How to Use Thinkific: Easy Step-by-Step Guide in 2025

Want to share your knowledge and make some money doing it?

Creating an online course is a great way to do just that. But where do you start?

Picking the right platform is super important, and Thinkific is popular.

Thinkific makes building and selling your course easy, but determining pricing and using the platform effectively can be tricky. 

This guide breaks down everything you need to know how to use Thinkific step-by-step. 

Let’s dive in!

Setting Up Your Thinkific Account

• Choose a Plan: Thinkific offers different plans, such as phone subscription plans. Each plan has various features and pricing. Visit Thinkific’s landing page to compare the options and choose the one that best suits your needs and budget. Consider the courses you plan to offer, the number of students you expect, and the features you need (e.g., live lessons, advanced marketing tools). Don’t overspend if you’re just getting started!
• Sign Up: Go to Thinkific’s website. You’ll find a button that says something like “Get Started,” “Sign Up,” or “Create Your Free Account.” Click it! You’ll need to provide basic information, such as your name, email address, and password. Choose a strong, unique password to protect your account.
• Verify: Thinkific will send a confirmation email to the address you provided. Open your email inbox and click the link to verify your account. This confirms that the email address is yours and activates your Thinkific account.
• Customize Your School: Now it’s time to personalize your online school! Thinkific allows you to customize the look and feel of your school. You can upload your logo, choose colors that reflect your brand, and select fonts that are easy to read. Think of it as setting up your virtual classroom. A professional-looking school helps build trust with your students.
• Set Up Your Payment Gateway: This is a crucial step. A payment gateway is how you’ll receive payments from students who enroll in your courses. Thinkific integrates with popular payment processors like Stripe and PayPal. You’ll need to connect your existing Stripe or PayPal accounts (or create new ones) to your Thinkific account. Thinkific provides clear instructions on how to do this. Getting started with payments can seem a bit technical, but it’s essential for generating revenue from your courses.
• Set Up a Custom Domain (Optional): A custom domain makes your online school look more professional. Instead of your school’s web address being something like “yourschool.thinkific.com,” you can have your domain name like “yourschool.com.” This can improve your branding and make it easier for students to find your courses. Setting up a custom domain is optional, especially when you start. You can always add it later.

Creating Your First Course

• Plan Your Course: What’s your topic? Who’s your audience? A solid plan is key.
• Outline Your Content: Break your course into sections, lessons, and chapters. A clear structure helps everyone.
• Use the Thinkific Builder: Thinkific’s drag-and-drop builder makes course creation easy. No coding is needed!
• Add Different Content: Use videos, text lessons, quizzes, PDFs, and more. Mix it up to keep students engaged.
• Edit Your Content: Edit videos, format text, add images, and embed links directly in Thinkific.
• Set Your Pricing: Choose a one-time price, subscription, payment plan, or a combination.
• Offer a Free Trial: Let potential students sample your course with a free trial or preview lessons.
• Review and Publish: Double-check everything before you hit the publish button. You’ve created your first Thinkific course, which is a big step if you start with Thinkific.

Enhancing the Learning Experience

• Create a Community: Thinkific’s discussion feature lets you create a space for students to connect, ask questions, and share ideas. A strong community makes learning more engaging.
• Use Announcements: Use Thinkific’s announcement tool to keep your students informed. Share updates, reminders, and important information.
• Offer Certificates: Automatically issue certificates of completion to celebrate student achievements.
• Create and Sell Multiple Courses: Expand your offerings by creating and selling more courses.
• Bundle Courses: Offer course bundles at a discount to increase sales and provide a more comprehensive learning experience.
• Offer Memberships: Create a membership area where students can access all your courses for a recurring fee.
• Bulk Enroll Students: Easily enroll multiple students at once, which is helpful for businesses or organizations.
• Flexible Pricing: Experiment with pricing options, payment plans, discounts, and coupons to find the best.
• Use the Course Builder: Thinkific’s course builder gives you the tools to create a high-quality online learning experience.

Marketing and Selling 

You’ve built a remarkable new course—that’s fantastic! Now, let’s promote it and start earning. Marketing tells people about your course and gets them to sign up.

Know your audience. Who are you trying to reach? What do they like? Where are they online?

Build an email list. Offer something free in exchange for email addresses. This lets you stay in touch.

Create a strong sales page. Highlight the benefits of your course. Use clear language. Show off testimonials.

Offer a free trial or preview lessons. Let people try your course before they buy.

Use social media. Share snippets of your course, behind-the-scenes stuff, and student stories. Talk to your followers.

Run targeted ads on Facebook or Instagram. Reach people who might like your course.

Check in monthly. See what marketing works and what doesn’t. Make changes to do better. As a creator, marketing is always happening. Good marketing helps you earn more.

Track your sales and overview your income. Know how your course is going and make wise choices.

Managing Your Thinkific

• Manage Students: Thinkific provides tools to manage your students effectively. You can view a list of enrolled students, track their progress through your courses, see which lessons they’ve completed, and even communicate with them directly through the platform. This helps you stay connected with your students and offer support when needed.
• Update Course Content: Keeping your course content up-to-date is key to providing a valuable learning experience. Thinkific simplifies this process. You can easily edit existing lessons, add new lessons or modules, and update outdated materials. This ensures your course remains relevant and current for your students.
• Track Data: Thinkific offers built-in analytics and reporting features. You can track your sales, see the number of students enrolled in each course, monitor student engagement, and gather feedback through surveys or quizzes. Analyzing this data helps you understand what’s working well, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions about your course offerings.
• Use Drip for Students: The drip feature isn’t just for marketing – it’s also a great way to nurture your students. You can set up automated email sequences for students at specific points in their learning journey. Send welcome messages, reminders about upcoming deadlines, motivational tips, or even bonus content to keep them engaged and motivated.
• Handle Transactions: Thinkific handles all the financial aspects of your online school. When a student purchases your course, Thinkific securely processes the transaction, collects payment, and deposits the funds into your connected payment account. This eliminates the hassle of dealing with payments yourself.
• Scale Your School: As your online course business grows, Thinkific can scale with you. You can easily add more courses, create different pricing tiers, offer memberships, and even hire other instructors to teach classes under your brand.
• Get Support: Thinkific offers customer support to assist you with any questions or issues you may encounter. Whether you’re having trouble setting up a feature, need help with a technical problem, or want some advice, their support team is available.
• Ongoing Process: Managing your Thinkific school is an ongoing effort. It’s not a “set it and forget it” thing. To ensure you provide the best online learning experience, regularly review your course content, analyze your data, engage with your students, and stay up-to-date with Thinkific’s new features. Thinkific handles the transaction side, allowing you to focus on creating and delivering valuable course content.

Conclusion

So, there you have it! This guide covers everything you need to know about starting with Thinkific.

From setting up your account to marketing your new course, you’re now equipped to build a successful online learning business.

Remember, creating and selling courses is a journey.

Don’t be afraid to experiment, try different things, and learn from your experiences.

Thinkific’s tools, including automation features, make it easier to manage the technical stuff so you can focus on creating excellent content and connecting with your students.

Ready to take your online course business to the next level?

Thinkific provides the platform and tools. You bring the passion and expertise. Now, go out there and monetize your knowledge!

Frequently Asked Questions