Memberships are normally sold directly to a customer who wants to become a member; however they can also be sold as gifts. Gift Memberships in Spektrix work in much the same way as Gift Vouchers, in that the customer purchasing the Membership pays the full value of the Membership, which can then be applied to a different customer's account as credit.
NOTE: where Gift Voucher codes all start with the letter V, Gift Membership codes all start with the letter M. An example Gift Membership code is M-NRMS-NTYB.
Redeeming a Gift Membership applies credit to the customer's account and the relevant Membership needs to be added to the basket for them to purchase. Please note that it is possible for the redeeming customer to delete the Membership from the basket, at which point the credit will still be applied to the customer's record and can be used for whatever they would like.
We've built the feature this way in order to keep things simple in terms of managing your Membership schemes (you might, for example, choose to stop selling a certain Membership type or adjust the price after the Gift Membership has been purchased), and to ensure that the credit is always made available.
In this article, we'll cover:
- Setting up Gift Memberships
- Selling Gift Memberships
- Redeeming and using Gift Memberships
- Further reading
You can set a Membership to be giftable in the Basic Details section of the Membership, in Admin > Other > Memberships. Whether you're creating a brand new Membership or editing an existing one, you just need to tick the Giftable option on this page:
You also need to create a Gift Design and Email Template for use with Gift Memberships, which you can do in Admin > Document designs > Gifts:
The Gift Membership Design works in the same way as a Ticket Design does, and is used to generate a ticket/voucher if customers want a physical item to be sent out.
There is already a default Email Template on the system, which you can view by clicking the Download button. You can edit this default by clicking on the Edit button:
From here you can edit the subject and the body of the email. Both sections use merge fields, and you can also add HTML into the body text.
Gift Membership Email Templates and custom domains
If you're using custom domains, you should replace <a href="{link}" title="Redeem your gift"> to reference the actual website address for your actual Membership page online:
<a href="https://URLofYourMembershipPage" title="Redeem your gift">Click here to redeem your Gift</a> and then use the code {VoucherCode} during the checkout to claim it for free.</p>
You'll also need to ensure that you have {VoucherCode} somewhere in this email (as above); this will auto-complete with the code they'll need to enter once they've added the Membership to their basket:
You might also want to add something into this email template along the lines of: "You'll need to log in, or set up an account if you don't have one yet, to redeem your Membership online."
Remember, you can customise this system email using HTML to fit your organisation's branding.
Using multiple custom domains
If you have multiple websites and use multiple custom domains, it's worth noting that you can only have one Gift Membership Email Template. As such, you might choose to link out to a page on your main site where they can redeem their Gift Membership. If you do this, you might also want to explain this further within the template itself to ensure your customers know what to expect when clicking through.
Just as with Gift Vouchers, Gift Memberships can be sold either in the Sales Interface or online, using the Gift Vouchers iframe (website/GiftVouchers.aspx). When you send a Gift Membership by email, Spektrix will generate an email based on the Gift Membership Email Template.
In the Sales Interface you can find Gift Memberships under Other > Gift Vouchers – any Memberships that you've set to be giftable will be visible in the drop-down under Gift:
Selecting a Gift Membership from the list will automatically populate the Value field with the price of the Membership, although you can edit this if you want to.
NOTE: if you do change the value, remember that this will only change the amount of credit being sold to the customer – when a customer redeems the Gift Membership, the price of the Membership itself won't have changed, meaning they'll have to make up the difference.
You have the same options with Gift Memberships as you do with Gift Vouchers: you can either print a voucher for the Gift Membership, or send it by email to the purchaser's or the recipient's email address. In order to send by email you must already have a customer in the basket, and that customer must have an email address on their record.
Clicking the blue Add button adds the Gift Membership to the basket in the same way as any other item.
Selling Gift Memberships online works in essentially the same way as in the Sales Interface – there are the same fields to complete, with the only difference being that there's no option to print the Gift Membership:
Redeeming and using Gift Memberships
Customers use Gift Memberships in the same way as Gift Vouchers – first redeeming the credit against their customer record, and then spending the credit.
If a customer wants to redeem their Gift Membership over the phone or in the box office, they will need the Gift Membership code. This will be on the email they received, but you can find it in the order as well:
You can then redeem this in the same way as you would a Gift Voucher. Either by navigating to Credit/Vouchers in the customer record:
Or, in the basket, using the Use customer's credit/vouchers option:
Once the credit has been redeemed against the customer's record, you can add the Membership to the basket and use this to purchase the Membership – or, alternatively, anything else the customer would like to purchase.
If a customer has received a Gift Membership email, the simplest way to redeem their Gift Membership is to do so online by following the link and instructions in the email they received. Having followed the link, the customer will be able to add a Membership to their basket and then use their voucher code to pay for that Membership.
Hopefully this article has given you everything you need in order to set up and sell Gift Memberships. We'd recommend you also check out these other articles:
- Setting Up Memberships: a guide to setting up Memberships in Spektrix
- Selling Memberships: a step-by-step guide to selling, editing, and renewing Memberships
- Auto Renewable Memberships: a guide to setting up auto renew functionality, and creating Auto-Renewable Memberships
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If you have any further questions about Gift Memberships please don't hesitate to get in touch with the Spektrix Support team, who will be happy to help.