Tutorial
Group Memberships in Membergate
The ability to sell large groups of memberships to organizations can be an excellent way to increase your revenues. It can easily be handled automatically with Membergate.
The following method lets you charge whatever amount you want for a group license fee.
The members of that group can automatically sign themselves up. Your site will automatically confirm that they belong to that group.
Group membership fees are processed through a shopping cart for a one time payment.
To set up a true group plan that allows for recurring payments and non-recurring payments through the typical subscription module, please visit setting up a Business Plan.
Click on each section to expand for further instruction.
From under 'Master Settings' choose 'Edit Member Plans'
From the drop down menu
Choose 'New - Add New Member Plan' and press the 'Add/Edit Member Plan' button
Set the Plan Description and Group Plan Type
Let's set up an example group plan.
A. Plan Description
It's probably best to name this something descriptive so that you can easily find and understand it's rates at a later date. For example - 100 Member Group Membership. This text is just for reference, so name it something that makes sense to you.
B. Plan Type
Choose 'Group Membership' from the drop down menu. A group membership allows you the ability to sell large groups of memberships to organizations or associations. The members of the group will each sign up individually and manually.
C. Plan Select Code
This is an optional field, and can be used for reporting purposes if you would like to group specific member plans together in reports.
Set Forum Access, the Number of Members, and the Expiration Date
D. Forum Access
Access to forums can be restricted based on member plan. If you would like members of this plan to only access specific forums, click on the forums that the member should access. Hold the control key to select multiple forums.
E. Member Numbers Alert
Enter the number of memberships for this group plan.
When that number is reached, the webmaster will be notified immediately. It intentionally does not prevent other members from signing on. Instead, you use that to your advantage.
Contact the company and explain that the membership is turning out very popular. In fact, they have already filled their membership level and more of their employees wish to join as well. You can now leverage that proven interest and have them purchase more memberships from you.
F. Group Expire Date
This is the date that every member of the group will expire and will no longer have access to the site.
Set the Group Email Qualifiers
G. Group Email Qualifiers
Enter the email addresses that any of the members of this group can use in order to successfully subscribe to the group plan.
This means that only people who have a company email address can sign up. In this example only people with addresses such as [email protected] and [email protected] can join.
This is a screening process to confirm that it is a legitimate sign up request.
It prescreens this because your site will choose a password for them and email them at that address. If they give a bogus email address, they never get the login information.
Enter each email domain followed by a comma.
Customize Your Email Messages
Welcome Message
This is the email a NEW member will receive upon a submitting the subscription form. Placeholders for specific variables can be included in the message by using the variables included on the screen with the pipe symbols surrounding them - like |firstname| to substitute for the member's first name.
See the animated instructions below to find how to use the variables drop down menu to find the correct placeholder for your message.
The email messages can be sent as text only, or can be HTML formatted.
Renewal Message
This is the email an EXISTING member will receive upon a submitting the subscription form. Placeholders for specific variables can be included in the message by using the variables included on the screen with the pipe symbols surrounding them - like |firstname| to substitute for the member's first name.
See the graphic above for visual instructions on adding the variables.
The email messages can be sent as text only, or can be HTML formatted.
Set the Pages to Which the New Member Will be Redirected
H. New Member Welcome Page
After submitting the subscription form, a new member is automatically redirected to this welcome page on your site. Set this field with the content page number that you would like the new member to see. The content page should be a public page and can be added to the 'work pages' department. Content Page 6 is a generic page that has been set up for this use, but any content page can be used.
I. Renewal Welcome Page
After submitting the subscription form, an existing member is automatically redirected to this welcome page on your site. Set this field with the content page number that you would like the existing member to see after renewing. The content page should be a public page and can be added to the 'work pages' department. Content Page 6 is a generic page that has been set up for this use, but any content page can be used. A different page than the new member welcome page can be used as well - this allows you to customize the page to welcome back your existing members)
J. Custom Members Home Page for this Member Plan (optional)
Enter the URL if you would like members of this plan to have a members home page that is DIFFERENT than the members portal page. Upon logging in through the Login Page, a member will automatically be redirected to this custom members home page.
K. Days Before Account Expiration Notices are Sent
Enter the number of days prior to a member becoming expired that the reminder email message will be emailed to them. The reminder email message is considered the 'Account Expiration Notice'
Account Expiration and Cancellation Email Messages
Automatic email messages will be sent to your members when certain conditions are met. These email messages can be customized for each member plan. Instructions for using variables in these email messages can be found in part 7 of this tutorial.
Account Expiration Message
When the expiration date of the member's credit card is about to expire, they are sent an email with information that their membership could have a billing failure and they would lose access to the site. This message could include a link to the credit card update page in the 'Your Account' department. Placeholders for specific variables can be included in the message by using the variables included on the screen with the pipe symbols surrounding them - like |firstname| to substitute for the member's first name.
Cancellation Message
Optional - When a member cancels their memberships, a generic email is delivered to them with information about the cancellation. If you would like to send members of this plan a custom message, the message can be included in this field. Placeholders for specific variables can be included in the message by using the variables included on the screen with the pipe symbols surrounding them - like |firstname| to substitute for the member's first name.
Set Up Your Autoresponder
L. List Server Sign Up Code
When a new member subscribes, their name and email address can automatically be sent to your email marketing list.
AWeber Users:
If you are using AWeber select the AWeber tab and select the list from the drop down menu. This is assuming that you have connected to the AWeber API. If you have not, please follow the instructions found here: Connect to AWeber API
Infusionsoft Users
If you have connected to Infusionsoft, click that tab and choose your tags and action sets from those boxes. If you have not connected to Infusionsoft yet, please see this tutorial: Connect to Infusionsoft
MailChimp Users
If you are using MailChimp, select the MailChimp tab and select the list from the drop down menu. This is assuming that you have connected to MailChimp API. If you have not, please follow the instructions found here: Connect to MailChimp API
Other Autorresponder Users
If you are using another email marketing list provider and you have the email parser code, the raw code can be pasted into the standard box.
N. List Server Cancel Code
When a member cancels, they can automatically be removed from the marketing list or moved to a different list. Choose 'Unsubscribe' to remove them from their existing list. Choose 'subscribe' to remove them from their existing list and add them to a new list. Choose the new list from the drop down menu.
X. Run List Server Cancel Code when?
Choose at which point you would like the member to change their list server subscription. Should the cancel code run when the member goes 'inactive', 'cancels' or is 'deleted' from the system?
Press the 'Add this Member Plan' button
Press the 'Add this Member Plan' button
Once you have created the membership plan, send us an email. We will provide you with a custom group sign up page for your site. You can then use that page and modify it for your own uses in the future.
When you email us make sure you specify which plan number you want the sign up form to be tied into. We will set it up and let you know.
As far as how to collect payment? Simply create a new "product" in your shopping cart. You can call it "XYZ Group License" and set the payment amount to whatever you want.
You would then direct your contact at the company to purchase the license from the cart. Once they've done that, you can have it direct them to the sign up page for their employees to get their memberships.