Membership, Annual subscription and one-time access

#1

Hi there, We have a membership site where there really is only one membership level - either you are a paid member or you are not. It is different than a lot of sites because its a company membership and then the company employees receive access as long as the company is a member.

So because we don’t process membership fees per member, the members are all added manually.

Members get access to all content. But we want to create a separate content library of webinars where members can access all the webinars for free BUT NON-MEMBERS can either pay per webinar or pay an annual fee for access to all the webinars in the library. We would be looking to use paypal or authorize.net for that payment processing.

So logistically, I am having trouble figuring out how to control access to this “webinar library” to allow for free member access, and either subscription or one-off access too.

Experienced users- can you help me figure out what the best way would be to set this up? OR if it is possible.

I was thinking that it could be controlled per post category maybe but we also have a blog (free to all to access) so I don’t want to affect anything there- and i know you can set member level access at the post level but how do you set both? Plus using the restriction buttons you can set up- i see you can let someone purchase access to a post but these would all be hosted files (mp4).

Grateful for any help…
kat

#2

Organizing your current members and fee-paying access to the whole library of content, while still maintaining a free blog, would be pretty straightforward.

The potentially messy bit is combining that with the ability for others to purchase access to each video individually. It is certainly doable, but needs some thinking about to avoid causing problems as your library grows.

How many videos are you talking about now, and how many are you going to be adding each month or year? And how long are you prepared to allow buyers of individual videos to have access to their purchases?

1 Like
#3

Hi Tim

Thanks for your response. So the library only has about 12 webinars in it so far because we didnt record them earlier- but we would be adding about two per month going forward.

Buyers of individual videos - maybe 30 days? The annual sub to all videos would of course be a year from subscribing.

#4

Kathleen,

OK, then I think that your best option is to think of your site as having two distinct parts. One will cater for those with access to all your videos, i.e. your current members and those on annual contracts. The other part of your site will cater for those purchasing videos on a one-off basis. While this will mean adding each video to two places on your site, it will be considerably less messy than the alternatives, and will also minimize the chance of your making an expensive mistake.

So this is specifically what I’d suggest. First, change the level of membership of your current users to level 4. You could just go with level 2, but s2Member user roles are hierarchical by default, so that each level can also access content protected at the levels below it. If you put these members on level 4 now, it will give you three levels below to play with, in case you later decide to differentiate your paying customers in some way. (Of course, you could even put them on level 10 if you wanted, but that might be overdoing it.)

Next, I’d ensure that all your current content that you want protected is protected at level 1. For the reasons I’ve already given, this will still be accessible to those at level 4.

Similarly, store all your videos in the folder for level 1 (see Download Options).

Now you can sell level 1 access on an annual basis to whomever you want.

So far as selling each video on a one-off basis is concerned, you will need to add a separate page for each video. Then follow the instructions in the Specific Post/Page (Buy Now) Forms section of s2Member’s Pro Forms page. You can set this for access for 30 days or 1 month.

Just to reiterate, this means having two independent parts to your site. Do not attempt to combine them, because you’ll get everyone locked out from their content!

1 Like
#5

Thanks Tim. I was coming to a similar conclusion.But to clarify am i hosting the videos in two different places or just linking to them from two different places?

i.e.

Protected File (FOR ANNUAL OR ONE TIME DOWNLOAD): /s2member-files/access-s2member-level1/zebra.pdf
Protected File: /s2member-files/zebra.pdf

#6

Glad we’re thinking along similar lines, Kathleen!

The videos would have to be hosted in two different places because those buying one-off access won’t have a membership role and so won’t be able to access the files you’ve protected at level 1.

#7

Ah- right, so I host a copy in the protected s2member-files directory but then have to host another copy somewhere outside the member assets for purchase by non members.

I think im getting it! Sometimes the logistics of this stuff make me crazy!

Thank you for your help Tim!

#8

Another question for you Tim – if you have the time.

Is there a way to automatically assign EOT and membership level with the registration form without going through paypal? I do not see a way to include these fields in the form and since users are actually registered manually without requiring payment the only way I see to do this is to register them and then to go in and edit each user profile individually to set these fields.

I could see this would really be a slick system if we handled individual registrations with payment rather than at a company level. Makes it a lot more difficult to keep a handle on access.

#9

Yes, you can do both those things with a free registration form. Take a look at that section in s2Member to get some examples of what you are looking for.

Of course, the issue then is how you’re going to stop everyone from using such a form. Have you already worked that out?

#10

Actually I tested it- working on staging site right now- and it makes them a subscriber automatically so they would still have to be made level 4 and also the EOT field was not entered – I assume because there is no end date not being paying.

Thinking maybe giving the customer relations manager a formatted excel sheet/csv in which to enter everything and upload might work better? Plus not opening up the form….

#11

Kathleen,

You need to change the shortcode to get a different level and EOT added. (see the example there.)

For example, change level="0" to level="4"

What you do for the EOT depends on what length of time you want to provide access for.

But, yes, importing a CSV file would definitely be the way I’d go unless you had to do it very often. It will certainly avoid the problem of having to protect this form from unwanted intruders.