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How to Set Up Member Renewal Reminders: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1958925
You've had a look at how member renewal reminders work, and you're ready to get started. That's great! In this article, we'll show you how to:
Depending on the complexity of your membership program, this could be as quick as 30 minutes or so, but it really depends. Don't worry, you can pause as needed along the way.
Ready? Let's jump in!
1. First things first: map out your reminders
Before you start building, sketch out the details so you know exactly what you'll need to set up. Here are the things you'll want to consider:
1.1. How many reminders?
You can send up to three reminders to each member, each scheduled for a number of days before or after their membership expires. Reminders will automatically stop sending once a member renews!
For example, you could send a "heads up, your membership expires soon" message 30 days ahead, a more detailed reminder 14 days ahead, and a final "did you forget to renew?" message 7 days after the expiration date.
1.2. What information should your email templates include?
You can pull in merge fields for things like the member's name, the name of their membership level, and their expiration date. You'll define other details (like the text of the reminder message, any images, and the call to action) directly in the template.
Now is a great time to draft up that messaging and gather any images.
1.3. Should different membership levels be handled differently?
You can customize the reminder schedule (how many reminders and the timeline for each) by Benefit Level.
Perhaps you'd like your top-tier members to receive one automatic reminder and follow up with a personal phone call if they don't take action, while you'd rather automate a full set of three reminders for your lower-tier members.
Email templates are also customizable by Benefit Level, so you can use completely different language if appropriate, or use the same template for multiple member levels.
2. Got your plan? Let's create those email templates!
Make sure you have the language you drafted up handy, as well as any images.
2.1. Head to Membership Setup via the PatronTicket Hub or the App Launcher
2.2. Click into "Membership Communications Templates"
2.3. Click "New Template" in the Renewal Reminders tab
2.4. Name and build your template
The template builder is the same one used for other kinds of Automated Communications, like pre- and post-show emails and digital membership card delivery.
If this process is new to you, you can read all about building Automated Communications Templates here.
2.5. Don't forget about merge fields!
While editing text fields, you can click the "Merge tags" option in the text editing pane to open a list of available merge fields. The list you'll see in these templates is specifically designed for your membership needs:
3. Templates done? Time to schedule those reminders!
Refer back to the plan you made in Step 1, and let's get scheduling.
3.1. Back on the Membership Setup tab, click on "Benefit Level"
3.2. Click into a Benefit Level
Pro tip: if you don't see all your levels here, try changing the view dropdown at the top of the page to "All" instead of the default of "Recently Viewed"!
3.3. Click "Edit"
3.4. Set your reminder schedule and templates
In the Membership Renewal Reminders section, you'll find three sets of fields - one set for each of the three reminders you can define.
In this example, we're going to set just one reminder, 30 days before the membership expires. We'll do that like this:
- In the "Schedule" field, enter a number of days
- To the right of that field, choose whether that's the number of days "Before" or "After" the expiration date
- In the "Template" field, select your email template
Repeat as needed to set up to three renewal reminders for this Benefit Level.
3.5. Save!
Once you've saved, the page will show exactly what's going to happen for each reminder:
3.6. Repeat this process as needed for each Benefit Level
Since reminder schedules and templates can vary by Benefit Level, you'll need to set this up separately for each one - even if you plan to use the same schedule and template for all of them.
That's it, you're done!
For more details about what happens next, how to suppress reminders for a particular member, and more, head back to our All About Member Renewal Reminders article.