How does the subscription system work?
When a new member joins they create a Parent order and a recurring subscription within WooCommerce. The parent order can be paid by bank card (stripe) or direct debit (goCardless).
When the subscription is renewed (normally on 28th Dec or 1st Jan) a renewal order is created with a status of “pending-payment” and the subscription is set to “pending”. If the subscription is set to auto payment WooCommerce will attempt to take the funds by direct debit or bank card. There are 5 payment attempts an “failure” generates an email to the member to that effect. If payment cannot be taken the the renewal order is set to “failed” and the subscription is marked as “on-hold”.
Manual payments that are sent direct to the WOA bank account must be processed manually. The renewal order for the subscription is set to “completed” which marks the subscription as “active”. An active subscription gives a member the role of “woa-member” which allows access to the members only areas of the website.
Unless a member is an Honorary Life Member (HLM) a member must have an active subscription.
Members must complete their renewal by the end of January (standing orders). On the 1st of February any unpaid subscriptions can be cancelled. There is an automate-woo workflow (Cancel unpaid Subscriptions) to do this.
Every night HLM’s and members with active subscriptions are exported to the Central Register of Members (CRM). The CRM contains some extra information such as boat class and membership type which is not available in WooCommerce.
How do I send a subscription reminder?
- download the all members list from the the admin data extract
- open in excel
- Turn on data filtering
- Remove “lifetime” from the the member type drop down.
- Set not renewing to “0” in the not renewing column
- The rows displayed are your target audience.
The all members list is created nightly so there is always the possibility of not picking up a few who have paid the following morning.
How do I import Batch Subscription Orders?
Please refer to woocommerce import plugin documentation.
How do I send the Preferences/Yearbook Entry email?
Assuming that mailjet is still the WOA bulk email solution and API keys have not changed:
Firstly run this code:
https://westerly-owners.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/woacustomposts/includes/extract_pref_email.php
Which creates the required recipients in tbl_email_queue.
Then run:
https://westerly-owners.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/woacustomposts/includes/mailjet.php
to send the emails. If wording changes are required this program will need to be changed.
What’s the wording of emails sent?
How do I manage Not Renewing members?
If a member indicates that they wish to terminate membership at the end of year change their renewal method to “manual”. To do this, find their subscription, edit the billing details and set the renewal type to “manual”. No funds will be taken automatically but it still does give them the option to renew if they wish.
How do Add/Remove a ‘Boatliner’?
Find the user in the users dashboard using Membership number, Surname or email address. Add or remove them from the relevant group. For example, to make someone a Fulmar ‘Boatliner’, add them to the “Fulmar” group. The FAQ for adding Harbour Reps is more detailed.
How do I Add/Remove a Harbour Rep?
Search for the user in the All Users part of the dashboard using Membership number, Surname or email address.
Check the small radio button on the left of the users user name to select the user record.
Along the top of the User panel choose the Group in the Chose Groups drop down. Then chose an action from the Group actions drop down (eg add or remove to/from Group) then click the Apply box on the right.
First add user to the Harbour Reps Group click Apply then add user to the appropriate Harbour. For example, to make someone a “Portsmouth” Rep, add them to the “Portsmouth” group.
If the Harbour doesn’t exist on the drop down go to Groups. Click the +New Group button at the very top left of the Groups page. In the boxes that open enter the name you want to give the Harbour rep area, the name of the Parent Group which will be Harbour Reps and the area it belongs to e.g. “South Coast” in description.
The new entry appears immediately in correct place in the table of Harbour Reps using the members phone and email details.
How do I add a new Member?
Just add them through the shop in the normal way.
How do I remove access to the Members only section of the website?
Go to the users record then remove the “woamember” role.
How do I amend a members details?
Find the user in the users dashboard using Membership number, Surname or email address. Select edit and change fields as required.
How do I view subscription details
Go to Woocommerce Orders search for the Membership number you are looking for.
How do I add national/local events
Select New Event in the dashboard add the appropriate text and set the correct group in the right hand pane. You may also want to edit the home page to give the event greater prominence.
Events should always be set to ‘Registered’ to ensure they are only accessed by WOA members who are logged in to their account. Check that ‘groups read’ is set to “registered” in the top right hand box under Groups.
How do I add Supplier Marina/Adverts
Select New Advert from the dashboard add the appropriate text and set the advert type in the right hand pane.
How do I manage Adverts
Go to Classifieds in the Dashboard you can then filter by category.
How do I review Orders
Go to Dashboard, Woocommerce, Orders. If you know the order Number enter that in the search orders box and search. Otherwise enter the customer (user_login, surname or email address) and click filter. Don’t leave any text in the search orders box.
Are there any SQL queries to manage membership?
Yes there are, Look at MySQL queries.
What are Roles for?
WordPress has many built in roles like Administrator, Editor and Subscriber. WOA are only using a handful of these plus a couple of of custom roles: Administrator, woaadmin, Woamember and EntryWizard judge. Their capabilities are as follows:
Administrator: can do everything.
woaadmin: Can do everything except install/remove plugins.
Woamember: Can view the member only content. Add/update their own adverts and post their photos for the photo comp.
EntryWizard judge: Can judge the photos.
How do I declutter dashboard screens?
Dashboard screens have a “Screen options” (top right). This allows you to turn columns on/off and saved in your user profile.
What are Groups
There are a number of different groups used to group things together:
Boatline Members can be assigned to classes like “Fulmar”, “Konsort” etc
HarbourRep Members can be assigned to a harbour “Portsmouth”, “Clyde” etc.
Local Groups Members can be assigned to their local group(s) “South West”, “South Coast”, “East Coast” etc
Local Groups Admin Members can be assigned as Local Group Admin “SouthWestAdm”, “SouthCoastAdm” etc
Boatshow Volunteers Members can join/leave a volunteer group under their member details. “Southampton Boatshow”, “London Boatshow”, “I have a WOA Shirt”.
GDPR consents. Members can join/leave “Send me Emails” and “Publish me in Yearbook”
Membership Products
All membership products are tagged as “virtual” and “downloadable”. This is to ensure that, once payment has been received, the order is automatically changed to completed.
Local Group Past Events
Just include a link on the page which filters the events. Documents which appear in the filter will need to contain the keyword. See East Coast Group for example.
Email Extracts
The Bulk Email extract can be used to get a list of all members who have set their preferences to receive email mailshots.
Lapsed member Check
Membership applications where the member appears to have been a member in the past are not completed. They are held for manual review.
These are the criteria used for matching. Emails must always be different:
- Lastname, postcode and country.
- Lastname, address_1 and country
- lastname and billing_mobile_number
- Lastname and boatname
- Lastname and Sailno
How Do I add a photo comp entry to the preview screen?
In the dashboard select EntryWizard from the left hand side. Select the entry wizard form being used. Select Manage Items. Select the entries to be added using the checkbox. Select Attach photos to page in the bulk actions drop down box. Select Page destination, size Large, click Apply.
What should I check before start of the renewal process?
Check for any outlier renewal dates on admin, year end processing, check renewal dates.
How do I update the automated email to new subscribers?
You can change the text of that email from AutomateWoo > Workflows > New Subscriber > Actions. (Direct link here: https://westerly-owners.co.uk/wp-admin/post.php?post=195522&action=edit)