ClickFunnels Membership Site: Why You Shouldn’t Use It?

ClickFunnels Membership: Online Course Business

The right platform is key to establishing a successful membership site that manages content and payment. Clickfunnels enables entrepreneurs to create and run their membership site without knowledge of programming and coding. The platform combines sales funnel and membership site functionality, allowing business owners to market, sell, and deliver online courses or subscription content through one platform.

Many online business owners have trouble using different tools to run their membership sites. ClickFunnels solves this problem with features like customizable landing pages, email marketing, affiliate programs, and video hosting, all built in. The platform has membership site templates that can be customized to fit any brand.

Although ClickFunnels offers a free trial for entrepreneurs to test the platform’s capabilities, those considering it should know its pros and cons. The learning process may be more complicated than other solutions and cost more than individual software packages. However, most online businesses can justify the cost because of the value of time saved by a one-stop shop.

ClickFunnels Membership Main Features

ClickFunnels Membership has features for building and managing membership sites and online courses. The tool blends easy design tools with powerful marketing to help entrepreneurs launch their digital projects easily.

Easy Initial Set Up And Use

ClickFunnels Membership provides a streamlined setup process that requires minimal technical knowledge. Users can launch their membership site within hours rather than days or weeks. The interface follows a logical workflow that guides entrepreneurs through each creation process step.

The dashboard presents a clean, organized layout where all essential functions are easily accessible. Users don’t need coding skills or web development experience to get started.

Pre-built templates designed explicitly for membership sites save significant time. These templates have recommended page sequences and funnel structures that follow proven conversion patterns.

The drag-and-drop editor makes customization straightforward. Users can:

• Add or remove content blocks
• Adjust colors and fonts
• Insert media elements
• Rearrange page components

Website Builder

The website builder in ClickFunnels Membership employs an intuitive visual editor that simplifies designing professional-looking pages. Users can create an entire membership portal without touching a line of code.

The builder includes responsive design capabilities, ensuring sites look great on all devices. This mobile optimization happens automatically, eliminating the need for separate mobile configurations.

Content management features allow for easy organization of courses, modules, and lessons. The system supports various media types, including video, audio, PDFs, and interactive elements.

The builder includes customizable navigation menus that help members find their way through course materials. Users can create logical learning paths that guide students through content in the optimal sequence.

Page loading speed is optimized through ClickFunnels’ CDN integration, providing members a smooth experience regardless of location.

Nice Membership Area Customization Functionality

ClickFunnels offers extensive options for tailoring the member experience. The platform allows for custom branding throughout the membership area, helping maintain a consistent visual identity.

Users can create different membership levels with varying access permissions. This tiered structure offers basic, premium, or VIP membership options with appropriate content restrictions.

The progress tracking functionality helps members see their advancement through courses. This feature includes:

• Completion percentages
• Milestone celebrations
• Next step indicators
• Activity history

Drip content scheduling allows site owners to release lessons gradually over time. This prevents overwhelm and keeps members engaged longer.

Community features can be integrated directly into the membership area. Discussion boards, comment sections, and Q&A areas help build community among members.

Secret Sign-Up URL

ClickFunnels Membership includes creating protected registration pages that are accessible only through private links. This feature enables exclusive access to premium offerings or beta programs.

The secret URL functionality supports limited-time enrollment periods. Site owners can open registration temporarily, creating urgency and exclusivity for special promotions.

These hidden signup pages work seamlessly with the primary sales funnel. Users can create separate marketing sequences for public and private enrollment opportunities.

The platform also allows for customized registration forms on these secret pages. Owners can collect specific information from members joining through exclusive channels.

Security measures ensure that protected content remains inaccessible to non-members. The system verifies credentials before granting access to any membership materials.

Easy-To-Use Funnel Builder

The funnel builder simplifies creating effective sales pathways for membership products. The visual funnel mapper shows the relationship between pages, making it easy to understand the customer journey.

Split testing capabilities allow for optimizing conversion rates. Users can test headlines, images, pricing options, or page layouts to discover what performs best.

Pre-built funnel templates designed specifically for membership sites include:

• Free workshop to paid membership funnels
• Trial offer funnels
• Tiered membership upgrade funnels
• Application funnels for high-ticket memberships

Order bumps and one-click upsells integrate directly into the checkout process. These features increase average transaction value without a complicated setup.

The funnel builder connects seamlessly with email marketing and payment processing. This integration ensures smooth transitions from prospect to paying member.

Affiliate Marketing Features

ClickFunnels Membership includes built-in affiliate management tools that make recruiting and managing promoters easy. The system automatically generates unique tracking links for each affiliate.

Commission structures can be customized based on product, affiliate level, or other factors. Site owners can offer different rates for different membership tiers or special promotions.

 

Real-time reporting gives both site owners and affiliates visibility into performance metrics. Affiliates can track clicks, conversions, and earnings through their dedicated dashboard.

The platform handles commission calculations and payment tracking automatically. This reduces administrative burden and ensures accurate affiliate compensation.

Promotional resources like banners, email swipes, and social media content can be provided directly through the affiliate center. These materials help affiliates market memberships more effectively.

ClickFunnels Disadvantages

While ClickFunnels offers many benefits for creating membership sites, it has several limitations that could impact your online course business. These shortcomings may affect your experience as an administrator and your members’ satisfaction.

Student Access To Your Website Can Be Confusing

The navigation inside the ClickFunnels membership area isn’t very intuitive for students. Logging in has too many steps, which can be frustrating for new members who are used to faster platforms.

After logging in, users find it hard to locate their products. The way courses and modules are arranged is not according to learning management system standards, making learning challenging.

The dashboard is set up to sell rather than educate. Because of this focus, it can become difficult for students to see which lessons they have completed or need to carry on with.

Many course creators must create more tutorial videos to help students with the membership area. This is extra work that could be avoided with a more user-friendly design.

Student Cancelation Process Is Semi-Clumsy

ClickFunnels membership cancellation is not as easy as you might think. It’s not easy to cancel a ClickFunnels membership. Many students believe it just takes a click of the button to cancel the membership and therefore join courses, thinking they won’t…

Source: https://vaguewords.com/cancel-clickfunnel-membership/

Members must provide feedback to cancel, making it harder to cancel the membership. Though helpful, it can be frustrating when the customer is already emotional.

Refunds are not linked by default to cancellations. Course creators have to handle refund requests manually, which is not part of the cancellation flow, creating more administration.

Course developers will have to handle the refunds manually, and it won’t automatically link up with cancellations, thus leading to more admin work.

It Doesn’t Let You Track User Progress

ClickFunnels does not have the same level of progress tracking as typical LMS software. Teachers don’t know what lessons students have done, nor where they have problems.

People who create courses can’t see how many people finish watching the videos or how long people stay on the modules. Making better content for more completion using these data points is essential.

It doesn’t come with any quizzes to measure learning. Without this, we cannot see the learning outcomes or give timely feedback to students.

It is difficult for one to get the course completion certificate. Some professional development courses require completion verification, which disadvantages ClickFunnels for some niches.

Does Not Offer A Mobile App

Students can’t enjoy an on-the-go app to access their course because ClickFunnels doesn’t have one. As the world has gone mobile-first, this is a big disadvantage for course creators.

Even though the site is mobile responsive, it isn’t as convenient as a native app. Students with poor internet connections find it hard to access the course content.

To help you complete the course, push notifications are very effective, but since there is not any app, you cannot avail that benefit. Course creators are losing opportunities to remind students about new content or upcoming live sessions.

More and more players in the online course arena have robust mobile offerings. This gap may matter to prospective students who like to learn on devices.

Links Mysteriously Going Down

Users often complain that links don’t work in ClickFunnels memberships. Students are facing these technical issues and are missing their lessons, which are causing support requests.

Links to downloadable resources or external tools sometimes fail for no reason. To prevent problems for students, course creators must check all links regularly, adding more work.

The platform does not have any means of checking unreliable links automatically. When the investigations are not monitored, the problems go undetected until the students bring them up.

When the links do not function, the failure messages are not helpful. Course administrators take more time to fix the issue due to this opacity.

Not Much Community Building Functionality

ClickFunnels has fewer options for building a community among the course participants. The platform does not offer built-in discussion forums for students to ask questions.

The platform does not have direct messaging for students or instructors at all. It hinders peer-to-peer learning, which is said to help with knowledge & retention.

The platform doesn’t have anything for group projects or assignments. Course creators must employ external tools to manage collaboration, creating a disjointed experience.

You can’t create community features like member directories or activity feeds. ClickFunnels cannot implement these engagement-driving elements common on specialized learning platforms.

It Lacks Essential Features Like Quizzes

Educational content is greatly limited due to the lack of a built-in quiz builder. Assessments are integral to learning, reinforcement, assessment, and comprehension measurement, but ClickFunnels has no internal one.

Those who create courses must use extra quiz tools, often at a cost. Students might struggle to use multiple platforms as they navigate between them.

You don’t have matching, ranking, fill-in-the-blank type questions. There are limited ways instructors can evaluate a student’s learning style.

Course progression can’t be automated without integrated quizzing based on assessment performance. Due to this limitation, adaptive learning paths that respond to student mastery are impossible.

No Video Hosting Functionality

ClickFunnels doesn’t have video hosting, so course creators must use an external service like YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia. It makes things more complex and can add to costs.

You can’t see your course’s video analytics on the platform. Content creators have to manage multiple dashboards to track student engagement with video.

Third-party hosting bandwidth issues can lead to poor playback. As the need for a professional viewing experience grows, so does the necessity of premium video hosting services.

Considering security when using a 3rd-party service to host premium content is essential. Course creators need more things to stop people from leaking their videos.

ClickFunnels Vs Its Main Competitors

To make a proper decision, an individual must see how ClickFunnels compares to alternatives when looking at membership site platforms. Various competitors’ pricing, functionality, and specialization pros and cons offer distinct advantages.

Kajabi Vs ClickFunnels

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform designed specifically for digital product creators. Unlike ClickFunnels, Kajabi provides inbuilt video hosting, advanced course delivery tools, and strong community features without third-party integration.

A pricing difference is where Kajabi is at $149/month while ClickFunnels’ entry plan is at $97/month. However, Kajabi saves you from numerous software subscriptions that ClickFunnels users usually need.

Feature Comparison:

Feature	Kajabi	ClickFunnels
Course Hosting	Built-in, comprehensive	Basic, may need integrations
Marketing Emails	Unlimited	Limited in the basic plan
Focus	Content delivery	Sales conversion
Learning Tools	Advanced	Basic

Kajabi excels for creators focused primarily on course delivery, while ClickFunnels remains stronger for sales-oriented businesses.

LifterLMS Vs ClickFunnels

LifterLMS is a plugin for WordPress & not a complete stand-alone program like ClickFunnels. They have different strengths and weaknesses because of this.

LifterLMS can provide more customization through WordPress. Users keep complete control of their website and data without worrying about being dependent on a platform, unlike ClickFunnels.

LifterLMS is more cost-efficient as they have one-time payment options starting from $299, and ClickFunnels charges a monthly subscription. Users must manage their WordPress hosting, security, and updates, leading to higher technical requirements.

LifterLMS’s course delivery features are more advanced, offering complex quiz options, assignment management, and certification tools that ClickFunnels lacks. On the other hand, ClickFunnels has a better sales funnel and a more straightforward setup.

Podia Vs ClickFunnels

Podia is a simple, creator-friendly platform. Podia is beginner-friendly because its interface does not require much technical knowledge.

Podia stands out for its pricing transparency with its straightforward $39/month starter plan (only payment processor transaction fees). Beginning entrepreneurs now find ClickFunnels’ entry price of $97/month to be a bit steep.

Podia’s Strengths:

• Zero transaction fees on all plans
• Unlimited courses and digital products
• Free migration from other platforms
• Built-in email marketing without sending limits

Podia lacks A/B testing functionality and does not have variation in its sales funnels. Its design templates focused on Conversion and checkout optimizations.

Podia’s community elements take the lead because they incorporate member spaces, whereas ClickFunnels has to outsource those functionalities.

Fluent Community Vs ClickFunnels

Fluent Community only focuses on membership and community-building features. A focused approach is good and bad when looking at ClickFunnels’ broader toolset.

You can get complete functionality for $49/month with Fluent Community. The platform provides more discussion forums, member directories, and activity feeds than ClickFunnels, helping engage with your community more effectively.

Fluent Community wins on integration flexibility with WordPress. You can connect almost any compatible service with WordPress, whereas ClickFunnels limits you to its chosen integration partners.

Fluent Community has more advanced content protection mechanisms. This includes finer permission settings and content dripping capabilities. Nonetheless, the features that optimize sales for ClickFunnels are perhaps superior to expertise in community development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why shouldn’t I use ClickFunnels for my membership site?

A: ClickFunnels is not the best membership site builder due to its limited features, focusing on memberships. Membership site builders tend to have more options. 

Q: What are the shortcomings of using ClickFunnels for an online business?

A: The limitations include not having advanced features to manage memberships, being comparatively costlier, and having less flexibility to customize your Membership Website.

Q: Can I build my online courses using ClickFunnels?

A: Clickfunnels may let you build online course sales funnels, but it does not offer the best tools that other online course creation and membership management platforms provide.

Q: Does ClickFunnels offer a free trial for its membership site features?

A: ClickFunnels offers a free trial, but the membership site features may be limited during that time. 

Q: If I’m using ClickFunnels, what are my options for managing my membership website?

A: If you choose ClickFunnels, you will need third-party integrations or special tools to support membership management, which can make things messy.

Q: Is ClickFunnels a good all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs looking to sell online courses?

A: While ClickFunnels gives you the platform to create sales funnels, it’s not the best all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs looking to sell online courses and manage memberships.

Q: How does ClickFunnels compare to other membership site builders?

A: ClickFunnels doesn’t have the same level of membership features as a dedicated course platform. You’re better off with Kajabi, Teachable, or other alternatives.

Q: Can I integrate a Facebook group with my ClickFunnels membership site?

A: You can integrate a Facebook group into your ClickFunnels membership site, but it takes extra work, and the integration isn’t as smooth as with membership-specific sites.

Q: What do I need to create a successful membership website if I choose ClickFunnels?

A: To create a successful membership website with ClickFunnels, you’ll need to use additional tools for course creation, member management, and possibly an email marketing service, increasing complexity.

Q: Are there better alternatives to ClickFunnels for building a membership site?

A: Many membership site builders like Thinkific, Podia, and MemberPress offer better features and user experience than ClickFunnels, as these are explicitly built for course and membership management.

Final Thoughts

ClickFunnels is an excellent software for building membership sites and online courses for entrepreneurs. Only a child can do it because ClickFunnels is so easy to use.

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one platform that offers many benefits, including sales funnels and membership sites. Users can coordinate and control customer journeys from landing pages to course delivery.

However, pricing may be prohibitive for new entrepreneurs. With a starting price of $147 per month, it is not cheap, especially compared to some alternatives.

Integrating is quite powerful, but sometimes requires a workaround. Some users say that third-party tools are needed to do some unfinished tasks.

The templates are great to start, but feel limiting to those who want customization. There is some creativity possible, although not too much in ClickFunnels.

Most users think customer support, responsive service, and a community forum are good. This support system helps immensely in overcoming the learning curve.

If you are an entrepreneur who sells membership content or online courses, ClickFunnels is a perfect option. The 14-day free trial gives you enough time to test the features before you have to spend any money.

It all depends on the business needs, technical comfort, and budget. Many successful online course creators find the all-in-one tool is worth the investment, but others may prefer one of the other, more technical solutions.