Setting Up Memberships
Explore setting up and managing membership plans – a fantastic way to give your patrons easy access to shows and classes while creating steady, predictable revenue for your theatre.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Explore setting up and managing membership plans – a fantastic way to give your patrons easy access to shows and classes while creating steady, predictable revenue for your theatre.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Think of memberships as your theatre's version of Netflix or Spotify - recurring subscription plans that give your patrons awesome benefits, mainly free access to tagged shows and classes. This feature doesn't just help your bottom line - it transforms your whole business model:
Create predictable, recurring revenue (goodbye, feast-or-famine ticket sales!)
Build serious patron loyalty and community connection
Boost attendance at your events (even those typically harder-to-fill slots)
Make life easier for your regular attendees (no more "Do I want to pay for this show?" decisions)
Memberships is part of our special Booster Features collection - revenue-accelerating tools we've designed as crowd pleasers that your audience and your bottom line will love!
Completely optional - activate only what works for you
Easily managed right from your Dashboard
Built based on feedback from theatres like yours
Using this booster adds a 1% fee (aka 5¢ on a $5 ticket) to all transactions when active. This fee is applied following your existing fee settings (passed on to customers by default) and helps fund our ongoing development of powerful tools like these intended to grow your theatre and community.
When you activate the Memberships booster:
A 1% fee applies to all transactions (not just membership-related ones)
You can turn it off anytime, but deactivation will terminate all active membership plans
Members would need to sign up again if you later reactivate the feature
To start offering memberships:
Navigate to the Memberships section in your Dashboard menu
Click the teal Activate Memberships button
Review the information in the popup
Confirm by clicking Activate Memberships
After activating memberships, you'll need to create at least one membership tier:
Go to Memberships → Manage Tiers in your Dashboard
Click the + Create New Membership Tier button
Complete the membership tier form:
Name: What you want to call this membership level (e.g., "Monthly Access Pass," "Comedy Club Membership")
Description: Details about what's included in the membership (supports rich text formatting)
Cadence: The billing frequency. This determines how long a membership term lasts and how often members are charged (day, week, month, year) 🕳️ By default, all memberships auto-renew at the end of the term.
Price: The amount charged per billing period
Event Access: Select which shows or classes are included in this membership:
Begin typing to search for specific shows, classes, or tags
You can select individual events or entire tags to include
The more events you include, the more value your membership offers
Click Save to create the membership tier
One Free Ticket Per Date: Members can redeem one free ticket for each tagged event per date (for example, if a show has both a 7pm and 9pm performance on the same day, the membership allows entry to one of those performances, not both)
Unlimited Different Events: No limits on how many different tagged events a member can attend per billing period
Public Events: Memberships work with public events through tagging
Unlisted Events Option: For "members-only" events, create unlisted events and share links only with members
Initial charge occurs immediately when a patron signs up
Renewals happen on the same calendar date each period (e.g., signup on the 5th = bill on the 5th of each month)
Renewals are processed around 11am Central Time daily
Payment failures trigger an automatic retry sequence:
First retry after 24 hours
Second retry after another 24 hours
Final retry after an additional 24 hours
Membership is deactivated if all attempts fail
To view and manage individual member subscriptions:
Navigate to Memberships → Members in your Dashboard
Search for specific members using the search field
Click on a member to view their details
From the member details page, you can:
Pause Membership: Temporarily suspends benefits and shifts renewal date forward
Cancel Membership: Terminates membership at end of paid period
View Membership History: See past renewals and changes
Temporarily suspends access to benefits
Shifts renewal date forward by the same number of days paused
Member can still reactivate their membership
No immediate charges upon reactivation, follows normal billing cycle
Terminates membership at the end of the paid period
Access remains until end of current paid period
Cannot be reactivated (new signup required)
Membership revenue appears in your Square Dashboard alongside other sales. You can identify membership transactions by:
Logging into your Square Dashboard
Navigating to the Sales section
Looking for transactions labeled as "Membership"
Value Calculation: Price memberships so they feel like a steal! If tickets are $15 and members might attend 2 shows per month, price around $25-30. They save money, you get reliable income - win-win!
Psychological Pricing: Set price points where members feel they "break even" after 2-3 events. Once they've hit that point, every additional show feels completely free, which encourages more attendance
Create specific tags for membership-eligible events
Consider creating different tags for different membership tiers
Use descriptive tag names to help you identify membership content
Clearly explain membership benefits on your Public page
Send welcome emails to new members explaining how to use their membership
Remind members of upcoming events that are included in their membership
Currently, the Memberships feature has a few limitations we're planning to address in future updates:
No redemption limits per period (e.g., "5 shows per month")
No automatic upgrade/downgrade between tiers
No dedicated "members-only" event type
No way to edit membership details for existing members
Limited automated notifications for members
⭐️ Help Us Build the Next Version! ⭐️
We see our theatre partners as collaborators in developing CrowdWork features. As you use Memberships, please share what's working well and what would make it even better for your specific venue. Your real-world experience will directly shape our development priorities. We're especially interested in hearing about what membership features would help you grow your community and revenue.
These limitations don't stop Memberships from being an effective revenue generator, but we're committed to making the tool even more powerful based on your feedback.
Q: Can members book multiple tickets for the same show? A: No, members can only redeem one free ticket per date for tagged events. If a show has multiple performances on the same day, they can only get free entry to one of those performances, not both.
Q: How do members redeem their free tickets? A: Members still "purchase" tickets through the normal checkout process, but their price shows as $0 for eligible events.
Q: Can we limit how many shows a member can attend per month? A: In the current version, there are no redemption limits per period. Members can attend as many different tagged events as they wish.
Q: Do we need to set up special shows for members? A: No special setup is needed beyond tagging events correctly. For members-only events, you can use unlisted events and share links only with members.
Q: What happens if we deactivate the Memberships feature? A: All existing memberships will be immediately terminated (not paused), and members will need to sign up again if you reactivate the feature.
Q: Can members switch between different membership tiers? A: There's no switching needed! Your patrons can subscribe to as many different membership types as they want. If they want to move from one tier to another, they can simply cancel the current one and sign up for a different tier. Or they might want multiple memberships simultaneously - our system is designed for flexibility, allowing you to create exactly the program that works for your community.
⭐️ We Want Your Input! ⭐️
This is Version 1.0 of our Memberships tool, currently offering unlimited access during membership terms. We'd love to hear what you want next! More granular controls? Different redemption limits? Members-only events? Your feedback will directly shape upcoming enhancements, so please share your ideas and experiences with our support team.
Need help setting up your membership program? for assistance customizing your membership offerings.