Thinkific is a platform allowing entrepreneurs to create, market, and manage online courses.
These features include tools to create your course site, market your courses, and enhance your students’ learning and teaching environment.
Thinkific will help you manage the flow of your online courses, accept payments, monitor stats, manage your site security, and receive fantastic support.
The best part? You need no coding skills to use Thinkific’s outstanding features.
Thinkific Features: Short Overview
Thinkific gives you tools to design and create your online course site, customize the way your site looks and works, accept payments, and market your online courses.
Thinkific’s features include:
- Course creation tools allow you to build your curriculum the way you want to.
- Sales and marketing tools allow you to create free or paid courses and time-limited courses.
- Customizable website designs are sure to fit your brand.
- Excellent student experience features make your courses easy to access and use.
- Teaching tools allow you to create independent, group, or hybrid classes using online and offline approaches.
- Easy-to-use site administration with automated functions for student enrollment and purchases assure a positive customer experience.
- Excellent customer support ensures your site works smoothly, and any issues can reach a swift resolution.
Thinkific Features: In-Depth
Thinkific is for you if you want a platform that gives you the features to do everything in one place with ease – no technical skills required. Thinkific includes course creation tools, sales and marketing tools, customizable course design, tools to enhance students’ experience, teaching tools, site administration tools, up to date security features, and excellent support.
Course Creation
Thinkific’s design aims to be extremely intuitive and accessible. You don’t need any technical or coding skills to build or customize your course site. Thinkific achieves this through features such as drag and drop, rich multimedia support, and external integrations. These features make it easy for anyone to create their online course without web design expertise.
Full Video & Content Hosting
Thinkific allows you to easily upload, share, or live-stream your videos with their video hosting services. Thinkific also provides reliable content hosting. This functionality means that you do not have to worry about external hosting. Eliminating the need for external hosting saves you time and helps you run your course efficiently.
Any Content Type Support
The best online courses offer varied content to capture your students’ interest and cater to different learning approaches. Thinkific allows you to do this with any content type support, including full support for video, audio, PDF, text, HTML, voice-over slide presentations, surveys, quizzes, and downloadable attachments alongside third-party content tools like Typeform and Google Docs.
Content Import
You can import content you already have using Thinkific’s drag and drop course builder. This import capability means that you do not need to start from scratch. If you have useful content that you have created elsewhere, you can easily integrate it into your online course.
Content Ownership
If you value privacy and data security, you’ll be glad to know that Thinkific gives you full ownership of your content as well as student data. Thinkific also has features that allow you to export this data to your computer or your databases.
Built-in Content Creation Tools
This feature gives you the tools to create content on Thinkific, including text and HTML lessons, presentations, quizzes, and surveys.
Downloadable Content
This feature allows you to provide downloadable files and assignments that your students can access directly from your course. It helps to save time and makes your course user friendly.
3rd Party Embeds
Thinkific allows you to use third-party embedding to host content on your site from external apps or databases. This functionality gives you the power to expand your course.
Student Discussions
Thinkific offers features that allow interactive in-course discussion. You can use built-in functions, a blog comment hosting service called Disqus, or third-party discussion tools.
Pass or Fail Quizzes
Thinkific enables you to track your students’ progress using quizzes. There are graded quizzes that allow pass or fail results, and there are un-graded quizzes used for learning.
Student Surveys
Thinkific offers survey tools that allow you to collect assignments. These tools also allow you to collect student feedback about various situations, such as, “was my course easy to use or understand?”
Voice Over for PowerPoint Presentations
Thinkific gives you the ability to record audio narration for your slide presentations. You can do this easily with the built-in voice-over slide tool.
Unlimited Courses
Thinkific provides endless space for your online course creation. You can easily create and deliver an unlimited amount of courses.
Host Storyline, Captivate, and More
Thinkific supports basic hosting and allows for custom uploading and hosting more advanced content and apps. Some of these include Articulate, Storyline, and Captivate.
Marketing & Sales
When we say that Thinkific is comprehensive, we mean it. You can effectively sell and market your online courses using Thinkific’s marketing and sales tools. These include instant access to funds, membership sites, free trials, retargeting, Search Engine Optimization, multiple payment methods/currencies, email integrations, groups, bundles, upsells, Affiliate Reporting, coupons, and promotions. You also have options for Javascript tracking, order tracking, and conversion tracking.
Instant Access To Funds
You don’t have to worry about a waiting period or struggling to move funds into your account. Thinkific allows purchases to be deposited into your Stripe merchant account immediately.
Membership Sites
Most online course platforms provide for membership sites, so it is excellent that Thinkific does too. You can create individual courses for your customers and a membership site or portal.
Free Trials for Courses
Thinkific gives you the ability to create free trials for your courses. Free trials are a fantastic marketing tool since users can try without having to pay. This accessibility helps generate visitor leads and increase purchase conversions.
Javascript Tracking
Javascript tracking allows marketers to analyze the number of visitors to your course site and draw insights from your users’ activities. Thinkific allows you to add your javascript for these advanced tracking capabilities.
Order Tracking, Conversion Tracking & Retargeting
Thinkific offers the marketing tools you need to improve your marketing campaign results using standard methods such as order and conversion tracking. These tools and techniques help you see how many users your advertising is drawing and retarget your campaigns with tracking pixels.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a marketing technique used to improve the amount of quality website traffic to your course site. Thinkific helps you optimize with SEO-friendly URLs and meta tag keywords. This functionality inevitably enables you to gain more students and make more money from your course.
Multiple Payment Methods & Currencies
You can easily set up a Stripe account that allows transactions in over 130 currencies. You may also use Paypal for countries whose currencies Stripe does not accept.
Marketing & Email Integrations
With Thinkific’s integrations to marketing and analytics tools, you can improve your marketing strategies and make better strategic decisions. You can integrate with Mailchimp, Aweber, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics.
Groups
Thinkific allows you to sell your courses to organizations using groups or target a group of people with a shared characteristic.
Bundles & Upsells
Upselling is a marketing technique that encourages your users to buy something in addition to your online course. Thinkific allows you to create compelling upsell offers such as site-wide subscriptions, add-ons, or non-course items like consulting time. All of these can increase the money you make from your course.
Affiliate Reporting
Affiliate marketing allows you to set up links on other sites or companies to attract more students. In this technique, you offer a commission to the person or company that agrees to market your course. Thinkific allows you to set up these affiliate links and view detailed reports to track commissions you owe.
Coupons & Promotions
Sell your course at your price. Thinkific allows you to offer coupons for your courses and run promotions. You can create percentage-based discounts and discounts based on an absolute currency value. You can set the values or expiration dates and choose the courses to which the discounts or coupons apply.
Drip Content
Drip content refers to content that releases according to a schedule. Thinkific allows this function to release your content more gradually based on either the student’s sign up date or fixed date schedules to encourage active participation.
Additional Course Prices
You can add additional features when you use Thinkific for your online course, letting you offer a range of price options. For example, students can enroll at a cheaper rate with a time limit on their access.
Payment Plans
Most students prefer to enroll in online courses that are flexible with payments. Many online educational facilities offer these plans, making online learning more accessible than courses sold by private institutions. Thinkific allows you to provide payment flexibility with payment plan options.
Direct ActiveCampaign Integration
Marketing directly to your target audience is a proven strategy. Thinkific’s direct ActiveCampaign integration allows you to create targeted campaigns and send automated emails to your desired target audience.
Direct Infusionsoft Integration
Thinkific allows you to accept payments through Infusionsoft. You can also tag your students according to their enrollment and course completion status.
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Design & Customization
With Thinkific, you can design and customize your course site to suit your brand with features that allow you to customize your logo, banners, and color scheme. Design and branding features include compatibility with existing websites, customizable landing pages, branded course catalogs, customize site links, additional pages, and custom domains. We will look at these in detail here.
Compatibility With Existing Websites
Do you already have an existing website? No problem, Thinkific allows you to add courses that you may have from other websites, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Virb, and other custom sites.
Customizable Course Landing Pages
Thinkific gives you landing page templates that you can customize to suit your brand. Its functions offer clear calls to action and optional promotional videos. You can also make a custom landing page.
Branded Course Catalogue
Thinkific’s branded course catalog feature allows you to direct your students to specific courses or your course catalog to provide an online school experience.
Custom Site Links
Thinkific lets you customize header links. You will have the functionality to connect these header links to similar websites, allowing you to direct interested students to related websites.
Additional Pages
Thinkific allows you to expand your course site by adding customizable pages. You can add any page you think is necessary, such as a frequently asked questions page (FAQ), About, or Welcome page.
Custom Domains
Having a personalized or custom domain helps increase your online course sales prospects with a wide audience. Thinkific allows you to personalize your included URL, for example, mycourse.thinkific.com, or use a custom domain, for instance, learn.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com.
Advanced CSS/HTML Editing
You may not need coding skills to customize your site with Thinkific, but it still allows you the option. CSS and HTML editing allow for fantastic customization of your course site. Thinkific gives you access to CSS, HTML, and variables with the Liquid templating language.
White Label Service
If you are serious about branding and prefer to scrap Thinkific’s logos, you can. Using Thinkific’s white-label service ensures that your customers interact with your brand only.
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Student Experience
The most successful platforms allow for an excellent student experience. Thinkific’s design emphasizes just that. Student experience enhancements include the rich student environment, multiple device use, device optimization, easy course navigation, industry-leading completion rates, and language choices. We will analyze these in detail here.
Rich Student Environment
Thinkific allows for an optimal learning environment with features designed to cater to students’ needs, such as clear student progress indicators, unlimited course material replays, and flexible video playback control features.
Resume On Any Device
Users expect educational platforms to be mobile-friendly these days. Thinkific allows students to access your course using any device, including a mobile device, tablet, laptop, or desktop.
Device Optimization
Your Thinkific site will be fully responsive on whatever system your students use to access it. Thinkific has enabled access and optimized its platform for learning on any mobile device, tablet, desktop, or laptop.
Easy Course Navigation
Students can easily navigate through your course curriculum with Thinkific. It supports student progression by helping you design your course with features like separated chapters and lessons.
Industry Leading Completion Rates
A user-friendly online course that is easy to navigate is more likely to hold a student’s interest. Thinkific’s user-focused design leads to high course completion rates.
Language Choosing Options
One of the best ease-of-use features is Thinkific’s function to change your course site language, letting you target students globally and beyond the English language.
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Teaching
When you deliver your online course, you want the freedom to do so according to your teaching style. Thinkific provides the tools to help you assess learning, track student progress, produce evergreen classes, host multiple instructor profiles, schedule classes, and provide automated course completion certificates.
Student Knowledge Assessments
There is no need to use old school assessment methods with Thinkific. It gives you the power to create graded quizzes, collect assignments, and provide student feedback with included survey tools to track your students’ progress.
Student Progress Tracking
Thinkific allows you to track your students’ progress and completion rates. This feature helps you identify what needs to be updated or improved on in your course and needs extra support.
Deliver Evergreen Classes (Individual start dates)
Thinkific allows you to launch online courses that can be purchased by students without any time limits. Students can start and work through your course on their own.
Multiple Instructor Profiles
If you want a platform that allows you to expand your business, Thinkific is for you. Its features will enable you to create multiple instructor profiles, so you are not limited to offering one course or delivering courses on your own.
Scheduled Classes (Cohort Based-Set Start Dates)
You can create a course that starts on a specific date that targets a group of students with Thinkific. This group/social scheduling and targeting encourages students to work through the materials together at the same time rather than independently.
Completion Certificates
Imagine how time-consuming it would be if you created all your students’ completion certificates manually. Thinkific has a feature that allows you to reward your students with automated certificates based on successful course completion and minimum passing grades.
Site Administration
Excellent site administration support and features help you run your online courses successfully. Thinkific allows you to do this with its site monitoring dashboard, detailed reporting and analytics system, automated emails, student segmentation and exports, manual administration options, private and hidden course options, payment support, webhooks, Single Sign-On (SSO), and an application programming interface (API).
Site Monitoring Dashboard
Thinkific’s site dashboard makes it easy for you to access and view your new student enrollments, sales, and student progress.
Detailed Reporting & Analytics
This administrative feature allows you to view reports based on your sales and students, which will enable you to choose the best marketing strategies. Thinkific has built-in analytics and integrations with Mixpanel and Google Analytics.
Automated Student Welcome & Completion Emails
There is no need to worry about manually sending welcoming emails or completion emails to your students. Thinkific allows for automated emails to communicate with your students.
Student Segmentation & Exports
Student segmentation is a fantastic Thinkific feature. This feature allows you to sort your students according to characteristics such as course completion status, signup dates, or enrollment details.
Unlimited Number Of Students
Thinkific allows you to enroll an unlimited number of students into your online course, which means you can target many students.
Site Administrator Accounts
A site administrator manages all aspects of a site or platform, including site-building and customization, students, and data. Thinkific allows you to have more than one site administrator to optimize the running of your Thinkific site.
PayPal Payments
Thinkific allows you to integrate with PayPal to accept payments for your online courses, which is useful if a student does not have Stripe or prefers to use PayPal.
Manual Student Enrollment & Updates
Thinkific allows you to enroll or remove students manually. You can also easily extend their expiry dates or update students’ login details, eliminating the frustrations of relying on someone else or a system to do these for you.
Bulk Student Emailer
Thinkific allows you to send emails to multiple students using your Thinkific dashboard. You can either select specific students to email or use the custom segmentation tool.
Multiple Course Administrator Accounts
Thinkific allows you to configure multiple course administrator accounts, allowing you to give others access to create and edit courses on your site.
Pay Multiple Instructors
With Thinkific’s revenue-sharing system, you can track and pay multiple instructors that you have used to deliver any of the courses on your site.
Private Courses
If you want to limit new enrollments, Thinkific will let you. It also allows you to create private classes, which are handy if you target a specific group or number of students.
Hidden Courses
Suppose you want to target a specific group of students and limit access to the public. In that case, you can create courses that require an invitation to join.
Webhooks
Webhooks are like SMS notifications that applications or programs can send one another. Webhooks allow developers to send Thinkific course data to automation and data processing tools of your choice.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Offer students a single sign-on with your existing system using JSON web tokens (JWT). SSO ensures a secure data authentication check where students can log-in with a single ID and password.
API
Thinkific’s API (Application Programming Interface) allows developers to access and manage your Thinkific site programmatically. The API means you can execute tasks using automation.
Security & Support
Security and support are essential features that a platform needs to deliver well. Thinkific offers both. Its features include built-in SSL, 24-7 monitoring, expert customer support, a comprehensive knowledge base, private instructor community, secure cloud hosting, daily backups, instant upgrades, onboarding call support, and a preparedness review. We will discuss these in detail here.
99.99% Uptime & 24/7 Monitoring
Thinkific employs continuous monitoring to ensure 99.99% uptime. This attention means your site will be available and working optimally, creating a pleasant experience for you and your students.
SSL
Thinkific offers built-in support for the SSL (secure sockets layer) communication security protocol. This technology enables the authentication, encryption, and decryption of data sent over Thinkific to ensure data security.
Expert Customer Support
Thinkific boasts a support team that is knowledgeable, friendly, and easy to contact. Thinkific aims to help you succeed in using their platform.
Comprehensive Knowledge Base
Thinkific provides you with all the information you need. You will find detailed guides, videos, and answers to all of your questions within the comprehensive support forum and training site.
Private Instructor Community
Thinkific allows you to join their private Facebook instructor community. This group will enable you to connect and learn from a community of other instructors who are creating and launching online courses.
Cloud Hosting & Backups
Cloud hosting is an extremely secure and reliable file hosting method, which is why Thinkific uses it to ensure that your site content is safe and secure. Thinkific’s sites are also SSL-enabled and PCI-compliant.
Instant Access To Upgrades
Thinkific allows automatic updates to give you instant access to the latest features and versions without having to check and force these upgrades manually.
Onboarding Calls
Thinkific offers you a 30-minute call to benefit from coaching to help you start your successful onboarding process and set up your course site with ease.
Preparedness Review
Thinkific offers you support to ensure that your site is well-prepared for the launch of your course. It does a personalized review and offers a 30-minute call to check all of your settings.
Bottom Line
In this article, we took an in-depth look at the fantastic features that Thinkific has to offer. Our experts agree: Thinkific is a comprehensive platform with all the tools you need in one place.
Thinkfic offers robust course creation, sales and marketing, customizable design, enhanced student and teacher experience, easy site administration, excellent security, and efficient support structures.
On top of that, you can try Thinkific for free to see how all of these features work.
We heartily endorse Thinkific, and we are confident that it will meet or exceed your expectations.
