In this Fourthwall review, I’ll be taking a closer look at one of the most interesting “niche” ecommerce platforms to emerge in the last few years.
Designed specifically for creators, Fourthwall is a free, user-friendly platform, that allows creators to sell physical and digital products, as well as subscriptions and memberships.
It’s one of the most comprehensive “creator-focused” platforms I’ve tested, offering built-in print-on-demand capabilities, integrations with a range of social platforms, and reporting tools.
However, it still doesn’t live up to the likes of Shopify in terms of scalability and advanced capabilities.
Despite that, Fourthwall is a good pick for content creators for a lot of reasons. Read on to find out whether this platform is the right choice for you.
Quick Verdict, Pros and Cons
Fourthwall is a relatively robust ecommerce platform for content creators, empowering users to sell a wide range of products with relative ease.
Fourthwall lacks some crucial features, like the ability to create a blog for content marketing, and business management tools. However, for beginners who want to start selling quickly with minimal effort, Fourthwall is a great choice.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Easy to use for beginners
- Integrated print on demand capabilities
- Support for physical and digital products
- Integrations with various social media platforms
- Excellent membership capabilities
- No subscription fees
Cons:
- Few integration options outside of social channels
- You’ll have to pay commissions on some sales
- Lacking advanced features for scalability
Fourthwall Review: Who is Fourthwall For?
Fourthwall is a comprehensive business platform and ecommerce solution targeting the creator economy.
It allows users to create a versatile online store, where they can sell subscriptions or memberships, print-on-demand products, self-sourced physical products, and digital downloads.
Founded in 2019, Fourthwall is a relatively new addition to the ecommerce market, but it’s captured the attention of hundreds of creators, including major YouTube superstars like Phillip DeFranco.
Any influencer or content creator with a decent following can easily monetize their content on this platform, without having to pay the monthly subscription fees required by platforms like Shopify.
Of course, you do miss out on some of the features other platforms offer, like blogging capabilities, in-built email marketing, and advanced business management tools.
Fourthwall Pricing: How Much Does it Cost?
As mentioned above, one of the things that really makes Fourthwall stand out is that it doesn’t charge any subscription fees at all.
There are absolutely no “monthly” plans, to choose from. Anyone can sign up and start creating an account for free.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t any costs to consider at all – however. You won’t have to pay any commissions on physical products that you source and sell yourself on Fourthwall.
However, you do need to pay the base cost of any print on demand products you sell. The good news is that those fees are extracted from your profits, so you’re still not paying for anything up-front.
If you sell digital products on the platform, there’s a 3% commission fee, and memberships come with a 5% fee.
Obviously, those fees will eat into your profits a little, particularly as your “business” grows, but you’ll still be paying less on Fourthwall than you would on a platform like Patreon.
Fourthwall Review: The Core Features
At the start of this review, I described Fourthwall as “interesting”. That’s because this platform is quite different to any other tool I’ve used.
It’s missing some of the core features I’d expect on any ecommerce solution, like the ability to create a blog, or create staff accounts.
However, it also has features that most other platforms don’t offer – at least not for free, like membership creation tools, video hosting options, stream alerts, and social selling.
Here’s a closer look at what Fourthwall has to offer.
Website Design Features
Let’s start with the basics. Fourthwall gives you a convenient and straightforward website builder. There are plenty of responsive themes to choose from, so you don’t have to start from scratch, and you don’t need any coding knowledge. However, you can add custom HTML elements if you like.
The themes are pretty impressive at a glance, although you do get fewer options than you would on platform like Shopify.
There aren’t a lot of built-in capabilities in these themes either (such as countdown timers, or recommended products sections).
Plus, you can only really customize things like fonts, colors, and images before diving into code.
Still, I think that Fourthwall’s website builder should be more than enough for most content creators looking to design a simple online presence.
You can even build landing pages for special promotions, or design “link pages” where you can showcase all of your social media accounts.
Plus, there’s the option to build a custom “members only” earlier for the subscribers who pay for access to your content, with access to videos, images, polls, Discord channels, and RSS feeds.
Selling on Fourthwall: Ecommerce Features
I was impressed by how versatile Fourthwall is from an ecommerce perspective. Just like most ecommerce platforms, it allows users to accept a range of payment methods, such as PayPal, Apple and Google Pay, and credit card payments.
Plus, you can accept donations with no additional fees, which is a nice touch. Notably, you can’t withdraw earnings from Fourthwall whenever you like.
You have to wait until your earnings are deposited into your bank account each month – which might be a problem for some creators who want to access profits fast.
The good news is that Fourthwall gives you numerous ways to monetize your brand. The core options you can choose between include physical products, digital products, and memberships.
Fourthwall Physical Products
If you want to sell physical products through Fourthwall you have two options. You can source and sell your own products directly through the platform, using a manufacturer or shipping partner.
You can also create and sell products yourself. Alternatively, you’ll be able to send products directly to Fourthwall, and use them as your fulfillment partner.
On the other hand, you can use the built-in print on demand features offered by Fourthwall to add custom designs to various products like t-shirts, sweaters, and home accessories.
Although you don’t get quite as many product options as you would from a platform like Printful, there are still lots to choose from. You can create apparel, plushies, jewelry, and more.
Fourthwall Digital Products
Selling digital products on Fourthwall is easy too. All you need to do is create your store, upload images, set prices, and you’re ready to go.
The platform will even create unique “download” links for all of your items, to stop customers from sharing the products they buy.
The downside here is that you’re a little limited in the types of digital products you can sell. You can really only offer customers downloadable files.
There are no options for selling courses, webinars, and other online experiences, unless you create “memberships” with the platform.
Still, selling digital downloads on Fourthwall is definitely a lot easier than using other platforms which force you to rely on integrations and add-ons to provide customers with access to downloads.
Fourthwall Memberships
Fourthwall handles membership sales brilliantly, in my opinion. Although you still can’t create things like comprehensive courses on the platform, you can create a unique membership “section” on your website, and create different tiers and perks for each type of subscriber.
There’s also the option to choose whether you want to give your customers a discount if they decide to purchase an annual subscription, instead of a monthly one.
Within the membership section of your store, you can give customers access to exclusive videos, images, polls, Discord channels and more, all of which can’t be accessed by regular store browsers.
You’ll also be able to send thank you messages to subscribers automatically, and notify them when you’re uploading a new video or starting a stream.
Fourthwall Marketing Tools and Analytics
I was a little disappointed by the lack of built-in marketing tools on Fourthwall. There are a few ways you can engage your audience, such as sending them notifications when you start a stream.
The RSS feed also makes it easier for users to keep track of your content.
However, there’s no blog section for content marketing, and you don’t get any email marketing tools – although you can access integrations with tools like Klaviyo for that.
There are some other “basic” promotional features too, such as the ability to create public posts on your website that members can interact with, and launch promo codes with banners.
Plus, Fourthwall does support direct messaging if you want to interact with your audience instantly.
Probably the best tools for engaging your audience are the mobile app creator, and the video hosting features.
With the mobile app creator, you can create a basic app, similar in design to your website, that customers can download on their phone.
The apps are pretty simplistic, but you can still use them to send push notifications to your audience.
The video hosting service allows you to share webinars, courses, podcasts, and other types of multimedia content withy our audience.
You can choose to display this content to everyone, or hide it behind a paywall for your members.
From an analytics perspective, Fourthwall isn’t very advanced. It can help you to track things like memberships, downloads, sales, and customer behavior.
However, you won’t have a lot of options for creating in-depth custom reports, like you would with something like Shopify.
Fourthwall Integrations and Customer Support
Compared to many other ecommerce platforms, Fourthwall’s range of apps and integrations is pretty limited in my opinion.
For the most part, the platform focuses on connectors with social media channels and social selling tools, like YouTube Shopping and TikTok Shop.
Beyond that, there’s only a handful of tools for other business needs. You can integrate with Shipstation for fulfillment support, or use Laylo to announce and promote exclusive drops.
There’s Klaviyo for email marketing, and Beehiiv for supporter emails and newsletters.
That’s about it. You won’t be able to access a range of unique tools for building landing pages or pop-ups, and there are no integrations for other ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, or even accounting and financial management tools.
Fourthwall Customer Support
Finally, Fourthwall’s customer support is decent, but not perfect. There’s a great selection of self-help resources for beginners on the website, such as a blog and a help center.
You can also join a Discord server to access support from the Fourthwall community.
If you need direct assistance from the Fourthwall team, you can reach out via email, and get guidance with setting up your store, and so on.
Fourthwall also promises around-the-clock support to help you manage your community, although there’s no guarantee they’ll respond to your messages quickly.
Since there’s no “live chat” or phone call option for support, you might be left waiting for several hours before someone picks up your email.
Fourthwall Review: The Verdict
So, is Fourthwall worthwhile? If you’re a creator looking for a quick and convenient way to monetize your content, Fourthwall is brilliant.
It gives you a ton of ways to sell products, including integrated print-on-demand, and membership options. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to use, and users can get started with no upfront costs whatsoever.
Of course, there are some downsides too, such as the lack of a blogging option, minimal integrations, missing business management tools, and an overall lack of scalability.
You’re going to have a harder time building your business with Fourthwall than you would with something like Shopify.
Still, even with its limitations, Fourthwall will be a good choice for a lot of content creators, and you can always choose to migrate to another platform later, as your business grows.
