FINE PRINT: I am a Podia Partner/affiliate, so if you do click a link on this blog, I may earn a commission. These commissions keeps me going and providing reviews and creating how-to courses.
As you know I am all about Online Courses and testing out new tools, apps and technologies. I have already used Thinkific, Teachable, Udemy, Skillshare and many more in my research for best online business tools. And I recently discovered a new kid in the block, Podia. I discovered it initially by accident when I was reading a business blog and they hosted their courses with WithCoach.com – so of course I had to check it out and do a Podia review.
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Podia Review – Online Course Platform
Let’s start with the basics; what is Podia and who are the people behind it. Podia is a SAAS (software as a service) platform for online entrepreneurs. It is a platform where you can host and sell digital products, courses and even your time.
You can have both digital products and courses with Podia, which is a huge bonus for those with both in their portfolio. Many course platforms are fantastic with courses but not so good with digital products/downloads like books, but Coach does great job in both areas.
The nearest competitor to Coach is Gumroad. They both have similar interface and provide bit more than just online course platform. Of course, they compete with other platforms on other aspects and Podia claims following in their website: “The number one reason people switch from other platforms to Podia? Our customer service.” That is pretty strong statement and I believe their active customer support will be a great help once you go full in with online courses. Choosing a platform that is unbeatable in customer service is always a wise step to take.
First Glance
For whatever reason, Podia, reminds me of ConvertKit. Something about the user experience and feel just reminds me of CK – and that is a good thing. Their website and course interface is smooth and logical – a big plus! It is a pleasure to use and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Bigger course platforms can suffer from information overload and it does not happen here at all.
Podia is great for anyone who wants a simple online course platform that is super intuitive to use.
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Who Should Use Podia?
Podia is ideal for anybody with a digital product (book etc.) or an online course. It is a self-hosted platform where you will need to do all marketing in order to make sales. It is a great add-on with Udemy and/or Skillshare in case you host courses there. Podia offers very affordable pricing tiers and you can start for free.
If you have a book – you can easily sell it as digital download.
If you have a course – smooth user experience and video hosting.
If you are a coach, consultant or a service provider, you should plug into the online course market and provide products for your clients to buy. If you have not done so yet, start today!
Podia is especially great for those that who do not want to integrate their email marketing with course platforms (it can be challenging with Zapier in the middle!) as you can drip content and emails within Podia! That is a huge bonus that I have not seen with other providers.
Read also: https://ninakolari.com/sell-online-courses/
Course/Product Building Experience
As mentioned before, the user experience on Podia is so smooth, easy and intuitive. There is nothing extra to confuse you, just what you need when you need it. You could have a course up in an hour for sure!
As you can see below you have two options – Digital Download or Online Course.
Uploading is easy with the Drag & Drop feature and the upload speed is fast. You can have both free and paid courses, offer coupons, FAQ and more.
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Pages
The sales page is pretty simple but still offers everything you need. If you need complex sales pages, then it is better to host sales pages elsewhere (like Clickfunnels). A great thing about Podia is that you can see your conversion rate (visitors/buyers) which tells a lot about effectiveness of your sales page. The higher the conversion rate, the better.
Update 27th July 2017, Podia just confirmed adding affiliate program to their service! This is golden for anyone with digital products as there is nothing better than to get sales with zero effort.
Podia Has Cool Tool that helps you see your profit from your membership – click to see it yourself.
Payment Providers
You can integrate both Stripe and PayPal with WithCoach. Paypal is a premium option, Stripe can be conneted at all levels.
Integrations
Podia integrates directly with Convertkit; for others you need to use Zapier in the middle. This is not an issue as it is same case with literally all other course platforms as well. If you do not want to sign up with an email marketing platform you could handle all within Podia which is a unique feature compared to other course platforms.
Email Marketing within Podia
Podia offers a unique feature to send one-off-newsletters or drip campaigns. This feature has potential of replacing your autoreponder! A feature that is perfect for someone who wants to learn just one platform and still “have it all”. Having said that I do recommend having a dedicated autoresponder as your list is truly where the money is.
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Podia Pricing
There are three pricing levels each giving you different services. One of the best things is definitely membership site option! This is a game changer as membership is pretty hot topic at the moment. Check out pricing details here.
Conclusion on Podia Review
Podia is a great option when you are shopping for an online course platform for your courses.
If you sell courses and/or digital products, I think Podia is the best option out there. With combo possibility of course and digital product, it is really the best.
Their intuitive and uncluttered user interface is one of the best I have seen – and used! Thumps up for sure!
And finally, their support is really awesome and response time short.
If it does broadcast and drip emails, then why would I need a dedicated ESP?
I would still keep ESP to have better automation sequences and ability to tag, but of course it depends on everyone’s situation. It is doable to run whole online business within Coach!
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