WooCommerce & Members: Your Ultimate Guide to Restricted Ecommerce
Want to create a members-only store, offer exclusive discounts to loyal customers, or sell digital products only accessible after membership purchase? You’re in the right place! This guide breaks down how to seamlessly integrate WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce platform for WordPress, with membership plugins. We’ll explain everything in Learn more about How To Customize The View Cart Button Woocommerce a beginner-friendly way, using real-world examples to illustrate the power of this combination.
Why Combine WooCommerce and a Members Plugin?
Think of it like this: WooCommerce is your shop, and a members plugin is the bouncer. It decides who gets to see what, and what benefits they receive. Here are a few compelling reasons to combine them:
- Exclusive Content & Products: Imagine a website for photographers. You offer free presets to all members but premium filters and training videos only to “Pro” members who pay a monthly fee. WooCommerce allows you to sell these resources, while the membership plugin controls who can access them.
- Tiered Pricing & Discounts: Reward your loyal customers with special pricing tiers. “Silver” members get 5% off all products, while “Gold” members enjoy a generous 15% discount. This incentivizes upgrades and builds customer loyalty.
- Recurring Revenue: Discover insights on How To Change Colors Woocommerce Emails Sell access to digital downloads or online courses that are delivered monthly. The membership plugin manages the subscription and payment processing while WooCommerce manages the product side.
- Build a Community: Create a thriving community around your products by restricting access to forums, tutorials, or support channels to paying members.
- Control Product Visibility: Hide certain products or entire product categories from non-members, creating a sense of exclusivity. Imagine a wholesale supplier only allowing registered businesses to see and purchase their products.
- MemberPress: A robust and feature-rich option, ideal for complex membership sites with advanced features like coupon codes, dynamic pricing, and drip content.
- Paid Memberships Pro: A free plugin with paid add-ons, making it a good starting point for smaller membership sites. It’s known for its extensive developer support and flexibility.
- Restrict Content Pro: Developed by the same team behind Learn more about How Do I Add Shipping To My Woocommerce Products Easy Digital Downloads, this plugin offers a clean interface and is focused on restricting access to content.
- WooCommerce Memberships: An official WooCommerce extension that provides tighter integration with your WooCommerce store.
- Free Member: Access to basic resources and a welcome discount.
- Premium Member: Access to all resources, exclusive discounts, and priority support.
- VIP Member: Access to everything in Premium, plus one-on-one coaching and early access to new products.
- Go to *MemberPress > Rules*.
- Click “Add New”.
- Under “Protected Content”, select “Single Product” and choose “Advanced Photography Course”.
- Under “Access Conditions”, select “Membership” and choose “Premium Member”.
- Non-Members: Show a message like “This content is for Premium members only. [Join Now](link to your membership page) to unlock access!”
- Members with Insufficient Access: Show a message like “You need to upgrade to a Premium membership to access this content. [Upgrade Now](link to your upgrade page)!”
Choosing the Right Members Plugin
There are several excellent membership plugins available for WordPress. Here are a few popular choices:
For this tutorial, we’ll focus on principles that apply across most plugins, but will occasionally use examples from MemberPress as it’s a popular choice.
Step-by-Step Guide to Integrating WooCommerce and a Members Plugin
Let’s walk through the core steps of integrating WooCommerce with a membership plugin. We’ll assume you already have WooCommerce and your chosen membership plugin installed and activated.
1. Define Your Membership Levels:
This is the foundation of your setup. What are the different tiers of membership you offer? What benefits does each tier provide? For example:
In MemberPress, you’d create these membership levels under *MemberPress > Memberships*. Give each membership a clear name, description, and price.
2. Create WooCommerce Products:
Now, create the WooCommerce products you want to sell. This could be anything from physical goods to digital downloads to access to online courses.
3. Link Products to Membership Levels:
This is where the magic happens! This step involves telling your membership plugin *which* membership level gives access to *which* WooCommerce product. There are usually a couple of ways to do this:
* Restricting Access Directly from the Product Page: Some plugins (like WooCommerce Memberships) let you restrict access to a product directly from the WooCommerce product edit screen. You select which membership levels are allowed to purchase or view the product.
* Creating Rules or Restrictions within the Membership Plugin: Most plugins will let you create rules within their settings. For example, in MemberPress, you’d go to *MemberPress > Rules* and create a new rule that restricts access to specific products or product categories based on membership level.
Let’s imagine you want to restrict a product called “Advanced Photography Course” to only Premium members. In MemberPress, you would:
4. Handling Product Purchases and Membership Enrollment:
Ideally, you want a seamless process where a customer purchasing a specific product automatically enrolls them in a corresponding membership level. Many membership plugins offer integrations for this. Here are some examples:
* Dedicated Integrations: Some membership plugins offer specific integrations with WooCommerce, allowing you to assign membership levels to products. When a customer buys the product, they are automatically added to the membership level.
* Zapier or Similar Automation: If your chosen plugins don’t have a direct integration, you can use a service like Zapier or IFTTT to automate the process. For example, when someone purchases a specific product in WooCommerce, Zapier can automatically add them to a specific membership level.
5. Customize Messaging and User Experience:
Pay attention to what users see when they try to access restricted content or products. Display clear and helpful messages that guide them toward the next step.
Most membership plugins provide options for customizing these messages. Don’t use the default text; tailor it to match your brand and guide users effectively.
Example Code Snippets (for advanced users)
Sometimes, you might need to use code to customize the integration further. Here are a few examples (using common WordPress hooks):
Example 1: Change product price based on membership level:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_get_price', 'change_product_price_based_on_membership', 10, 2 );
function change_product_price_based_on_membership( $price, $product ) {
// Check if the user is logged in and has a specific membership level (replace ‘premium’ with your actual membership slug)
if ( is_user_logged_in() && function_exists( ‘wc_memberships_is_user_member_of_membership_plan’ ) && wc_memberships_is_user_member_of_membership_plan( get_current_user_id(), ‘premium’ ) ) {
// Apply a discount for premium members (e.g., 10% off)
$discount = 0.10; // 10% discount
$price = $price – ($price * $discount);
}
return $price;
}
Explanation:
- This code snippet uses the `woocommerce_get_price` filter to modify the product price.
- It checks if the user is logged in *and* if they are a member of the “premium” membership level (using the WooCommerce Memberships function).
- If both conditions are true, it calculates a 10% discount and applies it to the product price.
Example 2: Hide a product from non-logged-in users:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_is_visible', 'hide_product_from_guests', 10, 2 );
function hide_product_from_guests( $visible, $product_id ) {
// Replace ‘123’ with the actual product ID you want to hide
if ( ! is_user_logged_in() && $product_id == 123 ) {
return false; // Hide the product
}
return $visible; // Otherwise, keep it visible
}
Explanation:
- This code snippet uses the `woocommerce_is_visible` filter.
- It checks if the user is *not* logged in (`! is_user_logged_in()`).
- It also checks if the product ID matches the product you want to hide.
- If both conditions are true, it returns `false`, which hides the product.
Important: Place these code snippets in your theme’s `functions.php` file or in a custom plugin. Always back up your site before making changes to your code. Be extremely careful when using `functions.php` and test on a staging site first.
Testing and Troubleshooting
* Test thoroughly: Create test user accounts for each membership level and verify that the correct content is accessible and that pricing is applied correctly.
* Check error logs: If you encounter problems, examine your WordPress error logs for clues.
* Review plugin documentation: The documentation for your chosen membership plugin and WooCommerce can often provide solutions to common issues.
* Disable conflicting plugins: If you suspect a plugin conflict, try disabling other plugins one by one to identify the culprit.
* Clear your cache: Caching plugins can sometimes interfere with membership functionality. Clear your cache after making changes.
Conclusion
Combining WooCommerce and a membership plugin opens a world of possibilities for creating exclusive online experiences and generating recurring revenue. By carefully planning your membership levels, linking products appropriately, and customizing the user experience, you can build a thriving membership site around your WooCommerce store. With the right approach, you’ll be able to monetize your content, reward your loyal customers, and build a valuable community. Good luck!
