Memberships and groups form the foundation of your monetization strategy. Understanding how to create and manage these WishList LMS elements is crucial for a successful membership site.
This guide explains WishList LMS memberships and groups, as well as the membership structure and implementation steps.
Understanding Memberships
A membership represents a subscription package that users can purchase on your site. Each membership defines specific access levels, pricing, and duration terms. Think of memberships as products that grant access to protected content.
Therefore, a membership is the template you create with specific terms and conditions. On the contrary, a subscription is an individual user’s active purchase of that membership.
Time-based options, such as monthly or annual subscriptions, provide flexibility. Course-specific memberships restrict access to specific courses, etc.
Building the membership structure with apparent differences in available benefits is crucial for proper management. Common membership structures include tiered levels (e.g, Basic, Premium, and VIP).
Creating Memberships
Creating memberships establishes the products that users can purchase. Each membership needs clear naming and appropriate pricing.
The process requires thoughtful planning:
- Navigate to Dashboard > WishList LMS > Memberships.
- Click Add New Membership button.
- Configure the basic membership information (title and description).
- Configure membership terms:
- Set Price for the membership;
- Choose Billing Type (One-Time or Recurring);
- Select Access duration for one-time;
- Choose Interval for recurring.
- Add membership Description.
- Set Registration tab settings.
- Click Publish to create.
Configuring Basic Membership Information
The membership title appears throughout your site and in member communications. Choose names that clearly communicate value and access levels.
Descriptions help users understand what’s included with each membership. Well-crafted descriptions should highlight key benefits and exclusive content. Include what members can access and any restrictions. This information appears on registration pages to help conversion.
Membership Terms Configuration
Pricing and billing terms determine how members pay for access. Set terms according to your business model and your content.
The billing type has a direct impact on both member experience and revenue flow.
One-Time Memberships
One-time memberships are single-payment memberships and work well for fixed-term access. Members pay once and maintain access for the specified duration. Often, these options include 30-day trials or annual passes.
Duration configuration options are available under the Access dropdown:
- Lifetime (never expires)
- Expire: set the period after which the subscription expires. Add the number and choose one of the following time units:
- Days (1-365)
- Weeks (1-52)
- Months (1-12)
- Years (1-10)
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When a user registers for a one-time membership, WishList LMS will generate only one transaction.
Recurring Memberships
Recurring memberships provide predictable revenue through automatic renewals. In case of online payments, Stripe handles all renewal processing and payment collection automatically. Members maintain continuous access until cancellation.
Under the Interval dropdown, you can choose one of the following billing intervals:
- Daily (rarely used)
- Weekly
- Monthly (most common)
- Yearly
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Similarly to one-time memberships, when a user registers for a recurring membership, WishList LMS will generate one transaction. At the same time, contrary to one-time memberships, WishList LMS will also create a subscription related to the transaction. On renewal, additional transactions will be generated and associated with the same subscription.
Recurring memberships also support two additional options:
- Trial Period: offer a free or discounted trial before the full recurring price begins. Configure the trial length and price on the membership edit page;
- Limit Payment Cycles: set a maximum number of renewals. After the last cycle completes, WishList LMS stops billing but keeps the member active for the remaining term.
Review and manage every active subscription from Dashboard > WishList LMS > Subscriptions. From this page, administrators can pause, resume, cancel, or edit any subscription.
Membership Options
Under the Membership Options, you can modify settings individually for each membership.
Therefore, these settings will be applied only when users register for that specific membership. If left unchanged, the default settings will be used.
Registration Page Settings
Every membership automatically generates a unique registration page. Under the Registration tab, you can find several registration-related options:
- Registration Button Text: using this field, you can modify the text displayed on the button for submitting the registration form;
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- Enable custom thank you page message: this option allows you to modify the Thank You page used for this membership.
- The option Enable custom thank you message will add a custom message to the default Thank You page;
- The option Enable custom thank you page will let you choose a different page to be used as the Thank You page.
- Send Membership-Specific Welcome Email to User: this option will override the default Welcome Email, and use the custom one instead. You can click the Edit button to modify the membership-specific Welcome Email template.
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Price Box Settings
Price Box tab options allow you to update the membership data shown for the membership on the Group pricing page.
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- Highlighted: by enabling this option, the membership price box will be highlighted on the pricing page;
- Title, Heading Text, and Footer Text: these options allow you to add custom text to different areas within the price box;
- Pricing Display: this option will modify the way the membership price is displayed. You can choose the default Auto option or None option to hide the price. In addition, there is a Custom option to add custom text instead of the membership price.
- Button text: here you can modify the button label.
Advanced Settings
Under the Advanced tab, you can specify the Membership Access URL. Here, you should use the URL of the member’s area page for users subscribed to this specific membership.
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When the Membership Access URL is set, the membership’s name will become clickable on the member’s Account page. If clicked, users will be redirected to the URL you specified for this membership.
Creating and Managing Groups
Groups organize related memberships and enable upgrade functionality. Each group automatically generates a pricing comparison page. This feature allows users to compare and select the most suitable membership level.
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Groups serve multiple purposes in your membership structure. They create visual pricing tables for easy comparison. Furthermore, upgrade paths allow members to move to higher tiers seamlessly.
Group Creation Process
To create a membership group:
- Navigate to Dashboard > WishList LMS > Groups.
- Click Add New Group button.
- Add a group title.
- Configure group options:
- Enable the Upgrade Path option to allow upgrades;
- Add memberships in hierarchical order, starting with the lowest-level membership. You can add a membership by selecting it from the membership list. Click the + icon to add the next membership;
- Click the Disable Change Plan Pop-Up checkbox to redirect users to the Group pricing page for upgrades. By default, WishList LMS uses a pop-up that allows users to choose the new membership from a drop-down list.
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- Click the Publish button to create the group.
Group Configuration Best Practices
Group names are for internal reference and don’t appear publicly. Use descriptive names that indicate the membership relationship.
When adding memberships to groups, order them from lowest to highest tier. This creates a logical upgrade progression for members. Each membership can belong to only one group.
Creating Membership Structure
Start simple with 2-3 well-defined membership levels. Too many options can prolong the decision-making process for potential members. Expand your structure as you gain a better understanding of member needs.
Use clear, benefit-focused naming for instant understanding. “Premium Access” communicates more value than “Level 2”. Include key benefits in membership titles when possible.
Price memberships based on value provided and market research. Annual discounts of 15-20% often encourage longer commitments.
Create logical progression paths through your membership structure. Each level should clearly build upon the previous. Members should understand precisely what they gain by upgrading.
You can find several commonly used membership structure models below.
Course-Based Structure
Educational sites often use membership levels for different courses. Each membership grants access to specific course content. In this case, you would often use one-time memberships, where each membership is related to one particular course. Additionally, these would typically be lifetime memberships.
Here, groups can be used to organize related courses for easy navigation.
Example structure:
- Photography Basics – $29
- Advanced Photography – $49
- Photography Masterclass – $99
All-Access Model
Simple sites benefit from single membership tiers. Monthly and annual options offer flexible payment options. This model reduces complexity for both admins and members.
In this case, you would often use recurring memberships. Memberships can be added to a group with upgrades enabled (optional), facilitating users’ switch to the annual option.
Example options:
- Monthly All-Access – $19/month
- Annual All-Access – $199/year (17% savings)
Freemium Approach
Free memberships build email lists and demonstrate value. Paid tiers unlock premium content and features. This model works well for content-heavy sites.
Most often, you would combine one-time and recurring memberships. Hence, the free membership would be a one-time lifetime membership with a price set to zero. Next, the paid options would often be recurring memberships.
Furthermore, creating a group and enabling the upgrades would be mandatory. This is required to enable users to switch from a free to a paid membership.
Typical structure:
- Free Member – $0 (limited access)
- Pro Member – $9/month (standard access)
- Business Member – $29/month (full access)
Next Steps
Your membership structure provides the foundation for content monetization. Continue building your site with these essential tasks:
- Protect your member-only content.
- Create compelling pricing pages.
- Test complete registration flows.
Regularly reviewing membership performance helps optimize your structure over time.