How To Sell Membership Woocommerce

How to Sell Memberships with WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide

So, you’re Explore this article on How To Remove The Mouse Moving Product Picture In Woocommerce thinking about offering memberships through your WooCommerce store? Excellent choice! Memberships can create a recurring revenue stream, build a loyal community, and provide exclusive value to your customers. Don’t worry if the tech seems daunting. This guide will break down the process of selling memberships using WooCommerce, focusing on simplicity and practicality.

Think of it like this: instead of selling one-off products, you’re offering access to a special club. Let’s dive in!

Why WooCommerce for Memberships?

WooCommerce is a powerful and flexible e-commerce platform built on WordPress. Using WooCommerce for your membership site offers several advantages:

Familiarity: If you already use WooCommerce, you’re ahead of the game. The interface and concepts will be familiar.
Extensibility: WooCommerce boasts a huge library of extensions (plugins) to add functionality, including robust membership solutions.
Control: You have full control over your platform, data, and user experience.
Integration: WooCommerce seamlessly integrates with other WordPress plugins for marketing, email, and more.

Real-life Example: A local yoga studio uses WooCommerce and a membership plugin. Instead of selling individual class passes only, they offer monthly memberships for unlimited classes, access to exclusive online content, and discounts on workshops. This provides consistent income and encourages repeat business.

Choosing the Right WooCommerce Membership Plugin

While WooCommerce doesn’t have built-in membership functionality, several excellent plugins fill this gap. Two popular options are:

WooCommerce Memberships: This is the official WooCommerce plugin, offering tight integration and reliable performance.
Paid Memberships Pro: A free (with paid add-ons) plugin offering a wide range of features, including membership levels, content restriction, and recurring billing.

For this guide, we’ll focus on WooCommerce Memberships for simplicity and the reliability of being an official plugin. However, the general concepts apply to most membership plugins.

Installing and Configuring WooCommerce Memberships

1. Purchase and Install: Purchase WooCommerce Memberships from the WooCommerce website and install it like any other WordPress plugin (Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin). Activate the plugin.

2. WooCommerce Setup: Ensure WooCommerce is installed and configured with your products, payment gateways, and shipping settings (if applicable). This is the foundation upon which your membership system will be built.

3. Membership Plans: Navigate to WooCommerce > Memberships > Membership Plans. This is where you define your membership levels (e.g., Basic, Premium, VIP).

Click “Add Membership Plan”.
Name Your Plan: Give your membership plan a descriptive name (e.g., “Monthly Silver Membership”).
Assign Products: In the “Grant access upon purchase” section, select the product(s) that, when purchased, grant access to this membership. This could be a virtual product specifically designed for the membership.
Access Length: Define how long the membership lasts (e.g., monthly, yearly, lifetime).
Content Restrictions: Decide which content (pages, posts, products) should be restricted to members of this plan. You can restrict individual pieces of content or categories of content.

Example: You’re creating a “Premium Recipes” membership. You create a virtual product in WooCommerce called “Premium Recipes Membership”. When someone purchases this product, they automatically gain access to the membership, which unlocks a category on your blog filled with exclusive premium recipes.

Creating the Membership Product

As mentioned above, you need a WooCommerce product that triggers the membership when purchased.

1. Create a Virtual Product: Go to Products > Add New. Give your product a clear name (e.g., “Premium Membership”).

2. Product Data: In the “Product data” dropdown, select “Simple product”.

3. Virtual and Downloadable: Check the “Virtual” box (since there’s nothing to ship) and, optionally, the “Downloadable” box if the membership includes downloadable files.

4. Price: Set the price of the membership.

5. Publish: Publish your product.

Reasoning: By using a virtual product, you ensure that no shipping is calculated, and the product is instantly accessible upon purchase.

Restricting Content to Members Only

This is where the magic happens! WooCommerce Memberships allows you to control who sees what.

Restricting Pages/Posts: Edit a page or post you want to restrict. In the sidebar, you’ll see a “Membership” meta box. Select the membership plan(s) that should have access to this content.
Restricting Categories: Edit a category. In the category settings, you’ll find a section to restrict access to members.

Example: You create a video tutorial series that’s exclusively for your “Premium” members. You restrict the category containing those video tutorials to the “Premium” membership plan. Non-members attempting to access these videos will see a message explaining that they need to become a member.

Customizing the Membership Experience

Personalization is key to creating a great membership experience.

Membership Dashboard: WooCommerce Memberships typically creates a “My Account” section where members can manage their subscriptions, view their membership status, and access member-only content. You can customize this section to better match your brand.
Welcome Email: Customize the welcome email that new members receive upon purchasing the membership product. This is your chance to thank them, explain how to access member content, and provide important information.
Drip Content (Advanced): Some membership plugins allow you to “drip” content over time. For example, new members might get access to Module 1 immediately, Module 2 after one week, and so on. This keeps members engaged and coming back for more.

 // Example: Customizing the "My Account" membership section (requires coding knowledge) add_filter( 'woocommerce_account_menu_items', 'custom_membership_my_account_menu_items' ); function custom_membership_my_account_menu_items( $items ) { $items['memberships'] = 'My Memberships'; // Add a new menu item return $items; }

Important: Modifying the ‘My Account’ section with custom PHP code may require a child theme and understanding of WordPress development.

Promoting Your Membership

Creating a fantastic membership is only half the battle. You need to promote it!

Website Placement: Prominently feature your membership on your website’s homepage, product pages, and in your navigation menu.
Email Marketing: Send targeted email campaigns to your existing customers and email list, highlighting the benefits of joining your membership.
Social Media: Share engaging content and run promotions on social media to attract new members.
Content Marketing: Create blog posts, articles, and videos that showcase the value of your membership.
Testimonials: Display testimonials from happy members on your website and marketing materials.

Example: Before launching your “Premium Recipes” membership, you create a series of free recipe blog posts to attract food enthusiasts to your site. Then, you strategically mention the premium membership within those posts and link to the product page.

Tracking and Improving

Use WooCommerce’s built-in analytics (or Google Analytics) to track your membership performance:

Membership Sales: Monitor your membership sales to see which plans are most popular.
Member Engagement: Track how members are using your member-only content.
Churn Rate: Keep an eye on your churn rate (the percentage of members who cancel their subscriptions) and identify ways to improve member retention.

Reasoning: Data is your friend. Use Learn more about How To Customize Woocommerce Category Page it to refine your membership offerings, marketing strategies, and overall member experience.

Conclusion

Selling memberships with WooCommerce is a fantastic way to build a loyal community and create a recurring revenue stream. While it may seem complicated at first, breaking down the process into smaller, manageable steps makes it achievable for anyone. By choosing the right plugin, creating compelling membership plans, restricting content effectively, and promoting your membership wisely, you can build a thriving online membership business. Good luck!