Membership Subscription Renewals

There are many ways to handle renewals of membership subscriptions and the method you choose will depend largely on the way your club operates. We can split these into four main types: Bulk Renewals, Auto-Renewals, Ad-hoc Renewals and Self-Renewals.

Disambiguation

Repeat Billing: This is a Payment Scheme setting (not a Renewal setting). Any subscription set to Repeat Billing will just renew itself and take payment without any emails from the system nor any human intervention. Payment method must be Stripe or GoCardless with repeat billing selected. If repeat billing is selected at the checkout then the membership category renewal settings for that particular subscription will not apply.

Auto-Renew: This is a Membership Category setting. The system will automatically create renewal offers and send emails for any subscription where the category is set to auto-renew. The member must log in to accept the offer and pay. If they pay manually, an admin must log in to record it. Auto-renew can be applied to any membership category but is irrelevant and ignored if the member has selected a repeat billing payment option.

Other Membership Category Renewal Settings: For membership categories where Auto-Renew is not selected and the subscription has not be set to repeat billing then the subscription must be manually renewed by an administrator. This can be done in bulk using the Bulk Renewals page and gives administrators a chance to check what renewals will be offered before the emails go out.

Setting Up Membership Category Renewal Options

To set up Membership Categories, go to the Membership Categories page. From the default menu configuration, navigate to: Subscriptions > Membership Categories, or type in to the address bar after your site’s URL: Admin/Membership/Categories

For example:

https://<<www.ExampleClub.org.uk>>/Admin/Membership/Categories

Click the green “+ Add Category …” button

or the yellow “Edit” button against an existing category.

In the Membership Category Editor, select the Renewals tab to set up renewal options for this category.

Renewal Options

Automatically Renew?

Yes/No. If this is set, then renewal subscriptions will be created and offered (by email) automatically, a certain number of days before expiry of the existing ones.

Auto-Renew Days: Set when then autorenewal should happen i.e. the number of days before the current subscription is due to expire.

Only auto-renew if same category: If this box is checked then any auto-renewals will only happen if the member can be renewed to the same category. If restrictions force him or her to a different category, then the renewal will need to be done manually.

Allow self-renewal?

Yes/No: If this is set, then members will be able to request and pay for their own renewals without club officers having to offer a renewal subscription in advance.

Note: this is only advised for temporary/trial subscriptions. The system generally works much better when renewals are generated, either automatically or by the Membership Secretary, and pushed to to the members.

Can self-renew from: Set the number of days before subscription end. This is the earliest point in time at which the member can request a renewal from a subscription of this category. If left blank, then the member can renew at any point before the end of their current subscription.

Can self-renew until: Sent the number of days after subscription end. This is the latest point in time at which the member can request a renewal from a subscription of this category. If left blank, then the member can renew at any point after the end of their current subscription.

Renewal Grace Period

Set the number of days after the end of the subscription that the subscription will remain active for, if not yet renewed. This will only apply if a renewal has been offered or has been accepted, pending payment. It will cease to apply if the offered renewal is rejected by the member.

Renewal Reminder Period

Set the number of days in advance that the Membership Secretary should be reminded of a pending expiry that should be renewed.

Renewal Progression

Click the down arrow on the green drop-down button “+ This Category” to select the membership categories you want the subscriptions to renew into by default, put these in order of preference.

Normally subscriptions will renew into the same category as the previous one, in this case select “This Category” by clicking on the green button itself. Your choices will be displayed in order of preference:

The example above is for a Mini Junior membership category, the subscription will renew into the same category “THIS CATEGORY” for as long as possible, so that is the top preference. If the member becomes too old for the category or the category is unsuitable for any other reason (e.g. the club has discontinued the category) then the next option “Junior” will be tried. If the Junior category is unsuitable then the Student category will be tried and so on. In most cases, there would be no need to show more than two options.

Note, the options selected here are only defaults for the system to use when making automated decisions. The subscription could still renew into a different category altogether if selected by an administrator.

Don’t forget to click the blue Save Changes button at the bottom of the page when done.

Creating Renewal Subscriptions and Sending Out Renewal Offers

Understanding the Subscription States

Renewal Subscription - Lifecycle Status

In all cases, when a renewal subscription is created it is automatically put into the “Offered to member” lifecycle state. This means it has been approved by the administrator and the member is free to “Accept” or “Reject” the offer. It is marked as a renewal of the original subscription so there is a chain of subscription renewals.

The subscription status lifecycle of the renewal subscription:

Offered to member → Accepted → Active (becomes active once it has been paid and the start date has been reached)

or

Offered to member → Rejected (can be deleted)

Original Subscription - Renewal Status

Once a renewal has been created, the original subscription’s renewal status will be “Renewal Offered”. If the renewal subscription is rejected, the original subscription’s renewal status will go back to “Not Renewed”. If a member does not wish to renew the subscription it should be marked as “Not for Renewal”

The lifecycle:

Not renewed → Renewal offered → Renewal pending (renewal accepted, awaiting payment) → Renewed(renewal accepted and paid)

or

Not renewed → Renewal offered → Not renewed (if renewal rejected) → Not for renewal (this subscription should not be renewed)

or

Not renewed → Renewal offered → Not renewed (if renewal rejected) → Renewal offered (perhaps a different category) → Renewal pending (renewal accepted, awaiting payment) → Renewed (renewal accepted and paid)

Auto-Renewals

If you have auto-renewals switched on for a membership category then you need not do anything, the system will create a renewal subscription and send out the offer (by email) a fixed number of days before the current subscription is due to expire. You can still do the renewal manually, as long as you do it before the system does.

Bulk Renewals

This method is ideal if you have a seasonal* club and you want to check renewal offers before they go out. _{*This applies if your club has a fixed membership year (it might be 1st May - 30th April, say) and, as a general rule, all subscriptions end on the same date each year.}

From the menu bar go to Subscriptions > Bulk Subscription Renewals

https://<<www.ExampleClub.org.uk>>/Subscriptions/Renewal

This page shows all subscriptions that are due for renewal and the proposed renewal subscription, as suggested by myClubhouse.

Once you are happy with all the proposed renewals, you can go ahead and create them by clicking the blue button “Renew Subscriptions” at the bottom of the page.

Bulk Renewal Settings and Options

Member Search: Allows you to find a member in the page by highlighting that member in blue.

Restrict to Member List: Allows you to deal renewals for just one group of members, as defined in a Member List. Select the Member List you want to work with from the drow-down.

Due Renewals Only: check this box to show only subscriptions within their renewal reminder date, as set in the membership category.

Group by: you have the option to group the renewals by Branch, Section, Current Membership Category or Renewal Membership Category. Just click on the option you want to see and it will be highlighed in blue.

Working with the Renewals on the Page

Include/Skip: These switches allow you to work on one grouping at a time.

Click on “Include/Skip” toggle switch to show or hide the group of subscriptions. Any hidden subscriptions will not be included in the bulk renewal operation and will remain on the page.

Renew? Yes/No

Within a group, individual subscriptions can be skipped, to deal with later, by switching off in the the Renew? column.

NEVER Renew?

The NEVER Renew switch will set a subscription’s renewal status to “Do not renew”. This will only get saved when the “Renew Subscriptions” button is clicked.

Bulk Edit Dates

This button allows you to change the Start Date and End Date of all the renewals in the group.

Edit

This button allows you to change the renewal of a particular subscription. You can change the Membership Category, Dates and Costs.

Renewing Group Subscriptions

Group Subscriptions will be renewed to other group subscriptions (usually of the same category) where possible. Only the main group subscription will be shown on the bulk renewals page. To see the proposed renewal for each of the group’s slot subscriptions, click the yellow Edit button.

The group subscription renewal can be edited like any other renewal and different categories can also be selected for the slot subscriptions. You can choose not to renew a slot subscription by un-checking the Offer Renewal flag.

Worried about losing your changes?

If you navigate away from the page and come back to it during the same web browser session, your changes will have been saved. These will be lost once you sign out either deliberately or due to inactivity.

If you want to reset the page and lose your changes, just navigate away and then come back; there will be a blue alert at the top of the page with a link to reset.

Clicking the Button!

Once you have finished checking all the renewals on the Bulk Renewals page, scroll to the bottom and click the blue “Renew Subscriptions” button.

The “Are you sure?” pop up will confirm how many subscription renewals are about to be created, click Yes to say you are happy to create the renewals and send out offer emails.

Once the renewals have been generated and the offer emails have been sent, a summary page will appear.

Ad-hoc Renewals

Individual subscriptions can be renewed on an ad-hoc basis from any subscription view. If your club is non-seasonal, with subscriptions expiring on any date, you may wish to use this approach. The best way to view the subscriptions that are expiring soon is via the Subscription Manager (but the same method applies to any subscription view).

From the main menu navigate to Subscriptions > Manage Subscriptions.

https://<<www.ExampleClub.org.uk>>/Subscriptions/Admin

Click the “Expiring Soon” button to jump to that part of the page.

The subscriptions which are due to expire soon (within their renewal reminder period) will be displayed in a group.

For any given subscription, click Action > Offer Renewal.

The Offer Renewal Subscription pop-up will appear.

Here you can select the membership category, set the dates and the cost. If there is an early payment option (discount) this can also be set.

To send the renewal offer email immediately, make sure the ‘Send Notification Emails’ box is checked.

Click OK.

The renewal subscription will be created and put into the ‘Offered to Member’ state. This will be shown in the group Pending Member Action.

If you did not send the renewal offer email yet (or you wish to re-send), click Email > Renewal Offer.

The Send an Email page will open with the details completed. You have the opportunity to change the message before sending.

Member Self-Renewal

If you have enabled self-renewal on a Membership Category the member can instigate the renewal themselves.

To do this they should

Sign in to your myClubhouse site
Click on their personal menu (the one with their name) and select My Subscriptions https://www.ExampleClub.org.uk/Subscriptions/View/MySubscriptions
Click the green “Renew Subscription” button
The Renew Subscription pop-up appears
Click the Membership drop-down to select a membership category of their choice
Select any add-ons they wish to purchase
Click OK.

If your club has manual approval for that membership category then the renewal subscription will be created and set to “Pending Approval” state.

An administrator will need to approve and offer the subscription before the member can pay. The membership secretary will receive and email and can approve the subscription from Manage Subscriptions or any other subscription view.

If auto-approval is switched on the subscription will be approved and the purchase will be placed in the basket.

The member is free to purchase other subscriptions, sign up to events or buy from the club shop before paying for all items in their basket. This allows multiple items to be purchased in one go and saves on third-party transaction fees.

From the bakset, the member is free to select a payment method and click “Pay for Items” to proceed.

Editing Renewal Subscriptions and Changing Membership Category Options

What if a member wants to change membership category, or you have agreed to a shorter membership term or a different cost?

You will find all the renewal subscriptions under Subscriptions > Manage Subscriptions (or Browse Subscriptions, or by looking at a member's profile).

Type the member’s name into the Search box or click ‘Pending Member Action’ to find all the pending renewals.

The renewal susbscriptions will start off in the state “Offered to Applicant”. Find the subscription you want to change and click Action > Edit.

From the Edit Subscription pop-up you can change the category, dates and cost. There is also a checkbox to send a notification email to the member straight away. If you would rather edit what gets sent to the member, do not tick the box. You can then send a notification to the member by clicking Email > Renewal Offer; this will open up the Send an Email page with all the details filled in. You can check or edit the message before sending.

Linked Subscriptions

Subscriptions which are linked to a core subscription will be renewed by default.

Add-Ons

Mandatory add-ons (e.g. affiliation fees) will be offered for renewal, along with the core or linked subscription, by default.

Note that non-mandatory subscription add-ons are not included in the renewal offer. They can be added by the member when the member signs in and accepts the renewal offer. So only the mandatory add-ons would appear by default in any renewal offer email. If you would like to highlight the add-on options available, you should modify the renewal offer email template to show the list of add-ons and their prices:

In the default menu configuration go to Email > Auto-generated Email Editor

https://<<www.ExampleClub.org.uk>>/Mail/AutoGenerated

and search for the email with Short Name = “MEM_RENEW”. Click Edit to change the default text of the email template.

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