If you’ve landed on this post, you’re probably juggling more than one business and wondering if you can streamline your operations using a single Thrivecart account.
It’s a great question — one that I’m asked a lot, and it’s a complicated one. As someone who’s gaga for Thrivecart, I’ve dug deep into the nitty-gritty of using this powerful tool for more than one brand.
Heads up: this article is mostly geared towards those who want to create two businesses where the ideal client is totally different, like a fitness coaching business and an entrepreneurship for busy moms course business. While yes, there may be some overlap, in actuality, the probability is really low. That’s why you’re setting them up as two distinct brands in the first place, as exercise videos and hiring mindset really have no business being next to each other on a webpage or in an email. If you’re creating a new brand that is in an adjacent link, you can skip to the bottom.
Limitations of Using Thrivecart for Multiple Different Businesses
Single Subdomain:
First things first, Thrivecart gives you just one subdomain for checkouts (like damajue.thrivecart.com or go.damajue.com for a custom domain).
This means all your checkouts, regardless of the business, funnel through one URL. Not ideal if you want to maintain a distinct brand identity for each venture.
One Course Dashboard:
Got lots of courses and digital products? Thrivecart only includes a single course dashboard. While it keeps things simple, it also means every course you offer, across all brands, lives in one place, one login. This could confuse your students if they’re expecting a dedicated brand experience.
ESP Integration Limit:
Here’s a potential biggie for multi-business owners. You can only hook up one email service provider (ESP) per Thrivecart account. That means you can only connect 1 ConvertKit account or 1 Drip account, for example, but not 2 different ConvertKit accounts.
So, if you’re planning to send customized emails for each brand using the same email service provider, you’re stuck unless you get creative with workarounds.
One Account Workarounds and Compromises
Now that we’ve covered a few of the potential limitations of using one Thrivecart account for multiple businesses, let’s talk about ways that you can make one account work for you.
Hiding Courses:
You can set up your course dashboard so only enrolled students see their purchased courses. This helps prevent brand crossover and keeps your students from getting a peek at unrelated courses.
The downside of this is that a lot of people purchase when things they don’t have are shown in their course dashboard. Personally, in the first 17 weeks of 2024, I made an extra ~$6k from sales from people who explored courses in their dashboard that they didn’t yet have. That’s not an insignificant amount and definitely not money I’d be willing to sacrifice to avoid purchasing another Thrivecart license at a fraction of that cost.
Generic Branding on Course Dashboards:
In order to not confuse your customers, you’ll need to skip brand-specific info and design on your main course dashboard. Keep it generic to avoid brand confusion. So they know they’re in the right place, opt for a simple graphic showing both logos.
Using a Generic Subdomain or Embedded Carts:
Again to avoid confusion, which might cost you sales, you’ll need to use either a neutral subdomain that doesn’t favor one brand over another, like your name, or avoid subdomain issues altogether by embedding carts directly on your branded websites.
Course Login Page Adjustments:
Show both brands’ logo on the login page to set proper expectations for your users. Transparency is key to trust!
Financial and Technical Considerations
Single Payment Gateway:
Thrivecart lets you connect one PayPal and one Stripe account per account. This means all money earned, regardless of the brand, ends up in the same pot. If your businesses have different financials, this could get incredibly messy at tax time.
Email Service Provider Split:
To manage communications for different brands, you would potentially need separate ESPs. Think ConvertKit for Brand A and MailerLite for Brand B. This way, you can maintain distinct marketing strategies without stepping on your own toes. Yes, this means having to write and send double the emails, but that’s unavoidable when running two businesses anyway.
Pros and Cons of Multi-Brand Management with Thrivecart (aka using one Thrivecart account for two different brands)
Pros: Using one Thrivecart account means you only need to purchase it once and simplifies your overall business data: you can access total sales for both brands in one login.
Cons: You’ll face challenges like brand confusion, limited customization options, difficulty accessing brand-specific data*, and potential customer service headaches when the lines between businesses blur.
*What I mean here: when you use one Thrivecart account for two brands, all your offers will be listed, comingled, in your products tab. All your sales will be comingled in your data dashboard. It is nearly impossible to see only Brand A’s sales or just Brand B’s as there’s no way in the dashboard to select multiple products and then run reports. You’ll have to run the reports for every single product, one by one, and then compile them in Airtable or Sheets or something. Super tedious.
Can I use Thrivecart for two brands if they’re similar and serve the same ideal client?
That’s different. If you’d feel comfortable emailing your list about both or either brands, then yes, you can confidently treat them as two brands run as one business and use a single Thrivecart account to handle all your checkouts and courses for both. This is basically my setup.
I am able to do this because customers who enjoy this blog, or buy Thrivecart Template Shop courses, trainings, and templates are interested in Thrivecart, funnels, online courses, launching, digital marketing, and in many cases, automation. Customers of my eponymous brand DamaJue.com are interested in funnels, online courses, launching, digital marketing, automation, and email marketing.
The two brands serve essentially the same ideal client: someone who runs an online business and wants to sell courses or digital products. So I felt it was safe to have one email list, one Thrivecart account. I also knew that I absolutely would not want to send weekly emails separately, for each brand, or manage separate social media channels, separate launches, or separate financials.
So, can you use a single Thrivecart account for two brands? Yes. But should you?
Can you use Thrivecart for more than one business? Yes, but it comes with a “handle with care” warning. If your brands are closely related and you’re okay with the compromises, and you’re willing to market them via the same channels, it might work like a charm.
However, if clear brand separation is crucial because they serve two different customers, consider other solutions or gear up for some creative problem-solving that frankly may not be worth it in the long run.
What if I only want to use two separate accounts temporarily? Again, this is another, “sure you can” situation, but consider the drawbacks: every product you create, every course, and every student will have to eventually be moved over to its own account when the business grows. Migrations are tedious and a huge time suck, plus you’ll lose historical data and create confusion and extra work for your customers.
At the time of the publishing of this post, a new Thrivecart account costs $495 for life — frankly that’s a small price to pay for all the benefits of having a dedicated system you can build on for years.
Got a unique situation or need advice tailored to your multi-brand empire? Click here to learn more about a one-on-one consultation with me. Let’s make your business tech work smarter, not harder!