I've uploaded all my members into the WA database and put renewals on auto-pilot.  Some members are doing fine - others just don't get it. 

I think members would have an easier time renewing if the box said

"view profile / renew" instead of just "view profile"

Currently, they get to the "sign in page" (either the members area landing page or the home page if they have lapsed) and don't see any obvious place to go to renew.

This is a good idea. I think a way to do it is for lapsed members to prominently display some messaging and redirect to renewal after they log in. What do you think?

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Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

Sounds good on the lapsed.  The change in wording will also help those that haven't lapsed though.  People are looking for "renew" and not seeing it.  Adding it will make it more intutitive for people.

Any chance of just changing the HTML code / text to read

"View Profile / Renew"

in the next update? 

The message/redirect is not as important as that one little word.  It just is not at all intuitive for people right now . . .

Frankly, I am very doubtful this will be desirable for many clients. Renewal is a relatively rarely used aspect of profile so adding it to the link does not seem right.

I would love to hear what other users think - any opinions?

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Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

Renewal is a relatively rarely used aspect of profile

Re your statement - maybe I'm missing something, but how do people renew?  Or are you saying that most organizations don't have annual renewal periods?

The only way I can see that people can renew is to go to profile?  That is the most used aspect of profile as far as I can see, since most people are not changing addresses and other information very often.

I've gone in to the members area and added text telling people that renew is under profile.  I realize I can go into the renewal letters for every level/date period and tell people that renewal is under profile and I'll have to do that also.

When I set things up, I pretty much just used the language that was there, about signing in to renew.  I didn't realize that renewal was so hidden at the time.  When they just sign in there is nothing obvious to point them to where to go to renew - unless I'm just missing it?

I meant that profile page itself is accessed quite often - while its renewal function is only accessed once a year or so.

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Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

Well, that in itself is an argument for helping people find the renweal page - if they only use it once per year it is harder for them to remember where to look and it should be more obvious. 

I'm not sure what else people do on their profile pages.  We seem to have a relatively stable group.  Very few address changes, email changes, etc . . . .

We've been up on WA about a month and a half now??  I'm still getting emails about people not being able to get passwords (forgot password link that was recommended for people to get a password as we added them to the system), people can't get into the members areas, and people can't figure out where to go to renew.  I wish they would all shoot me screen shots.  Some of these people are rookies and others are quite pc literate. 

I just don't get it but know that everything I can do to make it more kiss means less emails I have to answer.

I went through each membership levels - 5 emails per level - and added this info -

Once you are signed in, click "view profile" in the upper right corner.  Then look for the white "renew" box part way down in the right margin.  Click on that and you can renew and pay via PayPal. 

Hopefully that will stop some of the emails . . .

I will discuss with my team - maybe what we need to do is make the member menu stand out much more after login.

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Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

member menu?

not sure what you are referring to . . .

the

"view profile"
"change password"

options in the login box?

they see this - they just don't associate viewing their profile with renewing.

Yes, we are considering a "real" menu to highlight them (and for future additions)

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Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

I agree that it would be great to have a renew function or link build into the pages.  Currently our layout on the left hand side after logging in looks like this (but they are stacked top to bottom):

 James Kerich View Profile Change Password LOGOUT

It would be great if you could have a layout like this (stacked top to bottom):

James Kerich Renew Membership View Profile Change Password LOGOUT

 

This way if someone logs in as instructed in the e-mail they receive, they will see a easy link to click on to renew their membership.  I agree with this writer that unless you know wild apricot and have worked in it for a while you will have no idea how to renew your membership just by logging in.  Obviously, both the Renew Membership and View Profile link both will go to the exact same page, but if someone is just trying to renew and they don't care about their profile, they would be totally lost with the delivered layout as I won't think to click on view profile to renew my membership. 

 

Just wanted to pass on that we came up with a solution to the RENEW issue.  We edited the Member's Only Section home page that looks like this.  As you can see we created a link in the second sentence via a "link" which when clicked will automatically transfer the individual to the member profile page.  Since this Members-only section home page is the first page they see after logging in we made it really easy for them to renew.  Just a suggestion you can use on your site:

 

Members-only section

Private website section for members

These pages are available to Members Only.  Feel free to view this valuable content at your leisure. 

Click here to renew your membership or edit your personal profile information!

 

Your comments regarding this area of the website are alway welcome.

A note for those of us that have moved the login box to the header - the member menu being discussed should not impact the height of the header!!  Anything done should fit within the existing dimensions of the box.

I completely agree with having a Renew link or button easily viewable on the site home page. This is a must have item. Burying the renew function on the profile page is a real problem. PLEASE change the HTML coding so that we can immediately have "View Profile/Renew" ... then, at the next update, please add an actual "Renew" link to the login box.

I think that a lot of the problem here is the use of the word "Profile".  This is one of those words (like "Properties") that had developed a very specific meaning to technical folk but does not have the same meaning to the rest of the world. 

The phrase "View Profile" does not say to me "Click here to manage your account". A phrase like "Manage my Account" or just "My Account" would be a big improvement.  

It would also be a big improvement if we had the ability to link to what is currently the "View Profile" area.  We could then create our own link that says "Click here to renew" and we'd jump to the user's profile. 

This would allow us to use any wording that is meaningful to our population and place the "Manage Account/Renew" instructions anywhere on our site using any wording we want. 

 

 

Gordon:

 It would also be a big improvement if we had the ability to link to what is currently the "View Profile" area.  We could then create our own link that says "Click here to renew" and we'd jump to the user's profile. 

This would allow us to use any wording that is meaningful to our population and place the "Manage Account/Renew" instructions anywhere on our site using any wording we want. 

try - http://YOUR_URL/Content/Members/MemberProfile.aspx (changing YOUR_URL to appropriate info of course)

Excellent, thank you.  I tried it first from a public page where where I was not logged in and I got an error but when linked from a member's only page after a login it works fine.