psst – this post contains affiliate links! This means I get a kickback at no additional cost to you.
With the recent rollout of Flodesk Checkouts, the number one question for entrepreneurs entering the digital product space (especially those selling digital products on their Showit website) seems to be: Flodesk Checkouts or Thrivecart — which one is right for my business?
I’ve been using ThriveCart for quite some time in my business, but was lucky enough to get early access to Flodesk Checkouts, so today, I figured I would let you in on some of the key differences between the two to help you decide which one is right for your business!
Oh, and if you’d like to get 50% off your Flodesk subscription, try it using this link!
Ease of Use
One of the main reasons why Flodesk took off as an email marketing service provider was their ease of use. Compared to competitors in the market like Convertkit, Flodesk never claimed to be the most powerful email marketing tool, but rather one that was easy enough to use so that you’d actually want to prioritize email marketing in your business.
And I’d argue that they succeeded at that.
And I’d also argue that they’re taking a similar approach to the digital product sales page experience.
Flodesk Checkouts is extremely easy to use, especially if you’re already familiar with the Flodesk interface. It actually only took me a couple of minutes to set up my first checkout while in an airport, because I was so excited to test out this new feature!
On the other hand, ThriveCart feels way more “techy” to start, and the learning curve is way steeper. I also struggled to find good help articles for ThirCart that weren’t overly complicated or just circled around what I was really trying to figure out.
The one thing I will say about Flodesk though is that the ease of use does come with limitations. As of right now, you don’t have the option to create a checkout workflow without the sales page; however, users like myself who prefer to design the actual sales page on Showit or a similar website will need to use a workaround linking directly to the /checkout link rather than the default link to send customers directly to the payment page!
Similarly, ThriveCart was never intended to be a sales page experience, but rather a true “cart”.
Customer Experience
My absolute favorite feature of the Flodesk Checkouts software is the delivery page. This page is extremely customizable, and in my opinion where you really get to roll out that red carpet customer service.
You can truly choose who much or little you’d like included here, but I could see this being a great place to share resources for success and really show your customers how thankful you are for their purchase.
In addition to showing their purchase confirmation and linking to their digital download, you can add in upsells, and even some encouragement as they get started! Plus, this is easily customized with Flodesk’s familiar design features making this on brand and beautiful without much trouble.
This is actually where I feel ThriveCart falls short compared to Flodesk Checkouts, as their delivery feels much more transactional and limited in how much you’re able to easily customize.
Both Flodesk Checkouts and ThriveCart allows for upsells to be added to your cart though, which is great for building out your offer ladder!
Email Marketing Integrations
One of my biggest complaints when it comes to using Flodesk as my email service provider and ThriveCart as my cart is the fact that Zapier is needed to connect the two. This adds yet another subscription & software to my tech stack, which I’m truly trying to keep at a minimum.
ThriveCart does integrate with a lot of email service providers, like ConvertKit, MailerLite, etc without the use of Zapier, so if you’re using one of these, this won’t be a problem for you!
If, on the other hand, you’re trying to streamline things and keep it all in one place, the Flodesk email + Flodesk Checkouts option might be the better way to go!
Price Point
An obvious question when deciding between Flodesk Checkouts and ThriveCart is the price. If you’re just entering the digital product space, keeping costs low as you understand the needs of the market might make sense! After all, it is important to consider your ROI to make sure you’re making money, not losing money here.
Flodesk Checkouts is a monthly subscription service (or annual subscription if you choose to go that route), while ThriveCart is actually just a one time fee for now. Because of this, ThriveCart is obviously more expensive than Flodesk Checkouts initially, but this will likely even out over time as you pay for Flodesk Checkouts!
The ThriveCart one time fee might feel steep, which is why Flodesk Checkouts is the perfect option if you’re just starting out with digital products!
Want to lock in with ThriveCart’s lifetime purchase? Use this link to sign up today!
Affiliate Marketing Options
One major point that might make or break it for you when it comes to the debate between Flodesk Checkouts and ThriveCart is the ability to use an affiliate program.
ThriveCart has an affiliate program built into the software, where you can easily set up affiliates and automate this process!
This is something that I’ve already asked the team over at Flodesk about, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they did end up adding this feature in the future!
One way that you could work around this for now, with a smaller affiliate program, is to set up individual codes for your affiliates and manually registering affiliate sales & payouts. This is not something that I would recommend as a scalable option, but in a pinch this would likely work for a short amount of time/with a low number of affiliates!
Split Payment Options
Another consideration that may make this decision easier for you is the ability to offer split payments. ThriveCart is able to accept split payments (you choose how many!) which can be a huge benefit if you’re selling a higher ticket item.
I know that even offering a two payment option on a $500 digital product can really help make it more appealing to potential customers, thus leading to more sales.
Flodesk does not (yet) have the option to offer this, so this might be a dealbreaker for you!
Overall, both Flodesk Checkouts and ThriveCart are great options for selling your digital products! If you want to try out Flodesk with 50% off, you can do that here!
