Build a membership area for a virtual summit
Build a membership area for a virtual summit
1. Decide on a platform to use, like WordPress, Kartra, or Kajabi, based on the cost and maintenance efforts.
Remember that you’ll need to run this membership area for a long time. For instance, WordPress would work well for highly customized and flexible summit experiences, whereas platforms like Kartra or Kajabi will take most of the technical work off your shoulders and let you focus on the summit delivery.
2. Use a plugin like Memberium for Wordpress or Kartra or Kajabi's built-in integrations to connect your membership area to your email service provider and payment gateway.
Have member accounts created automatically once somebody buys lifetime access. How you connect to your email service provider and payment gateway depends on the platform you choose for your membership area, email service provider, and payment gateway. Refer to the respective product documentation for more information on how to connect everything together.
3. Create a member dashboard that allows members to see all the content they have access to at one glance and allows them to change their profile information.
For example, you can use the Memberium or Restrict Content Pro plugins to build your membership area on WordPress. Alternatively, Kartra offers the Kartra Memberships feature and Kajabi has memberships built directly into the platform.
4. Add the membership area content and bonuses and set appropriate access permissions based on the membership levels you have for your event.
Your membership area can include the All-Access Pass, upsells, and downsells. Keep in mind that you might run this summit again in the future, so be sure to structure your membership levels based on the timing or iteration of the event.
5. Set up a No Access page that loads for people trying to access protected content, and add redirects to the membership area login page and landing page for your sales funnel.
This allows you to generate more leads from your summit and gives people on the No Access page a Call to Action they can click to purchase membership.
6. Configure the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC entries for your emails and authenticating the SMTP connection for your membership platform to ensure all emails are being sent out properly.
Functions like resetting passwords and delivering your summit content rely on email. Check your email hosting provider and email service provider product manuals to find out exactly you need to configure the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. For example, if your membership area is built in WordPress, you can install and configure the Easy WP SMTP plugin.
7. Automate offboarding by setting up email sequences and workflows that remove the user accounts from your membership upon account cancellation or order refunds.
How you configure these sequences and workflows depends on the membership platform, payment gateway, and email service provider you use. Check your product documentation for more information on how to set them up.
8. Use a plugin like UpdraftPlus for WordPress to automatically create and store backups of your membership area in cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Regularly backup important member date like account information. Alternatively, most SaaS platforms offer automatic backup features. Check your product documentation for more information on how to set these up.