Kajabi, worth the price tag? Check out my pros & cons list!

Kajabi

26 Sept

When creating an online course, one of the most challenging decisions is choosing a learning management system (LMS).

Your LMS will directly impact your audience's user experience, so you must choose wisely. Ideally, your LMS should integrate smoothly with your existing website and any platforms you use. And, of course, you have to weigh the costs against the features provided.

So, how do you pick?!

Most learning management systems provide tools to create and distribute an online course curriculum. However, Kajabi takes it several steps further.

Kajabi: at a glance

With e-learning on the rise, Kajabi has rapidly become an established industry leader in the online course arena – helping entrepreneurs and business owners deliver value to their audience in an accessible and engaging format.

Kajabi is a powerful content and learning management system that makes it easy to create and distribute online courses, membership sites, eBooks, and more.

It features an all-in-one platform where you can host your online course, run campaigns and analytics, and, most importantly, engage your audience for a powerful and interactive learning experience.

What can Kajabi do?

Want to turn your expertise and knowledge into some pretty impressive ka-ching? With Kajabi, everything you need to create, host & promote your online course and generate passive income for your business sits in one easy-to-use space.

Beyond online course creation, Kajabi also allows you to

Design & build lead-capturing landing pages
Create & host robust, interactive membership sites to connect with your online course community
Design sales pages & funnels to promote your online course
Create & automate email marketing campaigns to nurture your leads and promote your online course
Upload and promote digital products such as eBooks, pdfs & more

Kajabi: The Pros list 👍

With over 60 million customers worldwide, it’s no secret that Kajabi is a standout favourite amongst online course creators. Here are a few of the most notable features that make Kajabi worth the hefty price tag:

All-in-one solution

Kajabi saves you the headache of managing multiple platforms. Most of my clients have more than one service or product offering – and having everything under one roof is a game-changer. You can bundle, upsell, and offer your customers a cohesive buyer’s journey with your brand without having to combine a million different software tools.

User-friendly interface

Most of my clients are solopreneurs or have a small team of 1-2 people. Kajabi makes it easy for them to manage and run online courses, even without a techy background! The beauty of Kajabi is that you don’t need a degree in web development to get it up and running. And since there aren’t any software or plugin updates to worry about, there’s no pesky maintenance or fear of your site crashing if you forget to update something. The page's sleek visual layout and simplicity are inviting even for beginners. To top it off, their FAQ is comprehensive, with oodles of online training resources to guide you through each feature.

Seamless integration

Let me paint a horrible tech-nightmare picture: 10 different online course tools stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster. Eeek! Not with Kajabi! Not only are Kajabi’s features user-friendly – they all work seamlessly together. Kajabi currently allows integrations for three separate categories: analytics, email, and miscellaneous. From payment integrations to calendar scheduling, you can plug and play various third-party tools and built-in features as and when needed.

Easy payment options

You’ve hooked your customer. They are interested in parting with their hard-earned cash for your online course. The LAST thing you want is to scare them away with a complicated payment process. Kajabi connects natively to Stripe and Paypal, making online payments quick and seamless for you and your customer. Kajabi also makes it easy to establish secure recurring charges if you sell subscriptions. Not only will your customers benefit from Kajabi’s flexible payment methods, but you do too! Not happy? Kajabi makes it easy to cancel your account from your Kajabi dashboard anytime, and you can receive a full refund if you cancel your plan within the first 30 days of payment. You can also choose to upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time.

Powerful SEO capabilities

You can have an all-singing, all-dancing online course, but if nobody gets to see it, what’s the point? Kajabi’s SEO built-in tools and features are user-friendly and intuitive, so even beginners can navigate with ease. Kajabi SEO practices are similar to those of any conventional website. However, you’ll need to take more steps than you might with WordPress or custom-coded websites to see the desired results.

Pssst, don’t worry; I’ve curated my top Kajabi SEO tips in my blog: 7 tips for search engine optimisation on Kajabi

Marketing Pipelines

One of the standout features of Kajabi is its ability to help you map out your marketing activities so that you can automate many processes. And you can do that through Kajabi Pipelines. A pipeline in Kajabi is a series of web pages and emails (usually) that are all connected and map out the steps in your marketing process. The aim is to design a seamless user experience to encourage your audience to see the value you offer and provide them with the opportunity to access that value.

Supportive creator community

As mentioned, there is a generous library of video training, resource guides and a robust help section on the site itself; however, in my opinion, the Kajabi Facebook group is one of the most valuable resources. It’s super supportive, packed with unbiased tips & advice and is one of the best online groups I’m in. Got a question? Chances are, somebody in the group can help or point you in the right direction. Need inspiration or real-time advice? Connect and network with fellow online course creators at the touch of a button.

Zero commission

Many other hosting platforms take a percentage of your sales, and while at the beginning that may not seem like a big deal, as your revenue increases, that percentage turns into large sums coming right out of your pocket. While Kajabi is known as one of the pricier options out there (more on that later), they only charge you their monthly fee with no hidden surprises.

Innovation

Kajabi continuously expands and integrates new tools to optimise its platform to help improve your and your customer’s user experience. This dedication to keeping Kajabi the best online course platform option out there is arguably one of the reasons that online course creators keep coming back for more.

Kajabi: The Cons List 👎

While Kajabi is a fantastic resource for online course creators, it’s not necessarily the right choice for everyone. I’ve curated a list of the top most common grievances I’ve heard from both clients and within my network – all worth considering before you commit.

The Price Tag

Let’s address the elephant in the room; Kajabi is pricey. It’s a premium course-building product without a free plan. Therefore, it may not be the best option for entrepreneurs who are just starting and have little capital. It’s worth mentioning, though, that while Kajabi is pricey, in my opinion, you get a lot for what you pay. And not just in terms of course creation and customisation – you also get a good site builder and helpful marketing tools. Moreover, when you pit it against market competitors, it becomes more affordable, depending on your chosen plan.

Poor email functionality

Kajabi’s email deliverability and functionality have sparked considerable debate amongst the online course creator community. While some praise the ease of email campaign creation and automation, others criticise and call out the effectiveness of such campaigns. Compared to other third-party email marketing platforms, Kajabi seems to be lacking in functionality and deliverability. Some note-worthy examples include

Limit of 1 email per day within the same sequence
No option to pause an email sequence
Doesn’t offer an A/B testing option
Users cannot manage their subscriptions. If they unsubscribe, they’ll be removed from the list entirely.
Limited analytics dashboard compared to competitors such as ActiveCampaign

While the above may not be a problem for 90% of online course creators, if you’re accustomed to sophisticated sequences and automation, Kajabi may feel limiting.

Limited design options

Design flexibility is crucial for online course creators who want to stand out and establish trust and credibility with their audience. Kajabi, unfortunately, doesn't allow complete design freedom. If you’re using Kajabi to host your website, you might feel a bit limited in terms of the design options (especially if you’re used to the flexibility of platforms like Squarespace or WordPress). While Kajabi has created its platform to be user-friendly, in doing so, it has removed some key editing features and customisation tools that limit font sizes, button customisation & more.

No staging area

Chances are, from time to time, you’ll decide to make minor tweaks or edits to your online course content or design. Unfortunately, there’s no “staging” area within Kajabi to test changes before hitting that go-live button. While this might seem insignificant, as a website designer who likes to test changes before publishing, this is a biggie for me – especially if you choose Kajabi as your website host.

No central media library

A minor yet common gripe that surfaces regularly throughout the online course creator community is Kajabi’s lack of a core media library, a.k.a; a central space that houses all of your previous uploaded media. While your most recent uploads are available for easy re-use, any older content will likely need to be uploaded again. And for some reason png files can not be re-used, even if they appear in the previously uploaded media list. Serious drawback? Not quite. Annoying and time-consuming? Absolutely. As a workaround, I advise clients to keep copies of their online course content in an easy-access folder off Kajabi that you can pull from as needed.

Steep learning curve

The great thing about Kajabi? It does everything you could want! The drawback to that? You have to learn how it all works. There’s no doubt that when you start using Kajabi, you have a lot to unpack. Expansive features mean there's a lot to learn! The Kajabi dashboard has everything from email marketing tools to training content, access to Kajabi’s support team and a good site builder. While this is an excellent resource, it can initially feel overwhelming and time-consuming, especially for time-poor business owners and course creators.

So, is Kajabi right for you?

Kajabi has been a life-changing platform for thousands of entrepreneurs, business owners and course creators worldwide who want to share their expertise, make an impact and generate passive income. But it doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for everyone.

It all comes down to your specific business needs, goals & resources.

Kajabi is an excellent tool for building your next course online. The all-in-one functionality of Kajabi makes it worth the price. But if you’re a beginner or someone who is just experimenting with online courses, Kajabi might not be the most budget-friendly fit.