Topic:
I need to Activate my Membership soon. What sorts of things should I look for to make sure my Membership is ready to Activate?
Solution:
In the course of conducting (literally!) thousands of registration form reviews, the RegOnline Tech Support team has identified a handful of common setup problems. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it may help you to avoid common setup issues or pitfalls.
Common Pitfalls to avoid before activating your membership:
- Recurring Membership Fees - The most important part of a membership is the recurring membership fees (unless it is a free membership). So be sure that you have properly set up your Membership Fee items (located on the Membership Fees page) so that they recur each renewal period. Show me how...
- One-Time (non-recurring) Membership Fees - Do you have any lifetime membership fees, intial set up fees, or extra add-ons or merchandise? These should be set up as One-Time Membership fee or Merchandise Items and not Recurring Membership Fees.
- Renewal Frequency - Is the renewal frequency set up properly on the Checkout page so that your recurring fees are charged each renewal period when members renew? Make sure that you have the proper renewal frequency set (i.e. Annually, Monthly, Quarterly, etc.).This setting can not be changed once you have taken live registrations. Additional information...
- Payment Frequency - The payment frequency should be set to the same frequency as your Renewal Frequency (unless you want members to make multiple payments throughout their membership). This setting can not be changed once you have taken live registrations.
- Payment & Verification tab - If you are charging any fees for your membership, then make sure that you have set up the appropriate payment methods and policies for your members. Is your membership set up for Online Credit Card processing? Have you entered a refund policy or terms and conditions? If you are accepting checks, have you included payment information to tell them where to send the payment?
- Visible/Required properties are incorrect - If your Membership uses Member Types (aka Registrant Types), then be sure to check (and re-check!) your Membership Fee items and Custom Fields to make sure they are visible to the correct Member Type(s). More information...
- Caption entries are not self-explanatory - Each Membership Fee item (or Custom Field) has two fields that may display information to members or registrants - one to display to your members on the registration form (this field is called Question/Description) and one to display to on the member's record or receipt (this field is called the Title on Invoice/Receipt). The text for each should be intuitive and geared towards the correct audience. More information...
- Emails are set up correctly - Be sure that all of your automatic emails are set up correctly and have the correct information, including content, the sender's email address and name, merge codes, and any other information that pertains to your membership. See the Membership FAQ for more information about Membership emails...
- Customized Page Names have been deleted from the Page Options section on each Registration Form Page as a (mistaken) way to remove unused pages from the registration form. Show me how to remove unused pages...
- Membership Website - Are you using the RegOnline Membership Website (aka the Event Website)? Is this set as the default landing page for your membership? This can be a great tool to drive more traffic and registrations. Tell me more...
Testing your Membership:
It is also important to fully test the functionality of your Membership before you Go Live and open up registrations to the public. This can help you catch additional problems that may have not been apparent while you were building and previewing the form.
- Keep your Membership in Testing status - Any registrations completed while in Testing status are completely free. It is also much easier to make changes to a registration form in Testing status than it is to modify an Active one.
- Enter some test registrations - The best way to see how your event looks and works is to test register. There is no charge on your RegOnline account for any registrations completed while your event is in Testing Status, so enter as many as you want! We recommend one or two for each Member Type that you are using in your Membership.
- Check the pricing (fees) for each Member Type - As you enter your test registrations, be sure that the Membership Fees, and Custom Fields that display are the ones you expected to see for that type. For example, if you have Member Types for Platinum and Gold, be sure that you see the Platinum pricing when you test register using that type.
- Run a sample report of the data that you need to collect to ensure that your membership setup includes or collects the fields and information from your members that you will need to report on later. The Membership Snapshot Report may be the best report to start with see all of the fields available in your registration form.
Additional Information:
None.
Related Links:
Keywords: Test, Testing, Active, Activate, Mistakes, Errors, Error, Complimentary, Form, Review
Rev. Date 02/12/08
Still need help?Submit your question to the RegOnline Tech Support team.