Skool has seen increased attention since Alex Hormonzi became an investor, with his “$10K monthly with Skool” challenge contributing to the buzz. This has led to Skool’s popularity spreading widely.
This review provides an in-depth look at how Skool functions as an online learning community platform and assesses its overall effectiveness.
In this review, I will delve into the Skool platform, covering its features, advantages, drawbacks, pricing, and user experience. By the conclusion, you will have the information needed to make a well-informed choice.
Features
Customer Support
Pricing
User Experience
What is Skool?
Skool is an online community platform.
Skool provides features for creating online communities, hosting courses, and setting up a learning environment for members. It also includes options for monetization through membership subscriptions.
Sam Owens launched Skool in 2019 as a close beta, offering online courses for monetization. He is also the founder of Consultant.com and aimed to create a platform surpassing Facebook groups for this purpose.
Skool was launched in 2022, initially experiencing a slow start. However, its popularity began to grow in 2023, driven by the emergence of the creator economy, community-driven growth, and online micro-education.
Alex Hormozi & Skool
Alex Hormonzi’s investment in Skool significantly increased the platform’s popularity and is being referred it as the largest investment of his life. This unexpected move is a major success for Sam and Skool, serving as a significant boost for the basic platform.
Alex is a well-known figure in the entrepreneurial world. He presented an investment opportunity for creators to earn money. Alex also launched a $10k per month challenge. This investment has sparked interest among creators, who are now joining Skool in hopes of making money from their audience.
Who is Skool for?
Skool is well-suited for:
- Beginner Online Course Creator
- Online Coach
- Consultant
- Small-scale Influencer
- Mastermind Groups
Who is Skool not for?
Skool is NOT a good choice if:
- You manage subscription-based communities.
- You are an online course creator.
- You run cohort-based coaching programs.
- The goal is to foster collaborative learning.
- You need to implement employee training or upskilling programs.
- You run certification programs
- You are a professional association
Skool Use Cases
Skool helps creators to run:
1 – Mastermind Groups: Skool provides the necessary resources for mastermind groups to operate effectively.
2 – Online Courses: Skool enables creators to develop and earn from online courses, while students can enroll in courses through a monthly subscription.
3 – Saas Community: Product developers utilize Skool for obtaining user feedback, testing products, and announcing updates.
4 – Coaching Programs: Online coaches use Skool to connect with clients and host joint sessions to create a community.
5 – Support Forums: Businesses utilize Skool for customer support and brand education.
Skool Feature Review
Skool provides necessary functions for building an online community and offering online courses.
It provides only basic features for starting out, but as you grow, a simplified approach with fewer features will no longer be enough.
Let’s go over and review all of Skool’s features.
1 – Skool Community
The platform’s primary feature is community, similar to a Facebook group feed.
Consider this as a private online forum for your community members to engage in discussions and share information through posts.
Posts
Community members have the option to post multimedia files, embed links, attach PDFs, add polls, and use gifs and emojis. They can also share posts to specific categories within the community. This helps in creating an organized feed with a complete experience. Additionally, members have the ability to pin their posts to appear at the top.
Users have the option to receive notifications for posts they find helpful.
Member Profiles
Every member has a public profile with a unique ID that includes a profile picture, description, location, points, follow button, follower count, joining date, and contributions.
Skool shows a member’s community activity, including the groups they have created and the groups they belong to.
Direct Messaging
Community Detail Tab
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Verdict – Skool Community
The Community feature of Skoo provides a user-friendly experience with a simple interface that is easy to navigate.
The platform does not have a segmentation and group chat function, which can be useful for online community engagement and management. Additionally, there is no feature available to assign community roles like moderators.
2 – Skool Classroom
This is where education takes place.
Skool Classroom allows you to organize your online courses for members to access. Users can create course content in modules without any limits on the number of courses they can add to the platform.
Online Course Creator
In order to set up your Skool Classroom, you need to incorporate an online course. Skool simplifies the process with a user-friendly back-end course creator.
To access the course creator, simply go to the Classroom Tab and click on “Add a course.” From there, you can enter a course name, write a course description, set the member access level, and add a cover image.
Module Creator
After clicking Add, you will be taken to a drag-and-drop editor to create course modules where you can add and format text for each module.
Each module may contain:
- One Video
- Resource Files
- Links
- Time Stamps
- Transcripts
Drip Release
Verdict – Skool Classroom
Skool Classroom is a course creator with limited features, such as the absence of video-hosting capabilities in Skool Course Builder at this time.
In order to embed videos in course lessons, video content must be uploaded to an external platform such as YouTube or Vimeo. The course builder does not have dedicated hosting for storing course resources. Additionally, Skool courses builder does not have features for quizzes and assignments.
3 – Skool Calendar
Add Event Feature
Scheduling events on Skool Calendar is user-friendly and has similarities to Google Calendar.
Skool Calendar allows you to quickly create and schedule events with ease. Input the event details such as title, duration, date, and time zone. You can also set up recurring events. For virtual events, be prepared with a Zoom or Google Meet link.
Members have the option to click and view event details on Skool. They can also add scheduled events to their external calendars, with the event time automatically converting to their respective time zones.
Members receive email reminders about upcoming events and can find a clickable event highlight at the top of the community feed. Clicking on it will take members to the event details.
Verdict – Skool Calendar
4 – Gamification
Skool’s star feature is gamification.
Gamification improves the effectiveness of online courses and community engagement by fostering competition and increasing member participation.
The Skool uses gamification with reward points, levels, and leaderboards. Member profiles show their points and current level. For example, Sam Owens is at level 8 with 15,911 points in the Skool Community.
Let’s learn how it operates.
Reward Points
Levels
Leveling up is all about racking up those points! Get ready to climb the ranks as you score more points along the way.
Create your own levels with unique names and connect them to points and achievements for the ultimate personalized gaming experience!
The screenshot below shows the unique level names and associated tasks on Skool’s Community platform. The percentage displayed indicates the number of members at each level.
When a member reaches level 7 in the community, they will receive an invitation to visit the Skool HQ.
Accessing your course content is possible with each level.
Leaderboards
Skool leaderboards have been implemented to track member performance and promote a competitive environment.
Members can earn points to appear on community leaderboards. The top 3 members receive position badges to display with their names.
Verdict – Skool Gamification
5 – Skool Mobile App
6 – Email Broadcast
Skool offers the option for admins send out email broadcasts about posts every 72 hours. This feature can also be used for informing members about upcoming events, promotions, or updates.
The feature appears to be working as intended, but it could benefit from additional functions such as email analytics for better metric analysis and monitoring.
Email Settings
7 – Unified Search
8 – Analytics
9 – Memberships
The platform does not offer a one-time upfront payment option. Members are unable to create multiple pricing tiers for different subscription plans. This limits the flexibility to offer weekly, quarterly, bi-annually, or yearly plans. Additionally, there is no feature to create landing pages on the platform.
10 – Auto Affiliate Program
Skool Customer Support
There are three Skool support channels.
- Email Support: Contact the Skool support team via email for assistance by providing a detailed problem description and any relevant screenshots.
- Skool Community: The Skool community is available for guidance and peer-to-peer support.
- Help Center: The school provides a limited assistance center with resources such as articles and guides.
Skool Branding & Customization
Skool lacks branding and customization features. It only allows you to add an icon and cover image to your community.
There are better options available than Skool if you understand the impact of branding.
Skool Pricing
When comparing Skool’s pricing and offerings to competitors, it appears that Skool may not offer the best value for its cost.
The $99/m plan offers basic features and lacks some valuable options found on other platforms. Additionally, there are no different pricing tiers to accommodate varying budgets and user requirements.
Skool offers a single pricing plan without any additional tiers to accommodate varying user needs.
For $99 per month, you can get a Skool subscription to create one community. This subscription grants you access to all Skool features and the ability to host unlimited courses for one community with unlimited members. If you want to create another community, you will need to pay an additional $99 per month.
Skool offers a free 14-day trial period, but requires you to sign up with your credit card information, which can be inconvenient.
15 Skool Cons – What’s Not Good About Skool?
Skool can benefit from making some improvements in certain areas when compared to its competitors.
Let’s summarize the drawbacks of school.
- Limited Monetization: Skool does not allow for flexible monetization, as online courses, community memberships, and events cannot be sold as individual products.
- No Native Video Hosting: Users typically rely on external platforms such as YouTube, Loom, and Vimeo for hosting videos, which can result in added expenses and extra work. The lack of native video hosting also means there is limited content protection.
- No Community Library: There is currently no central community library for storing course resources like PDFs and media at Skool. Users are unable to access course files directly, so community builders have to utilize third-party tools such as Google Drive to host resources and share links with members.
- No Assessment Tools: Online learning platforms like Skool should consider incorporating assessment tools such as quizzes and assignments to accurately measure performance and learning outcomes.
- No Segmentation & Group Chats: Community builders can enhance learning impact and foster peer-to-peer learning with useful features. Without these features, achieving this is impossible. Segmentation allows for member classification, enabling the creation of groups based on progress stage.
- No Automation: Skool does not have built-in automated workflow features like other platforms. You can use Zapier for automation.
- No Progress Reports: The analytics system in Skool has limitations, making it difficult for creators to track student progress and course performance.
- No Member Roles: Assigning member roles, such as moderator and support manager, is crucial for effective community management at Skool. Unfortunately, there is currently no feature available for this purpose.
- No Live Stream Feature: Online learning communities primarily rely on live streaming for cohort-based courses and webinars. Skool does not have a built-in live stream feature, so users need to use external platforms like Zoom and Google Meet.
- No Branding & Customization Options: School is limited in its ability to personalize and brand the community.
- Lack of Integrations: Thes skool only allows integration with Zapier, which restricts the community’s functionality and increases expenses.
- Transaction fee: There is a transaction fee of 2.9% + 3c per transaction in addition to the $99 monthly charge for Skool.
- Expensive & Limited Plan: There is only one pricing plan for Skool, priced at $99 per month. Some may find this costly compared to other platforms that offer more features at a lower price. Additionally, the limited pricing model may not meet the needs of all users.
- Limited Subscription Feature: The skool only allows for monthly subscription plans and does not support multiple pricing tiers for various billing cycles or one-time upfront payments.
- No Landing Page Feature: Skool does not offer the option to create landing pages for your courses and community, which may affect your sales and promotional efforts.
6 Skool Pros – What’s Good About Skool?
Skool has quickly become a popular platform for community builders and course creators. What attributes make it ideal for their needs?
Let’s talk about the advantages of skool:
- Gamification: The gamification feature in Skool is a key factor for users choosing the platform. This feature eliminates the need for external apps and allows for the creation of a fully gamified learning experience.
- Unlimited Courses: Skools allows for unlimited courses and members, which is convenient since other platforms often charge additional fees for surpassing member limits.
- Great User Experience: Skool offers a simple user experience with no learning curve. New users can easily adapt to it. The user interface is clean and straightforward.
- Simple Pricing: The pricing for Skool is clear and easy to understand for users with a budget.
- Built-in Calendar: The calendar feature in Skool is useful for creating and scheduling community events with reminders. Additionally, it can sync with external calendars such as Outlook and Google Calendar.
- Custom Notification Setting: Members have the option to adjust their notification and email settings based on their preferences.
Final Verdict
We thoroughly examined Skool during that discussion.
Here is my conclusion.
Skool is currently a popular topic for making money. Many YouTube videos, social media posts, and articles are discussing Skool. It seems like Skool is the main platform for making money in 2024. The hype around Skool has been strengthened by Alex. Best wishes to all those taking on the challenges.
But is Skool the right platform?
Skool provides basic features that are not particularly unique in the online course platform market.
Various learning community platforms have advanced features that surpass Skool in terms of enhancing the user experience at more affordable prices. Automation, multi-tiered pricing, white labeling, and customization are increasingly important features in the industry.
Community builders need platforms that can expand alongside them as they grow. Skool, however, appears to be limited in its scalability.
When looking at all aspects, Skool may not be the top choice for an online learning community platform. However, it can be a good option for beginners or small-scale course creators to get started.
So, what type of platform does one need to scale up?
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Skool Offer Analytics And Payment Processing?
Skool offers detailed analytics for course performance and student progress, as well as a seamless payment processing system to help manage pricing structures and payments.
Are There Any Additional Tools Needed With Skool?
Skool provides a variety of features for online course platforms and community management, but you may require additional tools such as a website/funnel builder and email marketing system. Skool offers a Zapier integration to connect with different CRMs.
Can I Earn From Skool?
It is possible for individuals to earn a full-time income by building and managing online communities on Skool, utilizing various monetization methods such as paid memberships and course sales.
What Kind Of Support Team And Resources Does Skool Provide?
Skool provides various support options such as email support, help documentation, and a community for product discussions. It also offers educational resources like online courses, subscription memberships, coaching programs, and support forums.
What Is Skool’s Approach To Privacy And Terms Of Use?
Skool provides a Privacy Policy detailing the collection, use, and sharing of user data, as well as a Terms of Use governing platform usage. Users should familiarize themselves with these documents when signing up and using Skool’s services.
