Why is Thinkific unique?
Thinkific stands out because of its white-label mobile app.
The feature helps creators deliver personalized learning experiences to learners. Plus, the custom domain and fully integrated eCommerce suite features mean that instructors can take charge of their branding and marketing, unlike Udemy where creators have to give that up.
The online community and live lessons are some of the other things I love about this platform.
Thinkific pricing
Thinkific offers a free plan.
It allows instructors to create only one online course and community. However, the free plan can accommodate unlimited students. It also supports a fully integrated eCommerce suite, a drag-and-drop course builder, and several website themes.
I found the free plan only suitable for test-driving the platform.
The basic plan, which goes for $49 monthly, allows you to create unlimited courses and supports a white-label mobile app, custom domain, coupon codes, and affiliate selling. You can save 25% with the annual plan.
Thinkific has four other paid plans—Star, Grow, Expand, and Plus—that can provide me with more advanced features, like bundles, memberships and payment plans, live lessons, and a built-in student emailer.
Feature 1: User experience of course builder
I tried the free plan to test this platform.
Signing up was straightforward. But, I would have preferred automatic sign-up with Gmail, which is pretty convenient. However, the onboarding process was straightforward.
Thinkific’s user interface wasn’t as simple as Udemy’s, but I didn’t find it overwhelming.
The sidebar menu caught my attention first. It has tools for managing learning products, designing sites, marketing and selling courses, analytics, and supporting students.
I tested the site builder first and I wasn’t disappointed.
The drag-and-drop site builder helped me to set up an ‘About Us’ page in less than five minutes. Next, I dived straight to the Theme Library to pick a new site layout but I wasn’t impressed as the platform features only three themes. It seems only the Start plan subscribers enjoy advanced website code editing.
I added new categories to the site. Previewed the site and it looks good.
Next, I tested the course builder and the experience was the same.
It’s beginner-friendly. Also, I was able to add as many lessons to a course as I wanted, in a variety of formats, including text, video, presentation, audio, PDF, and live lessons. I can even import these lessons on the go with the bulk importer feature and drip the lessons to students.
Even though I found the platform pretty intuitive, seeing an AI-powered live chat on the course builder to help out when I got stuck reinforced my confidence in the tool.
Feature 2: Learner engagement tools
Thinkific’s learner engagement tools include assignments, quizzes surveys, and reviews.
The others are certificates and a discussion forum which allows students to interact with each other, ask questions, and leave comments. I didn’t test this out because my site doesn’t have students yet. However, generating certificates was straightforward.
I started by choosing a template from seven options. Then, I edited the placeholder texts. And finally, I customized the design by choosing a font and color and uploading a background image plus a logo.
Feature 3: Marketing and payment features
I tested Thinkific native marketing capability and I found it more advanced than Udemy’s.
The sales funnels feature impressed me the most. I was able to build one with a lead magnet in less than three minutes, which usually takes me more than an hour.
These built-in funnels help generate qualified leads.
I also found the sales widgets helpful. They are small, customizable buttons or product cards I can place on any website or blog to drive sales to my courses. Additionally, I can tap into the native affiliate program to expand my market reach or offer discounts with coupons to stimulate sales.
However, I didn’t test these features (affiliate program and coupons) because they’re only available to paid plan subscribers.
I noticed that receiving payments on Thinkific wasn’t a problem. Their native eCommerce suite, TCommerce, integrates seamlessly with the platform and lets me accept all major credit cards and PayPal.
Feature 4: Scalability
The six pricing plans let you scale effortlessly as your business grows.
And the good thing is regardless of your plan, you can take in unlimited students. Thinkific has over 100 million course enrollments and serves more than 22,000 live websites.
Feature 5: Affordability
I think Thinkific is affordable.
Its tiered pricing system lets you pay for only what you need.
I can even save up to 25% yearly when I use the annual plan. The basic plan is only $36 a month, and it’s all I need to start building a thriving online course business. And I don’t need to share my revenue with the company as creators in Udemy do.
Additionally, Thinkific’s App Store offers over 40 free apps that can extend the platform’s functionalities.
Feature 6: Unique features
Thinkific has several unique features, but the Zapier integration stood out for me.
And it’s free. With this feature, I can connect my account to thousands of applications to automate daily tasks, build custom student experiences, and bring all my tool stacks in one place. However, I couldn’t install this app on my store when I tested it and I don’t know why.
Besides Zapier, I noticed several other apps in the App Store.