Thinkific is a popular online course platform, and Squarespace is the world’s leading website builder.
While creators use Thinkific to create and deliver their courses, they use Squarespace to host their main websites and blogs. So how can you integrate Thinkific and Squarespace to make the most out of each one?
That’s where this tutorial comes in. We’ll show you step-by-step how to properly connect your Thinkific and Squarespace websites. We’ll also discuss several ways to do it and explain when to use each one.
Let’s get started.
1. Streamline Navigation Between Your Squarespace and Thinkific Websites
The most popular way creators use Thinkific and Squarespace is by maintaining their website and funnels on Squarespace while keeping course-related features, such as sales pages, payments, and members’ areas, on Thinkific.
For your information, Squarespace also has a membership feature, but it’s very basic compared to Thinkific, and we don’t recommend using it.
Back to the setup — it’s important to streamline navigation between the online learning platform and the site builder for a seamless user experience.
To do so, you should first find a transparent way to inform your visitors where they can access your courses. Your Squarespace homepage or blog menus are perfect places to showcase this information.
However, make sure to add a clear link to your main menu that directs visitors to your course page. Avoid hiding the link, and use descriptive text so visitors know exactly where they will go once they click on it.
For example, School of Visual Storytelling has a menu item labeled “All Classes” on its Squarespace website that takes visitors to its Thinkific website. In addition, it links to a Thinkific landing page from the hero section on the homepage.
To make the connection even more seamless, you should also link back to your Squarespace site from your Thinkific website. You can use menu items like “blog” or “free guide” and hyperlink them to the relevant pages on your Squarespace website.
This will guide visitors back to your Squarespace website and prevent them from leaving prematurely if they wish to explore your free content.
Finally, it’s important to create a consistent brand experience across your websites:
- Host both websites on a single domain, with the main domain pointing to your Squarespace site and the subdomain pointing to your Thinkific site.
- Ensure that your logo, header style, and color scheme on both platforms bear a close resemblance.
- Consider removing Thinkific’s branding from your website and course area.
2. Link Squarespace Sales Page to the Thinkific Checkout Page
Apart from blog posts and lead generation pages, many Thinkific creators also build their course sales pages on Squarespace. The reason is simple: Squarespace offers more page templates and better design and customization options.
If you plan to do the same, you’ll need to connect your sales page to the Thinkific checkout page to seamlessly process payments and enrollments for your students.
To grab your checkout page link, visit your Thinkific dashboard and go to Manage Learning Products → Courses from the left sidebar.
Here you’ll see all your courses, and you should select the one for which you want the checkout link. If you don’t currently have a course on Thinkific, please refer to our in-depth Thinkific tutorial.
Click on the course, and you’ll be taken to the settings page, where you’ll see the Pricing tab.
Next to the pricing plan, you’ll see a Copy Link option. Copy the link and head to your Squarespace sales page, where you’ll add the link to the buttons.
Additionally, you can set up a redirect so that people visiting the default Thinkific landing page are redirected to the Squarespace page.
To do that, again go to Manage Learning Products → Courses, and select the course.
Then, from the Settings tab, select Page Code, and in the Page Footer Code box, paste the following code:
<script>window.location.href = "https://www.yoursquarespacesalespage.com";</script>The best part about this whole setup is that there are no extra steps in the enrollment process since the checkout and account creation both happen on Thinkific.
3. Utilize Thinkific’s Sales Widgets Feature
While adding a link to your Squarespace website is simple enough, you can create sales widgets to embed course cards on your main website and link to your Thinkific sales/checkout page.
And you don’t need any coding knowledge to create card-based widgets since it’s a standard feature on Thinkific.
To create a sales widget, go to the Market and Sell section in your Thinkific account and click on Sales Widgets.
You can then choose the course for which you’d like to create the widget and customize the widget’s text and appearance. You can also link the widget to the product landing page or the checkout page.
Once you’re done, click on the Generate Code Snippet button, and copy the code. You can now go to your Squarespace account and open the page where you want to display the widget. Add a Code element and simply paste the code.
While you can display a widget anywhere, this feature is particularly helpful for displaying your courses in key areas of your website, such as the homepage or blog sidebar.
4. Add Squarespace Leads to a Thinkific Course via Zapier
Consider a scenario where you want to offer a free Thinkific course as a lead magnet. However, using Thinkific’s checkout process would require your leads to create an account upfront, adding unnecessary friction to the process.
A better option is to collect the user’s email address through a Squarespace form and then add them to your Thinkific course via Zapier. The users then receive the login information to access the course.
Both Squarespace and Thinkific have native Zapier integrations, and it’s straightforward to set up the automation. The trigger will be New Form Submission in Squarespace, and the action will be Enroll User in Thinkific.
By using this method, you can seamlessly add Squarespace leads to your Thinkific course without any hassle, allowing you to simplify the enrollment process for free online courses.
Conclusion
We hope this guide answered your questions about how to integrate with Squarespace and Thinkific. We covered several different options for connecting Thinkific and Squarespace.
By connecting the two platforms the right way, you don’t just get the best of both worlds — Thinkific’s course-creation tools and Squarespace’s blogging and marketing tools — but you can also create a seamless experience for your users.
If you’re not using these solutions yet, both platforms offer free trials, so you can start for free.
Let us know if you have any questions about connecting Squarespace and Thinkific.
