WP eMember Archives - WordPress Membership

Manually Activating Expired Members Account

The plugin normally runs in an automated fashion and updates the member profiles when accounts are renewed. It also has a daily check which expires any account that has run its course. However, sometimes you may want to manually activate a member’s account that has expired. The following documentation explains how to do it correctly.

The expiry of a member’s account is controlled by the membership level assigned to that member. When you want to manually activate an expired account, you need to pay attention to the following two items from the member’s profile:

The membership level assigned to the member.
The “Subscription Starts” date set in the member’s profile.

Check the “Subscription Duration” value of the membership level in question and then do the following according to the access duration.

1) No Expiry Access Duration

If the membership level of the member has “No Expiry or Until Cancelled” duration, then you can just change the account status to “Active” and save the profile.

2) Expire After an Interval

If the membership level of the member has “Expire After an Interval” duration, then update the “Subscription Starts” date value in the member’s profile to the current date so the plugin doesn’t think that the membership has run its course and revert it back to expired.

So edit the member’s profile then change the account status to “Active” and update the “Subscription Starts” date to current date then save the profile.

3) Expire After a Fixed Date

If the membership level of the member has a “Expire After a Fixed Date” duration, then check to make sure the current date is not past that expiry date already.

Past the expiry date – then changing the account status to “active” won’t help since the membership level is still expired. You may want to switch the member to a new membership level in this case.
Expiry date is still in the future – then you can just change the account status to “Active” and save the profile.

eMember Two-Factor Authentication Addon

The WP eMember Two-Factor Authentication Addon gives admin the ability to further secure their membership site. To prevent hackers from accessing a members sensitive information, the Two-Factor Authentication Addon requires an additional security login measure.

When the addon has been enabled on an WP eMember site, each member will require their correct username, password and email code to login. While this additional email code step may take a minute longer within the login process, it ultimately protects your member’s information.

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-Factor Authentication Adds an Additional Security Measure to Your Membership Site.

Two-Factor Authentication, also referred to as two-step verification or abbreviated as ‘2FA’ is a security measure put in place to prevent hackers accessing a users personal information. This security measure requires users to enter two different authentication factors that only they should have access to.

Why Should I Implement a Two-Factor Authentication System on my Membership Site?

A membership site often contains sensitive member information. This information may be in the form of a members medical records, address, phone number, pictures or other private documents. In the wrong hands this information can be detrimental for the member. As admin of a membership site, the first priority should be the security of your members.

Adding a two-factor authentication system ensures:

The process to hack a members account is difficult
If a hacker works out a member’s password they still cannot gain access to the site
Members have peace of mind that their information is secure

How Does the Two-Factor Authentication Differ from the Single-Factor Authentication?

In terms of the WP eMember Plugin, a general member account always requires single-factor authentication. This is in the form of a secure password. Single-factor authentication means you only have to provide one form of evidence to confirm you are the legitimate member.

If you use the Two-Factor Authentication Addon and the eMember Plugin together, your users will need to provide their password and a secondary security measure in the form of a unique email code.

While the eMember Two-Factor Authentication Addon works by requiring the correct username, password and email code for member access, two-factor authentication methods used in other scenarios can include:

Finger print authentication
Facial/voice recognition
Unique Mobile phone codes

When is Two-Factor Authentication Implemented?

No matter what site you are running, where a login is required we always suggest two-factor authentication. The following sites should predominately sport two-factor authentications:

Banking websites
Social media sites
Membership sites
Government sites

Configuring Two-Factor Authentication for eMember

Ensure you have installed and activated the eMember Two-Factor Authentication Addon.
A new menu titled Two-Factor Authentication will be displayed below WP eMember.
Within the Two-Factor Authentication menu, mark the checkbox to enable this feature on your site.
Ensure the From Email Address is correct. The from email should include your site’s domain name eg ‘[email protected]‘.
Customize the Email Subject if you choose.
Customize the Email Body if needed. Do not change the text within the braces/brackets {}. This is the code that your member will need to retrieve from their email to log into your site. These codes are randomly generated meaning codes always differ.
Click the Update button.
Create a new ‘test’ member. Attempt to login as that member. Ensure that the email code is sent successfully to the ‘test’ member.

How can my Members Login with the Two-Factor Authentication

The section below will outline how your members can login to your site when the Two-Factor Authentication Addon is enabled. The process is simple and ensures security of each members profile and information.

Step 1) A new member registers on your site and enters a valid email address.

Step 2) The member will need to enter their correct Username and Password on the login page followed by clicking the Login button.

Step 3) If the correct Username and Password were supplied, the member will be prompted to enter the unique code sent to their email address.

Step 4) An automated email is sent to the members email address that contains their first name and their login code. This is a random ‘6’ digit code.

Step 5) The member will need to copy the code from the plugin email and paste it into the required login field.

Step 5) If the correct code is entered the member will gain access to the site.

Get the 2FA Addon

The price of this addon is $29

Please contact us to purchase this addon.

How to Bulk Update Member’s Start Date and Membership Level with WP eMember

A feature of the eMember Plugin allows admin to bulk update their member’s start date and membership level. This tool is useful if you have many members that need to have their accounts updated or changed.

The Bulk Update Admin Functions are useful if you intend to run an upgrade promotion on your website or need to cease a number of member accounts.

When you use these functions keep in mind the changes will apply to all the members that belong to the chosen membership level.

Locating the Bulk Update Tools

The bulk update tools can be found by:

Clicking the Admin Functions menu under WP eMember.
Selecting the Bulk Operation tab.
Choosing which Bulk Operation function you would like to use (instructions of each tool can be found below).

Types of Bulk Operation Tools for the eMember Plugin

Bulk Update Subscription Start Date of Members

The subscription start date of a member is set to the day the user registers.

If for any reason you need to alter the date your user’s membership commenced, you can use this section to do so.

You can manually set a new subscription start date of all members who belong to a particular level with the click of a couple of buttons.

Select the level that the members belong to.
Choose the date that their membership should now commence. You may choose an earlier date if you wish to cease the members access, while choosing a later date will allow them further access to the site.
Click the Bulk Change Subscription Start Date button.
All members that belong to the level you chose from the drop-down menu will now have a new member start date. This new member start date will be visible in the member’s profile.

Bulk Update Membership Level of Members

You can manually change the membership level of any member by editing their record from the members menu. This is great if you only have a couple of members you wish to update.

If you find that you need to update all members within a specific level you can use the Bulk Update Member Level Tool.

For instance, you could be offering a deal where all members are upgraded free of charge. This bulk update option would allow you to make those changes in a couple of seconds.

Select the current membership level of the members that you wish to update. Note that all members within this level will be updated.
Select which level these members will be updated to. This may be an upgrade or downgrade depending on the circumstances.
Click the Bulk Change Membership Level button.
All the members from the chosen level will now be updated to the new level.

Bulk Update Auto Upgrade Starts Date of Members

The auto upgrade starts date of a member is set to the day the user registers (or the day they pay for a new membership level). You can manually set a specific date of all members who belong to a particular level using the following option.

Select the level of the members that you wish to change the auto upgrade start date of.
Enter the new auto upgrade start date for the members.
Click the Bulk Change Auto Upgrade Start Date button.
The members that belong to the chosen level will now have a new auto upgrade start date.

A Successful Bulk Update

Once you complete a bulk member update, if the process has been successful you will receive a message at the top of the screen similar to the one below.

In the case of this example, all members of the Gold level had their subscription start date updated to the 20th of September 2018. This is now reflected in the profile of each of the Gold members (displayed in the screenshot below).

WP eMember Miscellaneous CSS Tweaks

You can add the CSS tweaks to the following interface of your site (or any other option your theme may have to insert CSS tweaks):

Appearance -> Customize -> Additional CSS

Login Form Related

Add the following CSS tweak to hide the Join Us link in the membership login form widget:

#wp_emember_loginForm .register_link{
display: none;
}

Add the following CSS tweak to hide the Forgot Password link in the membership login form widget:

#wp_emember_loginForm #forgot_pass{
display: none;
}

Add the following CSS tweak to hide the Remember Me checkbox in the membership login form widget:

#wp_emember_loginForm .eMember_remember_me{
display: none;
}

Add the following CSS tweak to center align the member login form on the login page:

.wp_emember_loginForm {
    margin-right: auto;
    margin-left: auto;
}

Registration Form Related

Larger Font Size (Registration Form)

Add the following CSS tweak to make the font-size larger in the membership registration form:

#wp_emember_regoForm {
  font-size: 22px;
}

Larger Font Size for Only the Text Input Fields (Registration Form)

Add the following CSS tweak to target only the text input fields of the registration form and make the font-size larger:

#wp_emember_regoForm input[type="text"] {
  font-size: 22px;
}

Hide the Membership Level Field on the Registration Form

Add the following CSS tweak to target the membership level field of the registration form and hide it:

#wp_emember_regoForm #wp_emember_member_level {
  display: none;
}

How to View Members Whose Accounts have Expired or Will Expire Shortly Using eMember

Using eMember you can view all your members whose account will shortly expire and those members whose account has recently expired. This feature gives you the ability to gather all members in question who you can then notify to renew their membership. Often notifying your members will prompt them to renew their membership if they are enjoying their current subscription.

viewing-member-list-emember

Locating the ‘Display Member’ Feature

Click on WP eMember and then on the Members menu.
Click on the Member Lists tab.
You will see two different features within this tab. One will display a list of members who are Soon to Expire and the other will display a list of members who have Recently Expired.

Viewing Soon to Expire Members

In the Display Soon to Expire Member List field, enter the number of days prior to member expiry. For example, if you wish to see all members who have 30 days left of their membership you would enter ‘30′ in this field. Once you have entered a numeral click the Display Soon to Expire List button.

Viewing Recently Expired Members

In the Display Recently Expired Member List field, enter the number of days since a members account has expired. For example, if you wish to see all members whose account expired less than 30 days ago, you would enter ‘30′ in this field. Once you have entered a numeral click the Display Recently Expired List button.

How to Offer Your Customers a Free Trial Period

A trial period allows your customers to view protected content on your site for free. The time frame of the trial period is entirely up to you, some opting to create a trial period that lasts a few days, while others wish to offer their customers a trial that lasts a few weeks. A free trial period allows your customers to test run the membership you offer without having to pay.

This documentation will outline the two ways to offer a free trial period to your customers:

Option 1: Providing your customers with a free period prior to charging them for a membership (using a subscription button)
Option 2: Offering a trial period for free with no further cost (customers will have to choose to sign up as a paid member)

Why Offer a Trial Period?

Offering a trial period to your customers allows them to get a taste of what having a paid membership would be like. If your customers like the content you are providing in their trial period, it will entice them to sign up for a paid membership.

Option 1: Creating a Free Period Prior to a Subscription Membership

This option allows you to offer a free trial period attached to a subscription membership. For example, I would like to offer my customers 2 weeks free before recurring payments are deducted from their PayPal account.

Create a ‘Membership Level’ for the subscription you will offer (more details on creating a membership level here). You may wish to title this membership level ‘Gold Subscriber’ or ‘Silver Subscriber’.
Now that you have created your membership level, click on the ‘Payments’ menu under the ‘WP eMember’ plugin.
Select the ‘Create New Button’ tab. Choose the ‘PayPal Subscription’ option.
Give the button a title and select the membership level you created from the drop down menu.
Enter in your PayPal email address and choose the billing cycle and count you would like to associate with this subscription. This billing cycle will begin after the free trial period has ended.
Under the ‘Trial Billing Details’ section is where you will enter in the details that relate to the ‘free trial period’. For a free trial period, enter ‘0’ in the ‘Trial Billing Amount’ field.
In the ‘Trial Billing Period’ field, enter in the length of the trial period you will offer (for example, 10 days). Your customers will not be charged for this period.
‘Save Payment Data’.

trial-billing-period-wp-emember

You can now use the button shortcode to embed this payment button on a post or page. You will need to explain the terms of this subscription on the page above or below the subscription button (see example below).

Customers who proceed to checkout with PayPal will see ‘terms’ similar to the example below:

diamond-member-subscriber

Option 2: Offering One Standalone Free Trial

Offering a standalone free membership means you will give your customers free access to your website for a set amount of time. This option does not include charging your customers after the free membership ends. Free trial customers will need to return to your site and then purchase a paid membership.

Create a membership level. You may wish to title this membership level: Free Trial Membership.
In the ‘Subscription Duration’ section of the ‘Membership Level’ decide on the length of the free trial you will offer your customers. For this example, I will set my membership level expiry to 14 days. This means after 14 days my customers will no longer have access to my website.
Take note of the level ID of the free trial level.
Click on the ‘Settings‘ menu of ‘WP eMember’.
Check the ‘Allow Free Membership‘ field.
In the ‘Free Membership Level ID‘ field, enter in the ID of your free trial period.
You can now use the standard registration page (that is generated on installation of this plugin) to offer the free trial period to your customers. They will be able to register for free and their account will expire after the time you have set in the ‘Subscription Duration’ field.

free-trial-period-emember

Amazon S3 Secure Downloads for Members (Using eMember and eStore)

The following video explains how you can do Amazon S3 downloads for members using WP eStore and WP eMember plugins.

Video Tutorial

Summary Steps

Below is a quick summary of the steps involved to set it up:

Step 1) First, configure eStore’s amazon s3 integration with a product.

Step 2) Use the following shortcode on a page for the eStore product in question so a user can click on the download link to download the item via secure amazon s3 download.

[wp_eStore_download_now_button id=1]

1 is the Product ID of the product in this example.

Put as many download now buttons as you want (for different products) on a page.

Step 3) Now, use eMember’s protection settings to protect this post/page in question. So only members who have access to that page can view the “download now” button and use it to download the items from your amazon s3 account.

eMember Alternative Post/Page Protection Addon

The default content protection of the WP eMember plugin will work on most posts/pages and custom post types. However, there are some plugins out there that do not trigger the standard WordPress filters for their content. The default protection will fail on those posts/pages since the eMember plugin can’t hook in there using the standard method. This is when the “eMember Alternative Protection” addon will come in handy. This addon uses a completely different method to still protect those posts/pages.

This method of protection will work good if you are using a page builder type plugin or theme and the standard eMember protection is not working there.

Installing the Addon

You can install this addon the same way you install any WordPress plugin:

Go to the “Add New” plugins screen in your WordPress admin area
Click the “upload” tab
Browse for the addon file (emember-alternative-protection.zip)
Click “Install Now” and then activate the plugin

Addon Usage

Step 1) Click on the “Alternative Protection” menu link from the main eMember plugin’s admin menu.

Step 2) Check the options as you need then save the settings. You basically specify which type of posts you want this addon to handle (so this addon can apply the protection using the alternative mmethod instead of emember’s standard protection method).

emember-alternative-protection-addon-settings

When this addon is active and you have enabled the settings, a protected post/page will apply content protection like the following example:

emember-alternative-protection-example

Showing the Header and Footer with the Protection Message

There is an option in the settings of this addon to show the protection message with the site header and footer. Your theme must support WordPress’s standard get_header() and get_footer() functions for this option to work.

Get This Addon

The price of this addon is $29.

Please contact us to get this addon.

Giving Other WordPress User Roles Access to Your WP eMember Admin Dashboard

Your WP eMember plugin’s admin dashboard is only accessible to WP Admin users by default. There is an option in the plugin that you can use to give other WP User roles (example: editor, author etc.) access to the eMember plugin’s admin dashboard.

Enabling Dashboard Access for Other WordPress User Roles

Step 1) Go to the “Admin Functions” menu of the plugin.

Step 2) Scroll down to the “eMember Admin Dashboard Acess Permission” section.

Step 3) Select the desired role and save the permission.

emember-admin-dashboard-access-permission-setup

WP users with and above that selected user role will now have access to the dashboard.