Typically, membership websites only allow the sale of individual subscriptions. However, offering group memberships enables businesses to add all their team members under a single account effortlessly.
Throughout the years, we have provided various types of memberships to our users. We discovered that using a membership plugin like MemberPress allows for the seamless sale of group subscriptions to corporate teams. This simplifies the process and eliminates the need to depend on developers for custom membership solutions.
In this article, we will guide you on how to effectively sell group memberships in WordPress tailored for corporate teams.
Why Should You Create Group Memberships in WordPress?
Selling membership subscriptions is a widely recognized method for generating income through blogging with WordPress. However, businesses often prefer to purchase memberships for multiple individuals simultaneously, such as an entire team or department.
By providing group memberships, you facilitate bulk purchases of your product licenses for companies. This also allows the account administrator to easily manage licenses, adding or removing them as necessary when new employees join the organization.
Group memberships are not only beneficial for corporate teams.
Groups such as volunteer organizations, nonprofits, church communities, or families may prefer purchasing a group membership instead of multiple individual subscriptions. Educators can also utilize group memberships to create virtual classrooms for their students.
Now, let’s explore the process of selling group memberships on a WordPress website.
How to Set Up Group Memberships in WordPress for Corporate Teams
The simplest way to sell group memberships is by using the MemberPress plugin along with the Corporate Accounts add-on.
MemberPress is the leading membership plugin for WordPress, enabling you to create group memberships with an unlimited number of sub-accounts.
Additionally, it allows members to resell these subscriptions. For instance, if you operate a membership site offering healthy eating plans and online yoga classes.
Personal trainers or health and fitness professionals can purchase a corporate membership from your site and then provide access to their own clients.
For further details, check out our comprehensive MemberPress review.
To begin, install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide on installing a WordPress plugin.
Important Note:To install the Corporate Accounts add-on, you must have a MemberPress Plus account or a higher plan.
After activation, navigate to MemberPress » Settings in your WordPress dashboard and input your license key.
You can find this information in your MemberPress account on their website or in the confirmation email you received after purchasing MemberPress.
Once you’ve entered the information, click on ‘Activate License Key.’
Add a Payment Method
Next, set up at least one payment gateway to easily accept credit card payments for group memberships.
MemberPress Pro supports PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. To add a payment gateway, click on the ‘Payments’ tab and then select ‘Add Payment Method.’
The MemberPress Plus plan allows payments through PayPal and Stripe. You can also use Authorize.net by upgrading to the Pro plan.
Open the ‘Gateway’ dropdown menu and choose your preferred payment gateway.
MemberPress will display all necessary settings to configure before using this payment gateway.
Each payment gateway has unique settings; for instance, in the following image, we are setting up PayPal payments in WordPress.
After configuring the payment gateway, click ‘Update Options’ to save your changes.
Enhance sales and customer satisfaction by allowing users to select their preferred payment method. To add multiple payment gateways, click ‘Add Payment Method’ and follow the same steps outlined earlier.
Install the Corporate Account Add-on
Once you have added one or more payment gateways, it’s time to activate the corporate membership features.
To do this, navigate toMemberPress » Add-onsand click the ‘Install Add-on’ button next to the Corporate Accounts add-on.
When it appears, click the ‘Activate’ button to enable the add-on.
Create Your Membership Levels
Next, create a corporate membership level by going to theMemberPress » Membershipspage. Click on ‘Add New.’
Start by entering a title for the corporate membership plan. This title will be visible in your WordPress admin area and to visitors on your site, so choose a descriptive name.
Once that is complete, set the price for the group membership by entering it in the ‘Price’ field.
Next, select the ‘Billing Type’ dropdown to establish the billing cycle. For instance, you can opt for a one-time fee for lifetime access or configure a recurring monthly subscription.
If you select ‘Recurring’, you can set up billing to charge members on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
In the image below, we are charging $100 every six months.
By enabling recurring payments in WordPress, you can automate the billing process. This not only saves you significant time but also reduces the likelihood of payment delays and mistakes. Additionally, it eliminates the need for manual invoice sending.
After selecting a billing type, you may need to adjust some additional settings, such as whether to offer a free trial subscription in WordPress. Most of these settings are quite simple, allowing you to review and modify them as needed.
Once you are satisfied with the membership level configuration, scroll down to the ‘Membership Options’ section and click on the ‘Advanced’ tab. Here, check the box that indicates ‘Subscribers to this Membership are Corporate Accounts.’
Following that, a new field will appear where you can specify the maximum number of sub-accounts that the account owner can add to their subscription.
When a corporate membership subscription is purchased, users will find a ‘Sub Accounts’ link on their Account page, as illustrated in the image below.
Clicking this link will display the number of available sub-accounts.
Users can add individuals to the group account by entering details such as the individual’s first name, last name, and email address.
By default, account holders can create an unlimited number of sub-accounts; however, it’s advisable to set a limit to prevent misuse of the account.
To set a limit, simply enter a number in the ‘Max Sub-Accounts’ field.
There are additional settings to explore, but this information is sufficient to establish a basic corporate membership subscription.
Once you are satisfied with the plan setup, click the ‘Publish’ button to finalize it.
To create additional membership levels, repeat the process outlined above. For instance, you could establish a Bronze account allowing 1-100 members and a Silver account permitting over 100 sub-accounts.
Limiting Content Access for Corporate Team Members
Now that you’ve set everything up, you can restrict content so that only users with the appropriate subscription can access it. This is done by creating membership rules.
For instance, you can restrict access to all child pages under a ‘Corporate Membership’ parent page or limit access to all posts categorized or tagged with ‘corporate’. This content can then be linked to your group membership, ensuring that only subscribers can view it.
To establish a restriction rule, navigate to MemberPress » Rules in your WordPress dashboard. Next, simply click the ‘Add New’ button.
There are numerous ways to limit access using the ‘Content & Access’ settings.
For example, you can designate a single page as exclusive to members.
You can also restrict access to entire categories and tags of content.
For illustration, we will restrict access to all content tagged with ‘Corporate’. For detailed guidance, please refer to our comprehensive guide on adding categories and tags to WordPress pages.
To limit access by a specific tag, open the ‘Protected Content’ dropdown and select ‘All Content Tagged.’ Then, enter the desired tag.
Next, open the ‘Access Conditions’ dropdown and select ‘Membership.’
You can then choose the corporate membership level you created previously from the second dropdown.
Explore various settings, such as displaying a preview for non-members. For instance, you could show a post excerpt to users without a corporate membership. This strategy can motivate visitors to purchase a subscription to access exclusive content.
For detailed information on creating advanced membership rules, check out our comprehensive guide to building a WordPress membership site.
Once you are satisfied with the rule configuration, scroll to the top of the page and click ‘Save Rule.’ To establish additional content restriction rules, simply follow the same steps outlined earlier.
We hope this article has equipped you with the knowledge to sell group memberships in WordPress for corporate teams. You may also want to explore our guide on hosting members-only events in WordPress and our expert recommendations for the best WordPress paywall plugins.
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