll be able to keep track of them for each course simpler.
And with the Premier and Pro plans, you can also look up a particular user by his/her enrollment date, subscribed courses as well as job-type. There are even additional categories available as you browse the site.
Student Feedback
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Thinkific places a high value on not only the course creators, but as well the students. That’s why student feedback is encouraged when enrolling in an online course.
A lively discussion between students and the instructors can significantly reduce the learning curve of lessons.
There is a discussion section on Thinkific in which students can submit questions they have regarding their online courses. From there, the instructors can reply and provide clarification.
Students also have the option to review and rate the courses they’ve taken. The score will also include the performance of the online instructor as well. So, instructors can prove their expertise through Thinkific.
The reviews will also aid students to decide whether or not a particular course is right for them. It reduces the likelihood of a student leaving within the middle of the lesson all of abruptly.
And if course creators are worried that the reviews might impact them negatively but they don’t have to. They’re the ones who’ll get to decide if they want to publish a review or not. Thinkific will not publish any reviews without permission.
A good method to keep students engaged is to send them constant updates. Thinkific lets course instructors send push notifications to students whenever they publish new materials or lessons through the site.
Customer Support
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As one would expect from systems for learning management, Thinkific does quite a excellent job in providing customer support.
Before you sign up, you can access case studies and article guides on the official website. There are also easily accessible videos and demos of the product that you can go through.
If you’re already subscribed to Thinkific, you’ll be able to access the Help Center. Thereare information that can assist you in learning selling online courses.
Thinkific includes guides, articles and training videos that will guide you through the interface. Plus, as mentioned, there are forums for users to express your worries. Other users and instructors are able to assist you.
For more severe issues you may submit a ticket to ask for assistance from the customer service team. And if you’re subscribed to business plan and above, you’ll receive prioritised answers.
The only problem is that Thinkific does not offer live chat, but it does have. You just have to wait long enough for a response from the company.
How Thinkific Works
Like any other course platform review This Thinkific review will help you understand how to begin using Thinkific. All you have to do is follow these simple steps.
Step 1 Step 1: Create an Account
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First, sign-up and then create the Thinkific account. You’ll be automatically subscribed to the free trial upon registration.
Step 2: Personalize Your Course Player
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After you have created your account then you can begin to personalize your course player. You can select a certain color scheme so that it is in line with your logo and the theme.
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Your course player is what your customers will utilize to access your course content. Audio files, videos, and quizzes will be available through the course player.
Step 3: Build Your Course
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After that, you can design an online learning course. Utilizing this Course Builder program, you are able to create the course by adding modules, lessons, and other files to it.
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The course material can be divided into categories and sections. You may also assign your online courses customized labels that facilitate searching.
Step 4: Customize Your Website
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When your content is ready, you can finish the design and layout of your site. With Thinkific You are able to personalize every landing page to suit each course you offer.
This Thinkific Site Builder lets you set a color scheme and theme for your home page. This is where all your courses will be put up. Students can look through it and decide which one interests them from there.
You can also personalize your landing page for every course. It’s best to set an entirely different design for each course to make them 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 contents, the course player, and customization are done is to name your site. Make sure that the name is memorable but still appropriate to your business.
Step 6: Create Your Course
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And lastly, when everything is in place, you can publish the course. To publish, you just have to set a price and specific details for payment.
Something called a course card is required to be developed. The course card is the one that appears on your students’ dashboards. When they look it up, they’ll be able to see quick details about your online course as well as the content.
A great 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 be awed by about Thinkific however, it’s not without a few flaws. For this Thinkific review we’ve listed down what we believe could be improved.
Limited Quizzing Features
While we think that Thinkific does an excellent job of creating courses and content uploading but we feel that the quiz features can still be improved.
The assessment template on Thinkific is extremely basic. While it’s adequate to get a general grasp of how well your pupils know, it’s not enough to be able to answer more complicated questions.
If you’re happy with short check-up type tests at the end of every course, then that’s what Thinkific can offer you. If your questions require longer and more specific outputs, you might want to try another platform.
The absence of Email Marketing Tools
As mentioned, Thinkific can be integrated with third-party applications , and these include email marketing tools. But that’s only because it doesn’t provide email marketing tools on its own.
Though there are many third-party tools that are efficient, it still would be great to have Thinkific already had this by itself. It would’ve sped up the process.
There is no live chat support
Even if we believe that the response from customer service is swift, it doesn’t make up for the fact that there is no live chat feature.
Customers with more urgent problems will not be able to have them resolved quickly. They’ll be forced to wait for the ticket response, especially if they aren’t subscribed to the paid plans.
Thinkific Pricing
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Thinkific offers three paid plans are available to sign up for. And upon signing up, you’ll first have access to the free plan with no fee for transactions or other hidden charges.
Thinkific Free
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The Thinkific free plan is distinctive because unlike that of competitors It doesn’t have a time limit. It is possible to use the free plan as long as you want to keep using Thinkific. Thinkific Wikipedia
Apart from being free, it also doesn’t have any hidden charges or transaction fees even when you offer courses. It’s perfect for course designers who are looking to cut back on costs or small entrepreneurs just beginning their journey.
With the Thinkific FREE plan, users can create three courses and then customize them using your own brand. You can enrich your courses with quizzes and other tools as well.
You can enroll in a quantity of pupils, streamline their signup process, and then also track their progress. Surveys can also be sent to them so that you can assess their opinions about the classes they’re taking. Thinkific Wikipedia
Thinkific’s free plans also allow one administrator for your site and multiple instructor profiles and 24 hours access to your students’ data. You can even keep track of the conversion rates and click rates of your students.
Additionally, the free plan will also allow search engine optimization for your content. So, your course will be easier to find by your customers. You can also embed third-party applications and websites to your own website to improve user experience.
Thinkific Basic
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Thinkific Basic costs $49 a month, but if you choose to pay annually, it’ll only cost $39 monthly.
It comes with the same features the free plan has and more benefits that are premium. You can first create unlimited courses. Selling courses is also easier. Thinkific Wikipedia
One more thing that you wouldn’t get with the free plan is the capability to distribute your contents, to send coupons, or access analytics.
To put it into perspective in two steps, firstly, drip content is to provide information to your students at an interval that is set and gradually. Additionally, you can mail coupons with discounts or other freebies to learners that might need extra incentive to keep them connected. The third option you can access are marketing conversion and affiliate reporting rates.
With this plan, you can easily connect third-party tools you’d like to use. These include Zapier, Aweber, and MailChimp and many more.
In addition, you could create a custom domain for your site using the base plan. There is no need to use the Thinkific domain to host your URL now.
Thinkific Pro
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Thinkific Pro costs $99 per month but if you get the service annually, it’s $79 per month.
With this plan, you have the same benefits as you would with the Free Basic and Basic plans. The only difference is that there are more advanced settings and advantages.
Thinkific’s Pro plan will let you have two site administrators and five course administrator accounts. There will also be advanced course pricing options and HTML/CSS code editing. Thinkific Wikipedia
You’ll be able to create exclusive courses which only a limited number of people can access as well. Additionally, you can provide membership bundles and freebies to your users.
Course creators can also access the more sophisticated assessment, quiz, and assessment features.
Growth Package
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In The Pro plan, there’s something called a Growth Package is available. The thing about it is that once you get more than 100 people subscribed to your plan, Thinkific will automatically charge additional fees in addition to the $99 per month.
But don’t fret because the cost of your subscription grants you access to additional functions. You can distribute large quantities of emails, use third-party tools, and group your users according to different parameters.
Thinkific Premier
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Thinkific Premier is the most expensive plan. It costs $499 per month but when billed annually, it costs $399 per month. Thinkific Wikipedia
If you’re subscribed for this package, you’ll access all the same features as the Basic, Free, and Pro plans. What gives it its edge and higher price point is the fact that it’s targeted at bigger companies with more members.
This Thinkific Premier plan lets you manage 5 sites and 50 courses admin accounts. There is also a feature known as a Single Sign-On (SSO). This is useful if you have a large number of subscribers that will have to access the same page.
The plan also includes an onboarding program that is a 30-minute onboarding call along with an overview of the launch process and online training guides.
Additionally, you’ll have access to the Growth package for a cheaper price. There’ll be a fixed fee that you will only need to pay.
Thinkific Reviews
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Users who have reviewed and used Thinkific particularly love how cost-efficient it is. Even with it on a free basis, you will have access to helpful features. And there are no hidden charges so you won’t end up spending more than you anticipated to.
Others also liked the white-labeling function of Thinkific. It lets you improve your brand’s image even if you’re an individual business.
Finally, many educators love the use of Thinkific because it’s ideal for learners. The interface is easy to use and explore.
“I loved that there was a place to upload documents in the discussions. I’m happy I chose this one because others take the % of income, and you’re forced to wait for funds. No transaction fees!” -Anonymous
“I enjoyed the ability to make the access portal, courses as well as the payment options all within one interface without having to purchase additional products. I really appreciate how simple it is to set the courses up if you have your own curriculum and has white-labeling.” – Anonymous
“Thinkific lets you begin making courses for free, and keep them free forever. It’s an excellent way to get started with how to create courses without paying a penny.” -Anonymous
“Thinkific made it easy to develop and offer our online course to financial advisors. Thinkific’s support team was always quick to respond and helped us get started. And I love the possibility of white-labeling and use a custom domain.” – Anonymous
“Classes were fun, entertaining, and easy particularly for our students who were older. Teachers enjoyed making use of it to design their classes and share their content.” -Anonymous
Alternatives to Thinkific
If this Thinkific review isn’t convincing you of its capabilities as an online learning platform, then check out the following alternatives:
Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the first online course platforms that will probably be recommended to you when you begin asking questions. It’s an all-in-one system that lets you create and sell your courses online. Thinkific is like Kajabi in that sense.
When you subscribe to Kajabi, you’ll be able to quickly create a course and add content. The platform offers built-in templates and themes that you can modify your website right from the beginning. The editor on your site allows you to add multiple sections and sales pages to your courses. Thinkific Wikipedia
As for quiz features It has an advantage against Thinkific due to its more advanced settings. You can create more customized quizzes and assessment types. Additionally, you can host videos and webinars to provide greater clarity in teaching.
A lot of teachers love the fact the idea of rewarding their students with certificates for every accomplished course. They can also opt to send content out to their followers, just as Thinkific.
Another difference Kajabi has over Thinkific is the fact that Kajabi has better marketing features. Although Thinkific allows you to easily sell your on-line courses but it doesn’t let you make an online sales funnel that can help you get your processes more well-organized.
Kajabi also provides email marketing tools as well as automated email, in contrast to Thinkific. You don’t need to install an application from a third party to send emails and broadcasts to your clients.
It is worth noting that Kajabi is costlier than Thinkific.
READ: Kajabi Review – the All-in-1 Online Course Platform
Teachable
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Following Kajabi, Teachable is Thinkific’s most similar rival. This is because they share a lot of resemblances as online course platforms.
Teachable’s interface is easy to use and has helpful features that will assist you in creating your content. There are themes pre-designed which you can use to make your site look nice even without previous experience in web design.
As with Thinkific instructors are able to choose to distribute the content they distribute to their subscribers.
However, what distinguishes Teachable different from Thinkific is its quiz options. Instead of having basic templates, Teachable lets you customize your assessments and quizzes.
Similar to Kajabi You can also host webinars and videos to boost engagement with your subscribers. There’s also an option to create a sales page for your online course to increase conversion rates.
Another thing we love about Teachable is that you can also offer your subscribers certificates for every course they complete. And unlike Thinkific, Teachable has email marketing tools that you can use to send out bulk emails to your users.
READ: Teachable Review – Unlimited Course Creation Features
Please read: Kajabi vs. Teachable
Final Report on Thinkific Review
Thinkific Wikipedia
Thinkific has plenty of features that justify an annual subscription. It’s user-friendly. You can create a unique online course, and then make money from it even if you’re a first-timer.
Additionally, it comes with pre-designed layouts and templates that make it easier to set your site. It isn’t necessary to enter complicated CSS or HTML code to get a professional-looking site.
If you choose any of these paid options, you’ll have access to the latest options that will improve your brand. You can choose to skip your Thinkific subdomain and use Advanced users to set up their own domain names with hosting and develop the majority of the pages of their website using the domain’s own address.
You can even integrate third-party applications to Thinkific particularly as it doesn’t have its own integrated marketing tools for email.
Students can also interact with their instructors through online discussions on Thinkific. They can conveniently seek assistance with lessons or post questions about their classes. The teachers will be able to answer questions promptly.
Customer support isn’t too bad either. It’s a priority for replies when you’re subscribed to other plans with a paid subscription. But just remember that there is no live chat option.
In the end, our conclusion on our Thinkific evaluation is worth a try. Particularly if you’re just beginning to become a instructor, Thinkific seems to be the ideal place to start learning how to create courses.
The free plan lasts for the duration of time and is not tied to other platforms. If you’re tight on money, then it’s a good choice since you can access great features at no cost at all.
We strongly suggest that you test Thinkific out.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this Thinkific review, you can also read our review on one of the Best Online Course Platforms available today here.