kajabi review

Kajabi Review – 27-Point In-Depth Review with Video (2023)

Over the years, I’ve used several online course platforms, from Teachable, and Thinkific, to Lifterlms and Udemy. All of these have their benefits and downside, but over the last month, I decided to give a Kajabi Review and see what all the hype was about, and Kajabi did not disappoint.

Kajabi is a complete online course and membership platform with an email suite that allows you to create customer pipelines, landing pages, a community forum, customizable page templates, and a mobile app. Kajabi starts at $149 monthly, but you can get a 14-day free trial and save 20% with an annual plan.

Initially, I found this platform to be the Cadillac of online course platforms because it has it all. I am using Kajabi to launch my new membership site here in a few months. I will share my 27-point complete Kajabi review.

But first…

If you’re wondering what the back end of Kajabi looks like, I put together this 30-minute video to show you what Kajabi looks like and what you’ll get.

Kajabi Review – 27-Point Review

Now that you’ve seen what it looks like, my 27-point in-depth Kajabi review covers every aspect of Kajabi, from the good to the bad.

Kajabi Review

1. Look and Feel

The first thing I noticed when I signed up for Kajabi was the look and feel and how clean and well-laid everything is.

I’ve used several online course platforms, from Teachable to Thinkific, and while they are good platforms, Kajabi takes the look and feel to a whole new level.

Here’s a quick look at the back end.

The thing I like about this is that they keep things minimal. They don’t try to put every feature and button in one spot. There are only four main features that makeup Kajabi.

  • Website
  • Products
  • Marketing
  • People

On top of that, the central section is set up to teach you everything you need to know on how to create and build your first online digital product.

These four steps go through the exact things you need to do to create a product, package the product, sell the product, and set up your site.

2. Mobile App

Along with the look and feel, Kajabi also offers a mobile app with the platform. The only platform I know of that offers an app is Teachable, but Kajabi takes it to another level.

I’m not the biggest fan of Teachable’s look and feel, but Kajabi looks way better and much more professional after using both platforms. Below is a look at a membership I belong to on Kajabi’s mobile app.

Everything is well laid out and looks great. The only thing I don’t like about the mobile view is that turning my phone sideways does not automatically flip the video horizontally.

Instead, pressing the little icon in the corner would be best to make the video turn horizontally.

3. Community

Next, Kajabi also lets you create a member’s forum. With all the other platform’s out there, you have to either set up a private Facebook group or a separate site or use something called Discourse.

The great thing about this is that it allows you to create a community in your product and not some third-party platform you don’t have control over.

Here’s a look at a forum I belong to and what it looks like.

Overall the community forum included with Kajabi is well thought out and is a great way to grow your community and keep it all within Kajabi.

4. Design Capabilities

Kajabi also gives you some really lovely default design features right off the bat.

The great thing is Kajabi gives a great-looking predesigned layout out of the box so all you have to do is add your images and text to get up and running.

On top of that, you can customize each page of your site to have its look and feel, even if you suck at design like me.

If you go with the higher-paid plans, you can remove the Kajabi branding.

One downside I want to mention here is that if you want to do some unique feature on Kajabi, they don’t offer it. You may be unable to do this since everything exists in one ecosystem.

5. Email Campaigns

Next, Kajabi gives you an entire email suite, which allows you to ditch your email service provider and save money.

In the Email Campaign section, you can send broadcasts, create drafts, schedule emails, and create sequences.

With sequences, you can set up a string of emails to go out at predetermined times. I do this with my free opt-in offers on Side Hustle Academy.

6. Streamlined Page Templates

The next thing I found very interesting about Kajabi is that they have streamlined page templates that will set up things quickly for you.

  • Need an opt-in page to gather email addresses? Kajabi does it.
  • Need a quick sales page with a video to show off your new course? Kajabi does it.
  • Need a lead gen page to collect and sell leads? Kajabi does it.
  • Need a long-page sales letter to sell your latest product? Kajabi does it.
  • And the list goes on.

So if you’re not a designer like me, you’ll save tons of time with these streamlined page templates, and best of all, since your email campaigns all exist in Kajabi, you won’t have to integrate your email service provider either.

7. Streamlined Product Templates

Now if you thought streamlined page templates were cool, you need to see the streamlined product templates that Kajabi has premade and ready for you.

  • Want to set up your membership site in minutes? Kajabi does it.
  • Want to create a high-dollar coaching program? Kajabi does it.
  • Want to create a mini course to get more opt-ins? Kajabi does it.

None of the other platforms do this, and it simplifies everything, so you don’t have to spend countless hours doing design work.

However, one big downside with Kajabi that kept me away from it for so long was that you could only create three products with the basic plan, 10 with the growth plan, and 20 with the pro plan.

When I thought about it, how many products would I create? Probably not as many as you think.

To get started, click generate and start filling in the template. It’s that simple. This feature makes it worth trying out a 14-day free trial of Kajabi.

8. Upsells

One feature about all online course platforms have is an upsell feature. This allows you to sell multiple products instead of just one.

So if you have a few courses that go well together or an added coaching program that goes along with the course, you could set this up as an upsell.

You can add an upsell if you have two created live products.

You want to do this because your prospect has already put in their credit card info, and at this point makes it easy to ask for the additional sale versus asking for it later.

9. Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment is when someone leaves your page and they have your product in their shopping cart, but for some reason, they didn’t buy it.

For example, if you’re about to make a purchase and your phone rings, you forget about your order. This happens to me all the time.

Kajabi makes this easy to solve because they have this feature included to help remind your customer that your product is still here and waiting for you to complete the purchase.

When you select cart abandonment, you can email anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours later or customize it to your needs.

This little feature alone will help bring in those extra sales you might have never gotten.

10. Kajabi Basic Automations

Next is marketing automation. Think of this as an If This Than That feature that allows you to send emails to your list if they do a sure thing.

For example, if someone does not buy your course or product, you could direct them to a new email campaign series that builds them up to a different product.

Again, none of the other platforms offer this, but Kajabi does.

The only downside is that if you want access to the advanced automation, you will have to upgrade to be a Growth Member. Since I’m on the basic plan, I can’t access this feature.

However, you can access the basic automation by clicking on the offer, clicking on your product, and then scrolling down to automation.

Then you will have access to some basic automation.

This will allow you to tag, add events, direct them to an email sequence, and more.

11. After Purchase Features

Once you make a sale, you might wonder what happens next. That’s where the After Purchase Features come in handy.

These tools allow you to…

  • Send the member a confirmation email.
  • Give an affiliate commission.
  • Send a notification to your team.
  • Send a member to a third-party email provider such as Convertkit.
  • And even send the member to a thank you page.

You can do all or none of them. It’s up to you. This makes the whole process way more straightforward. If you don’t want to offer something, uncheck the box, and you’re ready to go.

12. Use Events Promote Your Products

Kajabi also allows you to set up events to promote specific courses or products you are launching or even a new piece of content you want people to see.

For example, if I were to be releasing a new course in my membership, I could create an event around it to let people know what’s going on, and people could register to be notified when the new course goes live.

13. Collecting Payments

The next thing I found interesting is the payment processors they use.

With Kajabi, you have two options, PayPal and Stripe. To do this, go to the product you created and click on it. Then click edit price.

Here you can set up your payment processors and select the type of payment you want to collect. From free, one-time payments, multiple payments, and even recurring payment subscriptions.

Kajabi also has handy videos on how to set all of this up too.

14. Third Party Integrations

Integrations are a great way to add existing tools that you already use. To do this, go to Settings, then click on Third-Party Integrations.

Once inside, you can integrate Kajabi with several popular tools, from Google Analytics to your popular email providers like Convertkit, Facebook Pixel, or even Click Funnels.

The only downside to this is that Kajabi only has limited integrations. But you can use Zapier as a go-between to make this work.

15. Blog

What’s also lovely about Kajabi is they have a blog feature. What’s great about this is that you run your entire business from Kajabi instead of having a WordPress blog everything can exist within one platform.

The blog feature in Kajabi is not nearly as advanced as WordPress. My blog sites are on WordPress, and I don’t plan on moving them.

However, if you are starting from scratch, you may want to look into this, and the best way to do that is with a 14-day free trial of Kajabi.

16. Kajabi Access

Kajabi also lets you run webinars via Zoom using Kajabi Access. With Kajabi and Zoom, you can collect sign-ups, set up your landing pages, and run your webinars inside Kajabi.

The downside to Kajabi Access is that it will cost you an extra fee on top of your regular monthly fee.

17. Templated Pipelines

One of the most outstanding features of Kajabi is the templated pipelines you can create. A pipeline is a process you take people down.

For example, if you are launching a product, you can use the Product Launch OVO template to set the whole thing up for you.

But you can do a whole lot more than just that. You can set up a pipeline for a freebie offer, a sale page, a product launch, coaching campaigns, or even a Zoom webinar.

For example, above is a pipeline for the product launch ovo. This includes an opt-in, eight emails, three value bombs, and a checkout page.

I can’t tell you how much work creating all this stuff with WordPress would be. Kajabi simplifies this whole process; in minutes, you can set the whole thing up.

To simplify your online business, take the 14-day free trial now.

18. Analytics

One thing you have to be able to do is analyze your business and see where things are at any point and time. With Kajabi’s analytics, they allow you to do just that.

What’s nice is that they allow you to see your metrics from multiple viewpoints. Here are just a few of them.

  • Net Revenue – How much are you earning daily?
  • Subscription Metrics – Analyze your recurring revenue and churn.
  • Opt-ins – How many people are subscribing to your email list and leaving?
  • Product Progress – See where people are engaging and not.
  • Affiliates – See affiliate stats and commissions

No other online course platform offers these kinds of metrics. If you use software like Infusionsoft, you’ll be able to get rid of that and save a lot of money.

19. Member Assessments

You can also do member assessments for your products. I don’t know much about this feature yet, but I will update this section as I use it more.

You can assign a score to each member to learn more about them. Below is an example of one I created.

I created shows of my members staying longer than six months in my assessment. This would allow me to see who my top members are and the most dedicated.

So if I start an affiliate program, they might be most interested in promoting my products.

20. 0% Transaction Fee

One nice thing about Kajabi is that they do not charge transaction fees.

Compared to other platforms like Teachable, which charge a 10% transaction fee for their free plan and 5% for their basic plan. If you’re only making a few monthly sales, those fees won’t look like much.

But if you are selling higher-priced courses or memberships, you may want to move to Kajabi to avoid these fees.

21. Kajabi University

You might think this is all overwhelming, and I get that. The first time I opened up Kajabi, I saw all of these tools and thought, how will I learn all of this?

Enter Kajabi University.

What you need to know about Kajabi and how to run your business Kajabi University has it.

For example, this course will show you how to structure your entire membership. It includes nine videos and takes 25 minutes to complete.

Here are just a few of the courses included at Kajabi University.

  • Run Your Whole Business Using Kajabi
  • Niche For Your Business
  • Kajabi Bootcamp: Build A Course
  • Kajabi Bootcamp: Build a Membership & Community
  • Mastering Pipelines
  • Crafting Your Webinar Funnel
  • How to Market Your Course Or Membership
  • How to Create an Audio-Based Course
  • How To Create A Screen Share Course

So not only do you get all of the Kajabi tools, but they also teach you how to run and grow your business as well.

22. Drip Settings

Kajabi also lets you drip out parts of your course as needed. For example, let’s say you have a course that takes six weeks to complete. You might drip out each section once per week.

By doing this, you can guide people through an exact process where they might learn something specific.

I don’t use this feature much. I would instead give them access to everything right off the bat.

23. Kajabi Status

One of the weirdest things I found about Kajabi while researching is that they have something called Kajabi Status. This shows you any time Kajabi has gone down for any reason, they don’t just report the outages but report every single day.

Below is an image of the last 90 days on Kajabi. Over the last 90 days, they have only had six outages, meaning that they are reporting a 99.61% uptime. That is amazing.

I like this for two primary reasons.

First, it’s transparent. I don’t know of any other platform that does this, nor would I have thought to look for something like this.

But second, you don’t have to worry about all the backend stuff with Kajabi. If you build your online business on WordPress, you must constantly worry about security and updating your themes and plug-ins so you don’t get hacked.

This recently happened to one of my WordPress blogs, and it took me a week to fix the issue. Kajabi takes care of those issues for you. After all, you’re creating digital products, not doing updates, monitoring hackers, and watching for security threats.

So just let Kajabi do all the heavy lifting for you.

24. No Refunds

One downside I don’t like is that Kajabi doesn’t have a 30-day refund policy.

I guess that’s why they give the 14-day free trial. I searched Kajabi’s terms of service and found nothing on a refund policy.

The only thing I found was the image below.

So basically, they don’t offer a refund, so if you start paying monthly or annually, know you won’t get any refund.

25. The Cost Compared to Other Platforms

Now we’re getting down to brass tax.

When you compare Kajabi to other platforms, it is much more expensive. In most cases, 3 to 4 times as much. Below are Kajabi’s monthly fees.

Kajabi starts at $149 a month and goes up from there. In comparison, Teachable starts at $39 monthly, and Thinkific at $49 monthly.

However, it’s great when you consider all the tools you must pay for regularly to get the same thing as Kajabi.

Below are just a few tools you would have to buy.

  • Keap is formally known as Infusionsoft – $199 to $289 monthly – CRM and email provider.
  • Leadpages – $49 to $99 a month – Landing page creator
  • Lifterlms – $199 to $1200 a year – Membership and course software
  • Vimeo – $20 to $108 monthly – Video hosting

With those four tools alone, you would look at $121 to $596 monthly in recurring costs.

When you look at all the recurring costs you must pay for all the other products, Kajabi is much less money, running between $149 to $399 a month.

26. Annual Savings

You also need to consider the annual savings with Kajabi. If you sign up for the annual plan, you will save 20% on the cost.

Below are the annual prices.

You’ll save $30 a month or $360 a year with the annual prices. Not a bad deal to pay annually.

I like to pay annually for things. It gives me 12 months to work on things instead of being rushed to get things done and takes the pressure off of getting results right now.

27. Free Trial

Finally, the best part of Kajabi is that they give you a free trial to kick the tires in a sense and check it all out.

If you do nothing else, take the 14-day free trial and check it. Nobody’s telling you you have to keep it. If you don’t like it, at least you’ll know.

Click this link and then the Start Free Trial button to get started.

You must enter your credit card details, but you can always cancel before the first payment is due.

Overall I am very happy with Kajabi, and if you have any questions about this product, leave me a question in the comments below.

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