PODIA Review Summary
Overall Podia is a first class digital sales platform. Simple to use, yet sophisticated in function, a beginner will be able to create a storefront for their online course, digital product or membership area in no time. The email and sales features are particularly impressive. It is quite expensive however, and the lack of true customization could prove a problem for more experienced users.
*Note: This review contains affiliate links, from which we may receive a commission at no cost to you.*
PRICING: Movers: $39.99 / Shakers: $79.99 (p/mo) [2 months free on annual plan]
- One platform to host your assets
- Unlimited bandwith, file sizes, sales, members and students
- Very easy to use for the beginner
- Quality email marketing features
- Customers can purchase without signing up
- Instant payouts
- Relatively costly when compared to competitors
- Limited customization
- Few payment gateways
What is Podia?
Essentially Podia is an online platform where you can host your digital products ready for users to purchase and download.
Podia is one of the newest online course platform, that’s built similar to ConvertKit in the fact thats its built by creators for creators. In this Podia review, we’ll dive into why it may just be the Best Online Course Platform for Creators.
If you’re tired of Expensive Course Platforms that cost a ton and takes a cut out of all your customers; Podia is your solution!
If you have eBooks, podcasts, courses that you want potential customers to have access to, Podia will allow you to set up a digital storefront to showcase these products and start making sales.
An important distinction to make is that Podia is not a platform where you can create your digital assets, you merely sell them using the service.
In other words, you can use the drag and drop builder to design your storefront that will ‘display’ your digital offerings. You can then manage your sales, prices, product listings, etc all using what Podia has to offer.
You can get a 25% Discount on Podia. Simply click the link below and start a Free 14-day trial and pay “Annual” instead of Monthly
Contents
Why Podia?
To best understand Podia, you should look back at what ConvertKit did to the email marketing space.
Before ConvertKit all the email marketing software, either had really fancy automations for enterprise customers or super simple email newsletters for a blogger, nothing for the internet marketing people like you and me.
Podia is the same, softwares like Clickfunnels, Teachable etc all cost in the 100s of $$ per month which is very affordable for a big company but isn’t really suited for the solo bloggers, or the online marketer with a team of 5.
Enter Podia: For only $39/month you can get the power of over 5 tools for the price of 1.
We’re talking about an all in one marketing platform.
- Online Courses
- Digital Downloads
- Storefront
- Email Marketing
- Messaging (Live Chat)
- Memberships
- A Blog Platform
Now, lets see how much that would cost to have all of that without Podia.
- Online Courses – Teachable @ $99/Month
- Digital Downloads – Gumroad @ $10/month
- Storefront – Clickfunnels @ $97/Month
- Email Marketing – Convertkit @ $29/month for 1K subscribes
- Messaging (Live Chat) – Drift @ $50/month
- Memberships – Gumroad
- A Blog Platform – WordPress site @ $35/Month for Managed Hosting
- Total = $300+/ Month
Now you may not use all the features, if in reality if you’re doing even more than one of the things, it’s already cheaper to use Podia vs signing up for each of the tools individually).
Also the big plus with using Podia is that everything is in a single platform, you don’t have to worry about integrating Clickfunnels with Infusionsoft & WordPress (Trust me, you wouldn’t want to wish that on your worst enemy).
If you’re someone who just wants to focus on creating and don’t want to waste hours like to get a plugin working in WordPress, Podia is for you.
The Main Features of Podia
To recap, as Podia is a platform to host, market and sell your digital creations (ebooks, podcasts, courses and memberships for example); the main features that the platform provides are all designed to facilitate the sales and management of your digital assets.
The 3 categories of digital asset
With Podia you can sell/manage 3 main types of asset:
- Digital Downloads (ebooks, podcasts, guides PDFs, eBooks, videos, audio, and cheat sheets.)
- Online Courses – (curriculums and courses that you have created; again hosted by Podia)
- Memberships (provide membership only access to content hosted via Podia)
Who is Podia designed for?
Whether you’re an ebook author or maybe an online teacher, or it could be that you own a brick and mortar business and have decided to dabble in selling some digital creations Podia is a platform that could apply to you.
The reason for this is the simplicity of use. I will get into this later in the review, however, the main point is, those without any online design or sales skills will be able to use the platform.
Furthermore, enterprise users will also get a lot out of Podia.
Even if your business has a sophisticated eCommerce website selling physical goods, using a platform such as Podia that is specifically designed for the management and sales of digital goods is a step your company should consider.
One other useful feature of Podia is that it allows you to manage memberships in an extremely efficient and streamlined fashion.
If you already run a membership website and find taking care of payments, passwords, subscriptions and relative access a pain, switching to Podia could be the answer.
Again, more on all of this below.
The Main Features of Podia
To recap, as Podia is a platform to host, market and sell your digital creations (ebooks, podcasts, courses and memberships for example); the main features that the platform provides are all designed to facilitate the sales and management of your digital assets.
- Custom domain
- Customized branding and color
- Embeddable forms to collect emails from your website
- Hosting for free or paid courses
- Instant payouts so you never have to wait to be paid
- Product bundling with support and customer service for digital downloads and courses
- Track student progress
- Unlimited bandwidth, courses, file size, sales and students
The 3 categories of digital asset
With Podia you can sell/manage 3 main types of asset:
- Digital Downloads (ebooks, podcasts, guides PDFs, eBooks, videos, audio, and cheat sheets.)
- Online Courses – (curriculums and courses that you have created; again hosted by Podia)
- Memberships (provide membership only access to content hosted via Podia)
Digital Downloads
Podia has a customizable storefront through which you can display all the assets that you have that can be downloaded.
One of the features that I loved about this area of the platform is that your potential customers DO NOT need to sign up in order to purchase anything.
Yes, it can be argued that nailing that email address is helpful in building brand loyalty (and building the list); however, making the original sale should do that too if your product is of high quality. That buyer will be back.
In the end, the streamlined, speedy checkout will help facilitate higher conversions and increase sales.
Furthermore, the extensive options for your sales pages mean you can insert promotional videos, sales copy, and FAQs as well as an email opt-in form.
Online Courses
Selling and hosting an online course through Podia is a fine example of a platform answering the needs of its users.
This area of Podia is simplicity and elegant design all in one great package.
They provide a clean and basic theme for you to use for the ‘face’ of your course. Uploading the content for your course is extremely easy (I didn’t come across a file type that I couldn’t upload here), and once you have everything in place it is on to applying the sales settings.
Depending on the plan you choose you can have up to an unlimited number of courses, customers, and sales.
You can also set whether all of the course is available upon sign up, or if lessons are fed in a drip-style time frame.
The built-in sales page means there is a consistency of design that really makes your offerings seem professional.
There’s also a presales page you can build in order to pitch the benefits of the course, as well as provide coupons or freebies in order to collect email addresses for your mailing list.
Memberships
If you are prioritizing building a loyal following that you are able to turn into memberships, this section of Podia will be very advantageous to you.
Rather than build the infrastructure for a membership website via platforms such as WordPress or Shopify, Podia has everything you need to create something in a simple manner any beginner will appreciate.
The platform provides the tools to create a sophisticated looking membership site with its intuitive drag and drop interface. Not a single line of code needs to be typed.
This membership site is able to support a wide range of file uploads (video, MP3, text, PSD, PDF, and more).
There’s also the option to create comments areas, feedback forms and other valuable features your members will love.
All the content you decide to put in the member’s area (along with any user-generated content) can be easily managed and organized in order to provide the best experience for your online ‘paying’ following.
Podia vs Teachable vs Thinkific
So how does Podia compare vs popular course platforms like Thinkific and Teachable??
Well, for starters it’s cheap!
It only costs a $39/month for the Mover plan and the shaker plan with all the features cost only $79/month!
In comparison,
Both Teachable & Thinkific cost $99/month for their Professional plans, and that's just for your course platform. You still have to pay extra for email marketing, landing pages, a blog platform etc etc.
Teachable has its own payment setup called “Teachable payment” and you can only receive your payments instantly if you use their payment methods, else you have to wait 30 days to receive payments over Paypal. This is Instant with Podia.
Thinkific is more geared towards people who need a powerful course platform, ie this is why Hootsuite & Later use it. I tend to recommend it most of B2B companies that I work with as it all the tools and features you need to have your courses succeed at scale.
Podia Pricing
You don’t need to waste 1000s of $$ on a course platform, also you shouldn’t have to pay “more” as you get more student! That’s just absurd! This is 2020
Podia’s pricing is one of the simplest in the industry. While many of their competitors complicated things with having many plans that they can upsell you on, Podia keeps things simple.
Podia is available in 2 different pricing plans:
- Mover ($39/month) – Your own storefront, Online courses, Digital downloads, Email marketing, Messaging, Zero transaction fees, Unlimited everything, and 24/7 support.
- Shaker ($79/month) – Everything in Mover + Memberships, Blog, Embedded Checkout, Affiliate marketing, Third-Party Code and FREE migrations.
You can get a 25% Discount on Podia. Simply click the link below and start a Free 14-day trial and pay “Annual” instead of Monthly
Is Podia Worth it?
The answer is definitely yes and I hope my Podia Review helps you understand that.
For a only $39/month, you can an amazing course platform along with a marketing Suite with everything you need to run a digital empire! It’s honestly a no brainer for someone who just wants to create and not worry about the technicalities.
Podia Discount Code
The truth is that Podia does not offer any coupons!
You can get a discount on Podia if you decide to pay Annually instead of Monthly! If you decide to pay yearly instead of monthly you will save 16%
Combine that with the free 14 days trial and you’ll save 25% on your first year!
Podia Discount Price:
- Mover – $390
$468save $78/year - Shaker – $790
$948save $158/year
Simply click the link above to start your trial (NO Credit Card Required).
Podia Review – The Bottom Line
Podia really is an easy to use digital sales platform. I am a big fan of the fact you can get yourself up and running very quickly.
The interface is intuitive and everything is clearly laid out in a way that makes sense. This really is what Web 3.0 is all about. Your grandma could honestly upload an ebook (assuming she had written one) and have it on sale within a professional-looking storefront in less than 10 minutes.
And considering the free 14-day trial, there is no reason not to give Podia a go if you are looking to sell a digital product, offer an online course or launch a membership area for your brand.
I don’t know as much about Podia as I like, but for $39, that’s not too bad of a deal. I’m considering it.