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Introduction to Memberships

Jessica Abejar
Jessica Abejar
  • Updated

In this article, you’ll be introduced to Memberships in Spektrix. 

Memberships are a flexible loyalty model that can increase engagement and build a sense of community within your audience base, they can also be used to generate recurring income.

In this article, we’ll cover:

VIDEO: If you're new to Memberships or other audience loyalty features in Spektrix, take a look at our Audience Loyalty concept video.

 

What is a Membership?

A Membership is a purchasable item. It is listed under Subscriptions in your Spektrix system. For Customers, becoming a Member can mean they get exclusive rewards or status. What a Membership includes will vary depending on what your organization chooses to offer as part of the Membership. 

Memberships might include items or benefits such as:

  • Access to presales
  • Special event invitations
  • Discounted or free tickets
  • VIP designation
  • Being named a donor of your organization
  • Being named a sponsor for a special event

These rewards or statuses usually last for the set period of the Membership and then expire. To continue to receive these exclusive rewards or statuses, organizations will normally encourage members to renew their Membership before it expires or even some time after it expires. 

To help with retention, in Spektrix, we offer continuous automatic renewal of Memberships. This means that when a Membership is due to expire, with authorization from a Customer, your Spektrix system can automatically renew their Membership by charging their payment card. For in depth details on this feature, you can read more in Auto Renewable Memberships.

In Spektrix you can also set up Membership schemes with varying tiers, where different levels offer different perks or Donation amounts.

 

Why set up Memberships?

Memberships are a flexible loyalty model that can generate recurring income from Customers who may already be regularly attending your events or Donating to your organization.

Through various Membership schemes, your organization can:

  • Encourage audiences to purchase exclusive access to certain benefits each season
  • Encourage donors or sponsors to give regularly, such as annually or monthly
  • Encourage engagement and build a community

When setting up Memberships for your organization, you can use Memberships solely for perks and benefits or to accept structured Donations. They can also be a mix of both, where a portion of the Membership Price can be used for benefits and the rest for Donation.

TIP: If you are considering setting up a Membership where the main benefit is a bundle of Tickets at a discounted rate and/or early purchase date, we recommend using our Ticket Subscriptions or Fixed Series features instead. If you do choose a Ticket Subscription or Fixed Series instead of a Membership, it's important to note that any revenue from these Items cannot be recorded as Donations in Spektrix.

 

Components of Memberships

Before you decide to sell Memberships in Spektrix, we’ll introduce you to the basic components of a Membership. We’ll also guide you through considerations for selling Memberships in Spektrix.

TIP: As you consider using Memberships in Spektrix, take the time to think about your organization’s goals for creating a Membership scheme. You’ll also want to consider your organization’s capacity for setting up and selling Memberships, including engaging with Members. Take a look at our blog post How to Create a Membership Scheme for guidance which will help you decide your approach.

 

Membership Price

A Membership is considered a purchasable Item where the Customer pays for an exclusive status or rewards. What can be included in a Membership can be classified into four different types of benefit: 

 

Inclusion Examples
Access to non-transactional benefits Priority booking, waived commissions, access to locked seats
Goods & services Free or discounted Tickets or Merchandise through Offers
Donation Donations can be for specific Funds and Campaigns
Combination of Donation and benefits Donation with Priority Booking (Price is 100% Donation with a non-transactional benefit) or Donation with one free Ticket (Price is split between Donation and value of the Ticket)

 

Some considerations for setting the Price of Memberships in Spektrix:

 

Pricing

  • Memberships are sold at a fixed Price. You can create multiple Memberships at various values to encourage Customers who may want to contribute more. For example, you can offer three Membership types, with one priced at $10, another at $50, and the last at $100.
  • You can’t use Offers to discount a Membership.
  • If you’re creating a Membership which includes a combination of Donation and benefits, you can indicate how much of the Price goes towards the value of benefits/goods and services, with the remainder of the Price going towards Donations. This is called a benefits value.
  • You can set a Renewal Price as an incentive for Members to renew. This can be a discounted value from the original Price. If you have set a benefits value, a lower Renewal Price will lower the Donation portion.
  • When a Membership in the Renewal Period or Grace Period is added to the Member’s Basket/Cart, the Membership will automatically be sold at the designated Renewal Price.

 

Memberships with a Donation portion

  • If you choose to set up the Membership Price to include a Donation, the Donation portion will be reported in Spektrix as Donations for accounting purposes. In Accounting Reports and segmentation, the Membership Price will be split accordingly, with the remaining benefits value counting towards Membership income.
    For example, if you have a $100 Membership with $25 in benefits/goods and services, then $75 will be reported as a Donation.
  • The Donation portion has a default Fund to where income will be allocated.
  • The Donation portion can have a default Campaign. This can be overridden during a transaction by selecting an Opportunity with a different Campaign for the Member.
  • For UK charities, you can indicate if the Donation portion is Gift Aid claimable.

 

Benefits

 

Membership Status

When a Customer purchases a Membership, they become a Member. There are different statuses of Members:

Membership Status Description
New First-time purchasers of a Membership. New Members are also Current Members. A Member is no longer considered new after the Membership expires or is renewed.
Current Current holders of a Membership. Current Members include new and renewing Members.
Lapsed Members who have let their Memberships expire. A Member will be considered lapsed until they renew (before the end of the Grace Period) or repurchase (after the end of the Grace Period).

 

Some considerations regarding Membership status in Spektrix:

  • Members can only purchase one Membership of the same type at a time. They can’t hold multiples of the same Membership type.
    For example, a single Customer can’t purchase two Premium Memberships with one intended for their spouse; you'll have to have two different Customer Records with their own Membership. Alternatively, you can create a joint Membership that can cover two Customers using Soft Credit and Auto Tags.
  • If you offer multiple Memberships, Members can purchase one of each Membership type at a time.
    For example, they can have one Standard Membership and one Premium Membership.
  • When Lapsed Members repurchase their Membership after the grace period for renewal, although it may seem like they’re purchasing a new Membership at a non-renewal Price, they won't be considered new Members.
  • You can segment on Membership status, using status to build Customer Lists and/or Auto Tags for use in Dynamic Content. These tools can be used for communicating with different Members.
    For example, welcoming new Members, notifying current Members of upcoming expiry/expiration dates, inviting lapsed Members to repurchase or thanking lapsed Members who did repurchase.

 

Membership Time Period

Membership status lasts for a specified period of time. In Spektrix, there are important dates that signify the start and end of the Membership as well as timeframes for renewing Memberships.

 

Membership Time Period Terms Description
Start Date The Membership starts on the date of purchase or on the date of renewal.
Renewal Date The Renewal Date is the Start Date of a renewed Membership. This is always the date after the Expiry/Expiration Date.
Expiry/Expiration Date The Membership ends on a predetermined date. There are three types of Expiry/Expiration dates, as seen below.
Relative Expiry/Expiration Date  The Membership ends on a date relevant to the start date. For example, every four weeks from the Start Date or Renewal Date.
Fixed Expiry/Expiration Date The Membership ends on a specific date. For example, December 31.
Open-ended or no end date No Expiry/Expiration Date. 
Renewal Period A time period set before a Membership’s Expiry/Expiration Date. During this period, a current Member can renew their Membership. For example, one week before the Expiry/Expiration Date.
Grace Period A time period set after a Membership’s Expiry/Expiration date. During this period, a lapsed Member can renew their Membership at the Membership Renewal Price. For example, three days after the Expiry/Expiration Date.

 

Some considerations regarding Membership time periods in Spektrix:

  • The Start and End Dates are relevant to the date of purchase.
  • The Start Date of a renewal or Renewal Date will always be the date after the Expiry/Expiration Date, even when renewed early in the Renewal Period or late in the Grace Period. The Start Date of a renewal can’t be overridden.
  • For Lapsed Members who don’t renew during the Grace Period, but repurchase after, their Start Date will be the date of the purchase.
  • Benefits created using Offers can be limited by the Membership Period.
    For example, you can create an Offer where Members can get three discounted Tickets to eligible Instances during their current Membership Period. When their Membership expires, that Offer is no longer available to the Customer.
  • Only one Membership type can be added to the Customer Eligibility Chooser when using this option. For example, if multiple Memberships offer similar discounts limited to Membership Period, you’ll need to create separate Offers for each Membership.
  • Benefits expire at the Expiry/Expiration Date and don’t extend to the Grace Period.
  • You can segment on Members based on their Expiry/Expiration Date.
  • You can segment on Members if they are in the Grace Period.

 

Membership Renewal

In addition to exclusive statuses or rewards, you can offer other incentives for continuous Membership renewal.

 

Membership Renewal Incentive Description
Exclusive renewal pricing Current Members can renew their Membership at a discounted rate. When a Membership in the Renewal Period or Grace Period is added to the Member’s Basket/Cart, the Membership will automatically be sold at the designated Renewal Price.
Automatically renew Current Members can automatically renew their Membership. With a Customer’s authorization, payment can be automatically taken from a their payment card during the Renewal Period.
Membership tiers and levels Having various tiers or levels can let Members choose to upgrade their Membership, which can increase rewards and contribution.

 

Some considerations regarding Membership renewal in Spektrix:

  • Lapsed Members who repurchase after the Grace Period must repurchase at the regular Price.
  • The auto renew feature is useful for recurring Donations or installments.
  • You can send notifications to Members who auto renew to let them know when payment will be taken, if they don’t have a valid payment card or if the payment failed or succeeded.
  • You can segment on Membership types, which can be helpful in creating targeted communications to encourage Members to upgrade their Membership tier/level.

 

Considerations for Selling Memberships

Now that you have an understanding of how Memberships work in Spektrix, let’s take a look at some other considerations for selling Memberships.

 

Where to Sell Memberships

Memberships can be sold and renewed in Spektrix through:

 

Place to Sell Details
Sales Interface Memberships are sold in the Sales Interface under Subscriptions.
Opportunities Interface Memberships are sold in the Opportunities Interface, where you can attach an Opportunity to the Order.
Online Memberships can be listed on your website using the Memberships iframe, Membership Web Components, Spektrix Link and the API.

 

REMINDER: Memberships with a Donation portion and Gift Memberships aren’t available in the API.

 

Tools to Upsell Memberships

In Spektrix, there are various tools to help you upsell Memberships to your Customers.

 

Membership Web Components

For extra functionality online to upsell Memberships, you can use the Membership Web Component to do the following:

  • Let Customers add a Membership to their Basket/Cart from anywhere on your website
  • Show a single or multiple Memberships on the same page. You can choose how they are displayed on the page, and any additional information you’d like to include, such as details about Membership benefits. 
  • Let Customer's Memberships automatically renew.
  • Dynamically convert a Donor to a Member by indicating what the value of the Membership would get them.
  • Add a Membership Web Component to your Basket/Cart page to upsell Memberships. You could also dynamically show potential savings or benefits on eligible orders.
  • Add a Membership to the Basket/Cart during priority booking and immediately redirect to your Events page.
  • Capture additional information, such as the name of the second Member for joint Memberships. This can be achieved by implementing a Membership Web Component that also captures Order Attributes via the API. 
  • Combine with the Donations Web Component to collect one-off Donations and recurring Donations (auto renewable Memberships) on the same page

To get started with implementing this Web Component, we’ve supplied everything your web developer will need on our Integrate Portal: Quick Start for Web Developers (Memberships).

 

Gifting Memberships

Customers can gift a Membership to another Customer. Gift Memberships can be purchased and redeemed in the Sales Interface and Online.

Gifted Memberships count as a Gift Voucher purchase and not a Membership purchase. If there is a Donation portion to the Membership, the Donation will be attributed to the Membership holder, once redeemed, and not the Customer who gifted the Membership.

 

Opportunities

For Opportunities Interface users, you can use Opportunities to track success on selling, renewing and upgrading Memberships.

  • Opportunities can be linked to Customers who regularly give and can be used to track their conversion into becoming Members
  • Opportunities can be linked to current Members to track success on upgrades

 

Reporting and Segmentation on Memberships

In addition to the several reporting and segmentation considerations mentioned above, here are other considerations:

 

Standard Reports

There are four Standard Reports for Memberships:

 

Auto Tags and Customer Lists

Using Membership criteria in Purchasing Segments, you can use Auto Tags and build a Customer List to:

 

How to get started with Memberships

If you’d like to start selling Memberships, you can begin setting up and selling Memberships.

However, you may also want to consider some of the following set up and configurations for your organization:

 

Online Messaging

If you decide to sell Memberships online you may consider the online messaging for your Memberships.

TIP: These settings are managed in the Settings Interface. In order to navigate to and access the Settings Interface you’ll need the Settings Administrator role. If you don’t have this User Role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Settings Administrator role.

 

Memberships on Web

The Memberships on Web configuration will let you do the following:

  • Change the “Memberships” name: You may decide to rename Memberships as something else.
    For example, calling Memberships “VIP Packages.” This will only rename Memberships in the Memberships iframe and not in other parts of your system including the My Account section.
  • Add text in the header: You can add text to the Membership iframe header.
    Included in the header is default text that can’t be changed: “If you hold a membership and wish to renew it, please log in to your account before adding the item to your cart.”

For more information, read Custom Website Messages for iframes.

  • Go to the Settings Interface > Configuration > System Setup. Click on Memberships on Web.

    In the text box, use Wikitext to add text. You can replace the word “Memberships” with your word of choice. You can click Preview to preview the added text. You can click Reset to remove any unsaved changes.

    Click Save Configuration.

    Custom message for memberships setting.

 

Custom Website Messages Configuration

The Custom Website Messages configuration will let you add messaging in other areas of the Customer’s online purchase path. You can add messages such as “Login if you have a Membership” or other similar messages to different areas of the online purchase path. For example, you can include messaging in:

  • Custom message about priority booking
  • Custom "login for discount" message to display on basket.aspx

For more information, read Custom Website Messages for iframes.

  • Go to the Settings Interface > Configuration > System Setup. Click on Custom Website Messages.

    Find the text box you would like to update. Use Wikitext to add text. You can click Preview to preview the added text. You can click Reset to remove any unsaved changes.

    Click Save Configuration.

 

Managing Memberships on the Website

Members can view and manage their Memberships online in their My Account page. If you also sell Auto Renewable Memberships, Members can also manage their auto renewal options online including storing their card information in their Card Wallet.

You can enable these features in the Settings Interface.

TIP: These settings are managed in the Settings Interface. In order to navigate to and access the Settings Interface you’ll need the Settings Administrator role. If you don’t have this User Role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Settings Administrator role.

  • Go to the Settings Interface > Configuration > System Setup. Click on Website.

    Toggle on Display the Memberships section on your website’s “My Account” page.

    If you sell Auto Renewable Memberships, we recommend turning on the Display the Payment Cards section on your website’s “My Account” page option so Members can add a new card for auto renewal at any time.

    If you sell Gift Memberships, we recommend turning on the Display the Account Credit section on your website’s “My Account” page option so Members can redeem their Gift Membership online.

    Click Save Configuration.

    Display on My Account page options.

    If you sell Auto Renewable Memberships, we recommend checking the box for Default “Store my card details” to be ticked on customer billing details so that Customers who purchase an Auto Renewable Membership can save their card for auto renewals. Click Save Configuration.

    Default Store my card details setting.

 

Membership Attributes

You can use Membership Attributes to add more details to the setup of Memberships. Attributes can be used to filter Memberships in the Membership iframe.

You can also set up an Account Code Attribute to be used in the Payments & Activities Report. 

You can read more about how to set up Introduction to Attributes and Membership Attributes.

 

Default Fund and Campaigns

For Memberships with Donations, you should select a default Fund to allocate the Membership funds to. You can read more in Introduction to Funds and Donations.

If you use the Opportunities Interface, you can select a default Campaign to link Membership purchases to. These purchases will contribute to overall Campaign targets. You can read more in Introduction to Campaigns and Campaign Structures.

 

Gift Aid Memberships (UK)

For charities in the UK, the Donation part of the Membership can be claimed for Gift Aid. You can read more about how to set up tracking and claiming Gift Aid in Introduction to Gift Aid (UK).

 

Auto Renewable Memberships

Auto Renewable Memberships require further configuration. You can read more about how to set up and sell Auto Renewable Memberships.

 

Gift Memberships

Gift Memberships require further configuration. You can read more about how to set up, sell, and redeem Gift Memberships.

 

Further Reading

You now have the information needed for understanding and getting started with Memberships in Spektrix.

For further information on Memberships, check the Memberships section in the Support Centre.