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All About PatronPortal: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/952933
With PatronPortal, your patrons can log into your Public Ticketing Site and access Benefits such as special discounts and early access to tickets, as well as renew their subscriptions and memberships online.
PatronPortal requires special licenses to allow your patrons to log in, so there is an additional cost associated with it. This article will help you decide if PatronPortal is right for you, and show you how to get started when you're ready. We'll cover:
-
What PatronPortal is
- Including a video overview
- What patrons can do in Portal
- The special perks you can offer to patrons via Portal
- PatronPortal add-on costs
- How to launch PatronPortal
- Training options
- Managing Portal once it's enabled
- Is PatronPortal right for you?
- How to get started with Portal
Ready? Let's dive in!
What is PatronPortal?
PatronPortal is an add-on feature that enables specific patrons to log in to your Public Ticketing Site to manage their subscriptions and memberships. They can also receive automatic access to special presales or discounts you define.
Below, we'll take you through a step-by-step overview of PatronPortal functionality. Or, if you prefer watching to reading, check out this intro video:
In the above video tutorial you'll learn how to enable Portal users, access their profiles, and see what it's like to use Portal from a patron's perspective.
What can patrons do in PatronPortal?
Patrons with Portal access will log in from a link at the top right of the PTS, or you can create Portal-specific links to any page on your PTS that will prompt the patron to log in.
To see the whole experience from the patron's perspective, check out the video above or if you prefer articles with pictures, we've got a full tour of the Portal-only pages available to your patrons, which allow them to:
- Update their contact info
- View their ticket and donation history
- Renew their subscriptions and memberships
Patrons will only see the Donations tab if they have complete or soon-to-be complete donations associated with their Contact. Likewise, they'll only see the Subscription renewal or Benefit renewal tab if they have a Subscription or Benefit up for renewal.
What special perks can we offer to patrons in Portal?
Presale access
You can set up special presales linked to specific Benefit Levels, so that patrons with those Benefits can automatically buy tickets earlier than the public once they log in.
Members-only seating allocations
By linking an Access Code to a Benefit Level via Member/Passcode Access, you can open specific seating areas only to logged-in Portal users with that Benefit.
Automatically-applied discounts
You can link Discount Codes to Benefit Levels, so that patrons with those Benefits will have automatic discounts applied to specific tickets in Portal.
Limited-use discounts
Discount Codes can not only be linked to Benefit Levels, they can have a member usage limit so that they only apply to a specified number of tickets per Benefit (even if the patron purchases those tickets across separate Ticket Orders).
This is useful, for example, if you wanted to give members two free tickets to bring two friends to a show.
The option to safely store credit cards for faster payment
When purchasing tickets, logged-in patrons will have the option to store their credit card for future use.
PatronManager does not store the patron's actual credit card number - instead it's tokenized securely with the payment processor. The patron can use it for future ticket purchases, but the card details are not present or visible anywhere in PatronManager.
How much does PatronPortal cost?
The PatronPortal cost structure is broken into two components: the project (initial setup and/or bulk invitation of new users) and the annual purchase of licenses.
Setup for PatronPortal is included for new PatronManager clients as a part of their implementation.
For existing clients adding on PatronPortal, see the cost table in the Add-On Project: PatronPortal article.
This annual cost depends upon the number of licenses needed. See the cost table in the Add-On Project: PatronPortal article.
How do we launch PatronPortal?
Whether you're a new PatronManager client or a seasoned PatronManager user, the setup process is the same.
1. You'll fill out a survey with information about the experience you want to provide your patrons
Survey questions vary depending on the type of project chosen, but in general, the survey asks questions about the language you'd like to use in your email templates and on your PatronPortal site, which patrons you'd like to invite in bulk, and how many user licenses you'll need. (Fill out the survey here.)
2. We'll send a Change Order or Contract Addendum for you to sign
Once you've submitted your survey, a case will be created with our Implementation Team. We'll review your request details and draw up a Change Request (for one-time projects) or a Contract Addendum (for new user licenses) for the cost of the project.
3. We'll order your PatronPortal licenses and configure your account
Using the information provided in your survey, we'll order your Authenticated Website User licenses and configure your PatronPortal account in preparation for your launch.
4. We'll generate the list of patrons that will receive the first batch of PatronPortal invitations
At this point, we'll also ask you to remove duplicate email addresses in your Contact records for patrons you plan to invite to use PatronPortal.
Simply put: to keep things easy for your patrons.
Emails are used as default usernames, and duplicate usernames are appended with a "1" - making it difficult to remember and overall frustrating for your patrons. Here's an example.
Jim Halpert's email address, [email protected], is listed on his Contact record. His wife, Pam, also uses this email address; it's on her Contact record, as well.
When they're both invited to Portal, Jim's username is [email protected], but his wife's username is [email protected]1.
5. Finally, we'll send invitations to that list!
Your patrons will receive their username and password via email and will have access to log into PatronPortal.
6. You've launched PatronPortal!
Can I get training on PatronPortal?
To get started, we recommend watching the video tutorial at the top of this article.
If you feel that you need additional training, we recommend attending the Memberships & Benefits group training session, as this will touch on aspects of PatronPortal related to membership sales and renewals. You can view all upcoming Group Training sessions here.
- How to set up Benefits
- How to set up Memberships (using PatronManager's built-in Membership feature)
- Selling a Membership
- Applying Benefits
- Reporting on Memberships
How do I manage Portal once it's enabled?
For the most part, having Portal enabled reduces staff burden, because it allows patrons to do more things themselves! Head over to frequently asked questions about using Portal for more detail on the things mentioned below. For awareness while you're making your decision, here are some of the things you'll need to handle internally:
Managing the number of licenses you have available
You'll pay for a set number of Portal licenses, each of which allows one patron to have a unique login to your PTS. If you run out of licenses, you'll need to either purchase more, or manually deactivate some Portal users (e.g. lapsed members or subscribers).
Manually granting Portal access and Benefits to non-members
Benefits and Portal access are automatically granted if a Membership is purchased as a Ticket Order, but will need to be manually applied for Memberships processed as Donations or to give access to subscribers and/or major donors. Here's a great resource with more information on Memberships.
Setting up Portal-based discounts and/or presales
If you want to offer automatic discounts, member-limited discounts, or automatic presales/special seating access to Portal users, you'll need to be using Benefits to define which users get which perks. You'll then hook up those Benefit Levels to the appropriate Discount Codes or Member/Passcode Access.
Answering questions from your Portal users
Portal is generally self-explanatory, but you may sometimes need to assist a patron who is having trouble resetting their password, or help a renewing subscriber make changes to their renewal.
Is PatronPortal right for you? Some things to consider:
- PatronPortal is not free - you'll need to buy some additional licenses to allow patrons to log in. Check out our Add-On Project: PatronPortal article for pricing information.
- PatronPortal's main advantage is in helping to manage subscriptions and memberships, so it's most useful if you have a significant number of subscribers and members.
- You know your patrons better than anyone else, so ask yourself: would they like to be able to log in and do these things themselves?
Ready to get started?
Great! Head over to our Add-On Project: PatronPortal article and fill out the survey at the end of the article to initiate your project.
If you've been using PatronManager for a while and haven't yet transitioned to Lightning, you'll need to complete that first. Head to the Lightning Transition Guide to get started.