As a course creator, there are a lot of platforms out there. I’ve probably tried them all, but my favorite one is definitely ThriveCart Learn! I use ThriveCart as my checkout system, affiliate program, and hosting system for my courses, memberships, and digital products. Want to learn how to use ThriveCart Learn and Learn Plus? Here’s my ultimate guide and complete ThriveCart Learn review.
Disclaimer: I earn from qualifying purchases. Some of the links on my website are affiliate links, which means, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
How to Sign Up for ThriveCart Learn
In order to use ThriveCart Learn, you need to sign up with ThriveCart. ThriveCart Learn is included with the purchase of ThriveCart as a checkout system. You get an incredibly advanced checkout shopping cart system anda course hosting platform with your Thrivecart account.
ThriveCart Learn Pricing
ThriveCart and ThriveCart Learn are currently available for a lifetime deal of only $495, but I definitely recommend upgrading to ThriveCart Pro for an extra $195 one-time fee. With ThriveCart Pro, you’ll also get their affiliate program center, automatic sales tax calculation, advanced user management, custom domain name functionality, and more. I’ll be honest here and say that ThriveCart has been one of the best investments, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to create a lot of courses or digital products.
Just remember: there is no monthly fee!
Thrivecart’s one time fee can save you so much money.
ThriveCart Learn vs ThriveCart Learn Plus
What is ThriveCart pricing? ThriveCart Learn is included in a basic ThriveCart account ($495 lifetime fee). You can upgrade to ThriveCart Learn Plus for an extra one-time payment of $195.
What are the extra benefits of ThriveCart Learn Plus?
The Learn+ upgrade allows you to add team members, create product bundles, and tag specific purchasers.
For example: If you offer a pay-in-full bonus, you can create that lesson in Learn+, so it’s only visible to students with the pay-in-full tag.
Creating a New ThriveCart Learn Product
In your back-end ThriveCart Learn dashboard, your products and courses are organized in folders or projects. Here’s an example of how I have my bazillion digital products organized:
To add a new product, you would click either + New Project or + Create Course (if you’re adding it to an already created project folder).
This is where you can start to add your product information:
- Choose which project folder you want the Learn product to go into (this is just for your back-end organization)
- Add your course or product name
- Add author information and photo (this is optional and can be made visible or not later on)
- Upload a course logo or cover image
- Add a support email address or link for students (this is required)
- Choose your product or course layout – Sidebar, Top Menu, or Grid
Different Layouts for a ThriveCart Learn Product
ThriveCart now has 3 different layouts you can use for your ThriveCart Learn products. I mostly use the Sidebar layout, but depending on the amount of content or ‘lessons’ your product has, you might consider choosing a different layout. Here’s a screenshot of one of my products or courses where I’ve used each of the layouts:
Sidebar Layout
Top Menu Layout
I haven’t used this one yet 😂
Grid Layout
ThriveCart Learn Customizations and Branding
As you can see from the screenshots above, ThriveCart Learn offers a lot of ways to brand and customize your course or membership platform for your students.
Here’s a Tip: Look at the screenshot above for the Sidebar Layout. I alwayscreate a ‘draft lesson’ first, adding all of my styling options and creating templates for things like buttons, headings, paragraph text, etc. This is because I can then duplicate that draft lesson and keep the styling for each course or product. Right now, this is the easiest way to do it and keep everything looking streamlined and branded.
Style Options Available
The branding and style options with ThriveCart Learn are only limited by your imagination!
You can customize fonts, colors, spacing, columns, etc.
Anything that can be embedded can be added into a ThriveCart Learn lesson using an HTML block.
You can even customize your main course dashboard, where your students see all of their courses or products. You can even show ones that they don’t have access to. They will appear greyed out when the student logs in, and they can click on it to go to your sales page for that product. It’s a great way to get paying students and customers to check out your other products!
Setting Up a Custom Domain
Want to set up a custom domain? You can even set a different one up for each course or product as needed (if you have Learn+).
From the course options screen, you can also choose what happens if a subscription payment fails (ex: for memberships or payment plans) and if you want to show the course in a student’s dashboard when they don’t have access to it (it will show greyed out). The course options page is also where you can customize the registration and login page for each course or product, too.
The Pros of ThriveCart Learn
No Monthly Fee for Course Hosting
There are so many monthly and recurring expenses for entrepreneurs. I love that ThriveCart offers a lifetime option! Yes, it’s more expensive of an investment in one chunk, but you’ll save a lot pretty quickly vs paying monthly fees. It’s probably the biggest advantage of using ThriveCart vs other course hosting platforms.
Easy to Use and Customize
As you’ve seen above, ThriveCart Learn is super easy to use and customize to match your brand.
Learn is still new, too, so more and more features are being added all of the time. Right now, you can completely customize your course content, lessons, modules, and course platform dashboard.
Mobile Friendly for Students
While there is no app for ThriveCart Learn right now, it is still very mobile-friendly and accessible on mobile devices.
The Cons of ThriveCart Learn
3rd Party Video Hosting
One thing to keep in mind, especially if you’re considering switching to ThriveCart Learn from another platform, is that you’ll need to have a 3rd party for your video hosting. I have always used Vimeo for all of my videos and recommend them. I’ve never had an issue with Vimeo, and it’s super easy to embed videos in Learn.
No single login for students who have ThriveCart logins for different people and businesses
One thing I do like about Teachableor even Kajabi (at least on the app) is that I can sign into all of my courses with one login. I’m hopeful this is something that ThriveCart might look into in the future, but for now, it could also be considered a positive. Your students aren’t distracted by other courses or programs.
No ability to brand or really customize the access emails sent to newly enrolled students
Right now, the ThriveCart Learn access emails can’t be customized, which isn’t too big a deal. I always send my own email sequence when someone purchases a product or course, but it’s something that I hope will be customizable soon.
Here’s an example of how the email looks for new students:
Connecting Your ThriveCart Product to ThriveCart Learn
Once you create a ThriveCart Learn product, it’s now time to connect your ThriveCart checkout product to the Learn product.
- On the Fulfillment tab, select ‘Add them to my membership site’
- Select ‘ThriveCart Learn’ as your membership platform
- If you have multiple pricing options, you can choose different Learn products
- In this example, I have 2 options buyers choose from – the WordPress template or the Showit template, and depending on what they select, I add them automatically to the correct product.
- This is where you can also add tags to apply (if you have Learn Plus) so students can see special lessons that only viewable by accounts with that tag
- For example: offering a bonus offer for people who pay in full
- In the last field, you can choose to redirect purchasers to a custom success page
HINT: if you set a custom success page, you also have to set it to redirect to it in the checkout design settings here:
Import Students From Another Platform to ThriveCart Learn
If you’re moving your online courses and digital products to ThriveCart Learn from another platform, you’ll need to manually import your current students.
On the ‘My Students’ tab, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you’ll see a little button that says ‘Import Students.’
You’ll need a CSV file with a header row for their name and email address fields. Just select the courses or products you want this list to be added to and import it.
They will receive an automated ThriveCart email like the one above to create their new account. If they already have a ThriveCart account with you, it will just let them know they’ve been adding access to a new product.
Final ThriveCart Learn Review
Is ThriveCart Learn better than other course platforms?
In my opinion: YES! With all of the ThriveCart integrations possible and how it streamlines so many things in one tool, it’s definitely worth the investment.
As a student and as a person with 50+ digital products and courses, I’m obsessed with ThriveCart Learn.
Here’s a quick story about how much I love it:
About 1 month before ThriveCart announced the Learn platform, I had just finished a 2-3 month project of building my own platform on my WordPress website. Even though I spent months building this new student dashboard and beautiful member platform, I ditched it for ThriveCart Learn as soon as I saw it. And I don’t regret that decision one bit! The only regret I have is not waiting a few months to build that WordPress course platform 😂 but it happens. ThriveCart Learn is a GREAT option for anyone creating online courses or digital products!
Need ThriveCart Templates?
By the way, my friend Dama has created the BEST ThriveCart checkout templates to help improve your conversions and sales! If you need help using ThriveCart as a checkout and funnel system, she’s even got you covered there with her CartStart course! You’ll be able to sell digital products and courses using beautifully designed & branded Thrivecart checkout pages.
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