How do I create a membership? Step-by-step please.

[mikesclub]

I’m struggling with this one. 

I want to offer my customers an option to buy a membership in our club. 

I’ve tried creating an item of the type "membership", and I’ve also tried setting up a subscription, but I’m now thoroughly confused. Both seem to offer parts of what I need, but neither seems to do it all. 

So here are my problems:

1. I don’t have an online store (like Weebly), but I do want to put the link to buy the membership on my website. 

2. Memberships shouldn’t have a "quantity" or in-stock element. When I created a test subscription, that option keeps appearing on the order form, and it just confuses my customers. You would never order multiple subscriptions of a magazine, so why would it be offered on a Square subscription? The same issue comes up when I create a membership-type item. When I click on the link to that item, it shows "out of stock". Should I just set the item quantity to a million? Or can I fix this another way? 

3. I’d like to give my customers the option to choose how many months to pay for. When I created a membership-type item, it let me create variations, like 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc. But I had to create a separate link for each variation. How do I create a single link to an order form that lets the customer choose the variation?

4. If I go the subscription route, I think Square collects the user's information, and I think I can even create custom fields on the order form. Will this information be available to me, so that I can manage my subscribers? How about if I just offer a membership-type item? Can I still collect customer information, like name, email, and phone numbers? This is important because, if a member walks into my physical store, I still need to be able to identify them as a member. 

5. Whichever way I go, can I still sell a membership item or a subscription through the POS at my physical store? Many of my customers are older and don’t use the internet. And some don’t have credit cards. I need to be able to sell both through the link and in person. 

6. Finally, should I use both the membership-type item and the subscription function? The best I can figure out, they are not designed to be used together. 

So, in summary, how to I sell memberships, both online and in person, that allows my customers to be automatically charged each month, and which provides me with the information I need to manage my membership rolls? 

[DammiAdservices]

1. can set it to a very high number if your system requires a quantity. Alternatively, you can adjust the settings or descriptions to clarify that only one membership is allowed per customer.

2. Offering different membership durations: You can create variations within the item for different membership durations, as you've mentioned. However, instead of creating separate links for each variation, you can create a single link that leads to a customizable Square Checkout page where customers can select their desired duration.

3. Collecting customer information: With Square subscriptions, you can collect customer information such as name, email, and phone number during the checkout process. This information will be available to you for managing your subscribers. Similarly, if you offer a membership-type item, you can collect customer information during the checkout process.

4. Selling memberships through POS: Yes, you can sell memberships both through the link and in person at your physical store using Square's POS system. You can manually input the membership sale into the POS system for customers who prefer to purchase in person.

5. Using membership-type item and subscription function together: It might be redundant to use both the membership-type item and the subscription function simultaneously. You can choose one method that best suits your needs and streamline your process.

To summarize, you can create a custom link on your website that directs customers to a Square Checkout page where they can purchase memberships for different durations. You can collect customer information during the checkout process, and you can also sell memberships in person through Square's POS system. Choose the method that aligns best with your workflow and customer preferences.

[mikesclub]

Lot's of good information here. Thank you! Now I have a few more questions:

I've decided to use the membership-type item. 

You suggested that I adjust the settings to clarify that only one item is allowed per person. What I want to do is eliminate the quantity selector completely. You can see the selector at the bottom of my screenshot here:

I am 100% sure that this selector will confuse my customers, and someone will accidentally select a higher number, thinking they buying a multi-month membership. Is there any way to make this selector just not appear? If someone accidentally chooses this, I will end up with a difficult customer relations mess.

Also, I don't see any option for automatic recurring payments. If someone buys a membership, will they be billed automatically at the appropriate time? For example, if they buy a 1 month membership, will they. be billed again after one month? Or if they buy the 3 months variation, will they be billed again after 3 months?

If there's no automatic recurring billing, then would I be better to use the subscription option?

I have to get this right the first time. If I have hundreds of members being billed incorrectly, it will be an expensive disaster.. 

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Hi Mikesclub,

The Community is quite an interesting place - we all have unique requirements and try to figure out how to use Square for our needs.  Many people here are quite creative knowing that Square is not a one size fits all application.  As you discovered, there are features of Square that fit your needs and there are other features that probably don't work the way you want them to.  We've learned that through experience.

Bottom line, you may want to consider a 3rd party App that can manage your membership challenge and also work with Square.  This one may or may not meet your needs but, worth checking out.   For someone here to sit down and try to figure out your particular needs and provide the advice you're looking may be a bit beyond the scope of this community and may require some custom work that only a Developer can provide - that's why a 3rd party App may be something to consider.  Just thinking out loud of course. 

Maybe some other volunteer Community Members have some thoughts to help you move forward.

[Submatic]

Hi @mikesclub, I work with a lot of Square businesses to manage memberships via my company Submatic. 

Here's our Square app store listing: https://squareup.com/ca/en/app-marketplace/app/submatic

We can help streamline all the things that you are describing. If you are open to having a quick conversation I'd be glad to tell you more and help you figure out if we could be a good fit for your business.  You can email me at hello@submatic.io or alternatively submit your info on this page https://submatic.io/request-a-demo

Thanks!

Dan @ Submatic