Welcome to Our Review On Podia, one of the top eight Learning Course Platforms In 2021.
This article will provide you with an in-depth analysis of Podia to assist in your decision making if you are considering which learning management platform is right for you and your business.
Let us introduce you to Podia, and the incredible features this learning course platform offers, explain how the platform works, review the dashboard, and finally, we will take you through the pros and cons of Podia and their prices.
Who Is Podia?
Since 2014, Podia has helped over 20,000-course creators sell online courses, digital downloads and membership subscriptions.
Podia successfully provides the infrastructure required for individuals and businesses to create courses, get them seen online, and the company then helps you advertise and sell your course.
A great place to start with any review is to look at a companies pro's and cons, so that's where we will begin.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
Podia Pricing
For an all-round great online course platform, Podia offers two great value plans. Compared to some of its competitors, you will receive more bang for your buck!
Cost | |
|---|---|
Mover Plan | $39 monthly |
Shaker Plan | $79 monthly |
Mover Plan
The Mover Plan is marketed at individuals or businesses who've been thinking about creating online courses and want to take the next step.
Shaker Plan
The Shaker plan is aimed at businesses who want to take their courses to the next level. With powerful marketing features and inclusions, this plan is excellent for those with a growing audience.
Free Plans
One of the downsides to this company is, they do not offer free plans.
Podia Transaction Fees
Whichever package you purchase, and whatever amount you earn from your online course, Podia will not charge you transaction fees. Podia state ' you pay the same low monthly fee because you earned it, you deserve to keep it'.
Payouts
All earnings will be deposited directly into your Stripe or PayPal account.
Usage: Podia
As you can see from the image above, both plans include everything you need to get your course started and more.
With unlimited everything, Podia is an excellent choice when it comes to growing your online course.
There are no limits on the number of products, customers, and emails sent, which makes it easier to look to the future and grow your business.
Customer Support: Podia
Podia offers excellent customer support. The company provides live chat support each day, and if you can't contact them during the live chat hours, email and they will respond.
Podia have an average response time of under two minutes for live chat, which is an impressive statistic.
If you prefer to find your own answers to your queries, Podia offer a self-serve help centre. The help centre has a wide range of articles and covers everything from getting started to advanced analytics.
Sales And Marketing: Podia
Let's get down to business, and consider the tools you need to grow your online business.
Podia are up there with the best online course platforms and offer all the tools required to sell your courses and manage your online payments. The only downside is, it is not possible to create sales funnels, but that said let's look at what they do offer.
Podia - Pricing Options
Offer your students several ways to pay for your courses, the platform supports Stripe and PayPal, allowing students to pay using PayPal or their credit/debit card. All payments received will go directly into your bank account.
You can also offer your students payment plans. Providing the option to pay for your course in monthly instalments is an easy way to increase conversions.
Another downside to this platform provider, comes when you are setting course prices. You can only select a one-course price, which is not convenient if you have more than one course.
In addition to courses, you can also offer memberships to your students if you sign up for the shaker plan. You can provide memberships as annual or monthly subscriptions.
Another point to note is your courses will all have to be priced in the same currency. You will have the option to choose that currency, but you cannot have multiple currencies.
In addition to the above, Podia offer:
- 1-click upsells - you can increase the size of orders by offering upsells.
- Embeds - selling products from your website, couldn't be easier than embedding a 'buy' button within your site.
- Coupons - Use customised coupons to attract your customer's attention.
- Cross-sell campaigns - Pitch similar products to customers who have purchased already.
Affiliate Marketing:
Included within the shaker plan is the ability to use affiliates for marketing your course.
Using affiliates to market your course using Podia is quick and straightforward, Podia will create unique links for all your products.
Your affiliates will gain access to a private dashboard, which allows them to track sales and commissions and access their affiliate links.
Choose to give your affiliates a % of sales or a flat commission per sale.
One issue with Podia's affiliate marketing feature is all products will show on your affiliates dashboard, if you don't want specific products to be advertised, then you will have to set a 0% commission for them.
Email Marketing With Podia:
Podia's email marketing features are basic and will not replace your email marketing, but it does offer some useful features.
To start building your email contact list, you will have the ability to add a pre-launch signup box to your sales page. You can also add a signup form to your website enabling you to collect those email addresses.
Sending automated emails is simple. Using the campaign builder, you can set a schedule for a series of emails to be sent.
Another fantastic feature is the ability to set conditions for your marketing campaigns; a customer can join the campaign when they sign up for your newsletter, then when they purchase a product, you can unsubscribe them from that particular campaign. We all know how frustrating it is to receive email after email when we already have a product, so this is a great plus point.
PODIA.COM
Third-party Marketing
Due to some of the constraints with marketing within Podia, you will require a third-party provider.
For email marketing platforms consider:
Podia has Zapier integration so you can integrate with many third-party apps.
Creating Your Course: Podia
Now let's look at how Podia compare when building your online course and landing pages.
Uploading Your Content
The content loading process is simple, you can upload your content either one-by-one or in bulk, unfortunately, you have to do this from your hard drive as it cannot be completed directly from Google drive or dropbox.
Your content will be hosted on the platform, and Wistia offers unlimited video storage and is included as part of your subscription.
Structuring Your Course
When uploaded, your content will sit within the lessons element of Podia; you can then use the course builder to arrange your lessons into sections, allowing you to organise your course appropriately.
There are a few downsides to structuring your course. You will not be able to add a video and a quiz in the same lesson, so you will need to create individual lessons for each element.
Can I Include Quizzes and Assignments?
Adding quizzes to your course is quick and easy. However, this is because this area of Podia is limited, as you cannot add images, or choose from a variety of questions types.
Another issue with the quiz area within Podia is that you will not be able to set a pass mark. A pass mark allows you to see how your students are progressing automatically, so it is an important feature missing.
Within Podia, you cannot create assignments.
From Podia.com
Can I Include Community Areas?
Unfortunately, it is not possible to include a community area.
Is It Possible To Produce Certificates?
Again, it is not possible to produce certificates within Podia, so you would need to do this elsewhere.
Can I Drip and Lock Content?
Dripping content is possible within Podia. You can create automated emails that will be sent to your students in line with the schedule you have set for each course element.
Content can be unlocked as you choose, meaning you can provide students with access to individual modules immediately or if you prefer just for specific students.
However, you cannot lock content, meaning you cannot stop students progressing. For example, you may wish to prevent students from gaining access to a lesson unless they pass a quiz; this is not possible.
Course Delivery
Students watch your course using Podia's course player, which is well designed, and easy to navigate.
You have the option to turn on a comments section for each course, allowing your students to leave comments quickly.
Designing Your Website: Podia
Making your site look good is an essential element of ensuring your course sells, so let's take a look to see if Podia will meet your objectives.
What Themes Can I Use To Design My Course?
Podia offers its customers one template to all course builders and does not provide any other site themes. The default template is modern, atheistically pleasing and looks good.
On the template, you will be able to change your site colours and the font for your text.
Build Your Course Pages:
Using the page builder, you can customise your course sales pages.
Using the page builder, you can create product banners, add descriptions, author bios and frequently asked questions.
In addition to the default template, you can use the section themes which enable you to choose background colours and text.
What I like about Podia, is anyone can use this element, you do not need any design qualifications, the whole process is quick and easy.
Podia Conclusion
For those of you who are looking for a reasonably affordable online course platform which will create a simple, attractive online course, then you should look no further than Podia.
The platform may have a few shortcomings, but it delivers an easy to use the platform, where you can design, market and sell your online course.
Podia offer a 14-day free trial, so before you sign up to give it a go by clicking below.
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About The Author
Susan Elaine
Susan is the founder of a2zonlinehub, a blog specializing in helping people become successful working from home or as independent freelancers. Originally a chartered Accountant, but moved into content writing to allow her the flexibility to work from home, around her three girl's schedules.