The first step is to create the membership types you want to offer customers.
NAVIGATE TO: Studio > Membership Plans
Membership Settings
Decide how and to what extent customers can access and sign up for membership.
- Membership page hidden without active membership - When this setting is on, it means that if a Kiln Fire user is not a member, they will not be able to see a Membership tab on their Kiln Fire screen. If this setting is off, it means that all Kiln Fire users will see a Membership tab where they can click and sign up for a membership on their own.
- Memberships closed, require invite - When this setting is on, it means that Kiln Fire users who are not members will not see the membership tab on their screen. To become a member, the Kiln Fire admin will need to invite users to become members. When this setting is off and the Membership page hidden without active memberships is off, all Kiln Fire users will see a Membership tab where they can click and sign up for a membership on their own.
- Members can switch plans - When this setting is on, it means that active members can click on the membership tab and switch between your studio’s different membership options. When this setting is off, only a Kiln Fire admin is able to switch a member’s membership level for them.
- Members can cancel their own plan - When this setting is on, it means that active members can click on the membership tab and cancel their membership. When this setting is off, members would need to contact a Kiln Fire admin and the admin would manually cancel the membership.
Once you have clicked Save Membership Options, you are ready to create your membership plans. Some studios may only have one membership option but other studios may have multiple levels of membership. Click on Create New Plan Level.
Membership Plans
Each membership plan needs a name and description. Some of the choices like plan billing intervals, billing cycle day, and plan price cannot be edited after a plan is created. If you need to change these choices, you will need to create a new plan level.
For the Billing Cycle Day, this is the day members will be charged for the membership plan. You can choose the date the person signs up for a membership, or you can choose the same day of the month for all of your membership plans (for this option plans will be prorated according to when users sign up for a membership). Pay attention to how you have this set up as it will impact the rhythms of when/how payments come in for your studio.
You can also choose for a plan to be hidden. When this setting is on, it means users will not see this plan in their membership tab.
You can also choose user perks to accompany a membership or different membership levels.
The last decision is if you want to give a user tag to all users on this membership. Tags help organize users and can also automatically assign user perks.
When you have all the settings as you want, click on Save Membership Plan. This plan is now listed under Membership Plans. If you no longer want to offer one of your membership plans, you can click on it and turn on the Plan is hidden setting or you can click archive at the bottom of the membership plan.
If you ever need to view archived membership plans, click on Show Archived. You can then click on the membership plan and select Unarchive at the bottom of the plan to make the membership plan active again.
You also have the ability to rearrange the order of your membership plans, by clicking and dragging the up/down arrow on the right side of the membership plan box.
Membership Messages
You can customize messages that users see related to memberships. These messages are all optional but available if you want them. The messages you can customize are:
- Membership Plans Message
- Membership Waitlist Signup Email
- Membership/Waitlist Invitation Email
- Membership Schedule Plan Message
- Membership Start Plan Message
- Membership Cancel Plan Message
- Membership Pause Plan Message
- Membership Resume Plan Message
- Membership Ended Message
NAVIGATE TO: Studio > App Messages > Memberships
Signing Up for Membership
Now that you have created your membership plans and set up your custom messaging, there are three ways users can become members in the Kiln Fire app: 1.) User Sign Up Links, 2.) Add User (invite for Membership), and 3.) User can click on the membership tab and sign themselves up for a membership.
User Sign Up Links: You can send them a User Sign Up Link. This is likely the best option for people who are not yet a Kiln Fire user or people who have contacted you from a listserv or website contact form.
NAVIGATE TO: Users > All Users > User SIgn Up Links button > New Member Plan Start
There are two ways you can customize this link:
- Send a link only for a specific membership plan. Click Customize Link and select the membership plan you want, then copy the link and send to customer.
- Send a specific membership start date. Click on the box below Start Membership on Date and select the date, then copy the link and send to customer.
Note: if the membership starts on a future date, the first month's payment will be collected upon sign-up and then transferred to that person's Account Funds. When membership begins, the first month will be charged out of those Account Funds.
Add User (invite for Membership): You can invite through the app. An email will be sent automatically through the app. You can also customize which plan or date to start as well, just like in the link option above.
NAVIGATE TO: Users > All Users > Add User button > Input person's name and email address > Select Invite for Membership, click Create User and Send Invite
User Sign Up: User can sign up themselves. This can only happen if "Membership page hidden without active membership" setting is OFF (Studio > Membership Plans > Memberships). If this setting is off, then all Kiln Fire users will have a Membership tab on their screen and can click on the Membership tab, click on the plan they want, and click Start Membership Now. They will then be directed to a screen to input their Payment Details.
Waitlist Options
You may come to a point where your studio is at your membership capacity. If this is the case, you will want to close your memberships.
NAVIGATE TO: Studio > Membership Plans > turn on "Memberships closed, require invite" option
If your memberships are closed, you might want to create a membership waitlist so that when memberships become available, you know who to offer them to.
NAVIGATE TO: Studio > Waitlist
In the Studio tab click on Waitlist. Here you will find the form with information you want to collect from your waitlist link. The waitlist link will automatically collect name, email and phone number. Choose the other options you want for your studio. You can also select Add Custom Waitlist Field and ask a question specific to your studio. When you are ready, click on Save Waitlist Options.
When you are ready to invite others to waitlist, you can send a unique link.
NAVIGATE TO: Users > Waitlist > Public Waitlist Link button