FAQ: Do I need a membership level or a product?

A few scenarios on how to decide when to use a membership level or a product.

Membership Levels Explained.

You are probably trying to work out if you need different Membership Levels and/or Products for your group.
You can have multiple membership levels within your Member Jungle System.  And within each membership level you can have multiple products.
The main reasons you would have a different membership level instead of a product are;
  • You need to have different forms to collect different information
  • The membership types need to have different access levels either to pages, documents or event discounts
  • You need to send different details in their automated renewal emails
  • A member may have both types of memberships, they will need levels as you cannot be a member of two products within one level.
We have set out a few scenarios below to help explain the difference between Membership Levels and Products and how to use them.

Scenario 1

A membership Level can have several products: for example under “General Membership” you could have a 1 year Adult subscription, another could be a 2 year Adult subscription and a third could be a 1 year Student subscription. Products can vary in price and duration. Members can only be a member of 1 product per Level. So, if John Smith had a 1 year Adult subscription he could not also have a 2 year Adult subscription or a 1 year Student subscription.

Scenario 2

The same member can be in different membership Levels: for example if John Smith can be a  “General member” as well as a “Sailing member”, then these two must be different membership levels and NOT products.

Scenario 3

If you need to collect different information on the membership application form for different membership types then they need to be different membership Levels. For example David is a “Sailing Member” and his sailing license number and expiry date need to be collected, as well as his contact details. Sally is a “General Member” where only her contact details need to be collected. Therefore a Sailing Member and a General Member need to be different membership Levels. The different levels allow level specific communication to members, for example the welcoming email can be specific for each member level. It also enables easy editing of emails.

Scenario 4

If certain members require different access to pages within the website along with different documents and events or are entitled to different % discount rates then there must be different levels. For example, Tracey is a Bronze Member and is entitled to a 10% discount on certain merchandise and Kathryn is a Gold Member and is entitled to a 25% discount on any merchandise and can attend an exclusive event. Therefore, Bronze Members and Gold Members must be a different Level.

 

If you're still not sure, contact us for help!