Why is Podia unique?
Podia’s free migration feature is awesome because it means I can move my business to their platform without any hassle. I can also integrate it with Google Ads and add Facebook and Pinterest pixels, which will help me retarget my customers and improve conversion and retention rates.
Podia pricing
The free plan takes an 8% cut of each transaction, and that goes up to over 10% when I factor in the 2.9% Stripe fee. But this plan supports a free Podia subdomain, an online community, and one download and coaching product.
I can upgrade to Mover ($39/month) and Shaker ($89/month), if I need unlimited downloads, coaching products, and courses plus a custom domain. The Shaker plan offers additional features like unlimited webinars, affiliates, and third-party code.
Also, the two paid plans don’t charge transaction fees but only Stripe fees.
Feature 1: User experience of course builder
Podia gave me options to start my course, build a website, sell digital downloads, and create a community immediately after I signed up. I appreciated that they offered starting points, so I didn’t have to struggle to figure out where to begin.
However, it was a total drag to build my online course, because I had to add all the sections (module) and lessons manually. The platform doesn’t have AI capabilities, so I did everything myself.
But adding them was a piece of cake. I could create text and video lessons and add quizzes. Podia also makes it effortless to embed content and add coaching to a module.
However, I noticed that I can’t publish the course until I upgrade to a paid plan.
Next, I tried out the site builder and it was easy. The frontend editor made it easy to set up a complete online course website in a couple of websites and customize it to my taste without breaking a sweat.
Podia was great. The only thing I don’t like is that I have to hit the browser’s back button to go back to the previous action or dashboard. It would be nice if there was a more seamless way to navigate.
Feature 2: Learner engagement tools
Quizzes and online communities are great ways to engage my students. The online community lets them create and read posts, as well as comment and like them. This makes learning more interactive and fun.
I can also build drive learner engagement with webinars and coaching.
Feature 3: Marketing and payment features
The email broadcast and campaign features caught my attention first.
They can help me run advanced email marketing, with professionally designed templates right in the app. And the best part is, I can even import my subscribers and segment my list.
Podia also supports coupons, upselling, and affiliate marketing, but I can’t test those features because I need to upgrade to a paid plan first. That said, Podia’s native marketing capabilities seem pretty robust to me. And if I need anything else, I can easily integrate it with Zapier to extend the marketing features.
I saw that this Podia works well with Stripe and PayPal, so I won’t have any trouble getting paid.
Feature 4: Scalability
I think this platform is highly scalable even without a custom plan.
I can create unlimited courses, sell unlimited digital downloads, and offer unlimited webinars and coaching. The only things that seem to have limits are email subscribers and team seats.
But, I can purchase add-ons to get as many as I want.
Feature 5: Affordability
The free Podia plan takes an 8% cut of each sale, which is a pretty steep fee when you factor in the additional 2.9% Stripe fee. Also, purchasing add-ons can add to the costs.
Besides all that, I think Podia’s pricing is pretty competitive and fair. And, if I buy an annual plan, I can save up to 17% per year, which makes the platform even more affordable.
Feature 6: Unique features
I can sell my Podia-hosted courses and products on any website with embeddable buy buttons.
This can help get my courses in front of more people and boost sales. I didn’t try this feature because it’s only available to Shaker plan subscribers. But it’s as easy as copying and pasting the embeddable checkout code from Podia into the website’s HTML code.
I was also really impressed with Podia’s built-in online community.
I can create topics so that my members can organize their posts and join conversations, similar to Twitter hashtags. And I can limit who can view, follow, and make new posts on a topic. This feature lets me effectively segment my audience so that they only join conversations that are relevant to them.