We have recently received a lot of emails asking how to help give free or reduced prices to their members during this challenging time, so we put this video and information together for you to make things a bit easier to understand.
If you want an idea about signing new members up for a free expiring membership, we've created a separate article for you.
Below, you will find the steps to all 3 approaches outlined.
For Current Subscriptions on Pro Plan or higher* and a Card on File Payment Processor**:
- Change the Rebill Date on the Subscription to easily extend the current member's subscription date to one in the future, effectively giving that member free time.
*You need to have a Pro or higher plan to use this method.
** See our Payment Methods Overview article for current providers
For Current Subscriptions Using Any Plan and a Card on File Payment Processor
- Create a New Product that has ‘X' days/weeks/months of a free or paid trial period, and put the same original price in the ‘Price' area. Link to the same Membership level or Bundle that the original product is linked to. This way, after the free or discounted time, the subscription will resume at the regular price.
- Then you will perform the following steps one after the other in order to minimize downtime for that user:
- Cancel their Current Subscription from the Access Rights tab.
- Then immediately restart the subscription with the new product, also from the Access Rights tab, by using the Bill Card On File functionality.
- Cancel their Current Subscription from the Access Rights tab.
For Current Subscriptions Without a Pro Plan+ or a Card on File Payment Processor
Without a Pro Plan+ or a payment vendor that uses the card-on-file functionality, you will need to take the following steps to offer a free or reduced price option:
- Create a New Product that has ‘X' days/weeks/months of a free or paid trial period, and put the same original price in the ‘Price' area. Link to the same Membership level or Bundle that the original product is linked to. This way, after the free or discounted time, the subscription will resume at the regular price.
- Offer the New Purchase Link to your customers. All current and new members will have to go through the checkout process to apply this free or reduced trial option to their account.
Please Note: If you use this approach with a bundle, it will create a second subscription, so you will have to go in the back-end for those users and cancel the other subscription.
ALTERNATE OPTION for Current Subscriptions for a Bundle
- You can Pause the Billing on a Bundle for a member in their Access Rights Tab.
Please Note: Their access would remain intact and at the current place in the drip content schedule for that bundle, but behind-the-scenes, if there is an active subscription associated with the bundle, MemberMouse will automatically cancel it, and they would need to re-purchase/signup for the bundle to continue billing in the future.
IMPORTANT: This approach should be the last approach considered, as it offers the least amount of security for retaining your members after the free period is over.