> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.crowdwork.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-memberships.md). # 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. {% hint style="warning" %} **Are you a student or ticketholder? Check out our** [**Member's Guide to Memberships**](/for-ticket-holders/members-guide-to-memberships.md)**.** **The following guide is for venue administrators and managers** who need to create and configure memberships for their events. {% endhint %} ## What Are Memberships? Think of memberships as your theatre's version of Netflix or Spotify - subscription plans that give your patrons awesome benefits, mainly free or discounted 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) * Offer season passes, festival badges, or VIP access programs {% hint style="success" %} **✨ Special Feature** **Memberships** is one of our **Special Features** — powerful tools to grow your revenue and deepen patron loyalty. These features are completely optional. When enabled, each one adds a 1% fee to all transactions. If your theatre passes fees on to customers (the default setting), your patrons cover that 1% on ticket and class sales. Fees on the membership purchases and renewals themselves are different: your theatre always pays those, whatever your fee setting, so build them into your membership prices. [Read more about Special Feature pricing >](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setup-your-theatre-account/understanding-crowdwork-fees#special-features) {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} **First time running a membership or subscription program?** Check out our [Quick Start Guide](/the-academy/crowdwork-academy/memberships-quick-start-guide.md) for simple setup steps, common questions and popular membership models to get you started quickly. {% endhint %} ## Memberships Feature Details When you activate the Memberships feature: * A 1% fee is added to all transactions, not just membership-related ones. If your theatre passes fees on to customers (the default setting), patrons cover that 1% on ticket and class sales. On membership purchases and renewals your theatre pays it, along with the other fees — see [Understanding Membership Fees & Pricing](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-memberships#understanding-membership-fees-and-pricing). * You can turn it off anytime, but deactivating **immediately cancels every membership** — members lose their benefits right away, even mid-period, and are not emailed about it — and **pauses every membership tier** * Reactivating restores neither: members have to sign up again, and each tier stays paused until you open it and click **Activate Tier** ## Activating Memberships To start offering memberships: 1. Navigate to the **Memberships** section in your Dashboard menu 2. Click the teal **Activate Memberships** button 3. Review the information in the popup 4. Confirm by clicking **Activate Memberships** {% hint style="info" %} **Square theatres: don't see the Activate Memberships button?** Memberships need permission to save customer cards in Square. If the page shows **Additional Square Permissions Needed**, click **Reconnect Square Account** and approve the new permissions, then come back — the **Activate Memberships** and **+ Create New Membership Tier** buttons appear once they're granted. {% endhint %}
## Creating Membership Tiers After activating memberships, you'll need to create at least one membership tier: 1. Go to **Memberships** → [**Manage Tiers**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/memberships/tiers) in your Dashboard 2. Click the [**+ Create New Membership Tier**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/memberships/tiers/new) button 3. Complete the membership tier form: ### Membership Tier Form Fields * **Tier Name**: What you want to call this membership level (e.g., "Monthly Access Pass," "Comedy Club Membership," "Season Pass") * **Tier Description** *(optional)*: Details about what's included in the membership (supports rich text formatting). This is the **public** description — it's what patrons read on your membership page before they buy. {% hint style="info" %} **Need help with the description field?** See [Using the Rich Text Editor](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/using-the-rich-text-editor) for formatting tips. The Membership Tier Description is for formatted text. {% endhint %} * **Confirmation Email Details** *(optional)*: Details that go **only** into the membership confirmation and renewal emails — never onto the public page. This is the membership equivalent of the Confirmation Email field on a show or class: use it for the things a member needs *after* they join rather than the pitch that persuaded them to. Supports rich text formatting. [See what these emails contain »](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-memberships#what-members-receive-by-email) * **Tier Image** *(optional)*: An image for this tier, shown on the membership page. * **Renewal Cadence**: The billing frequency. Choose from: * **Daily**: Renews every day (great for festivals or short-term events) * **Weekly**: Renews every week * **Monthly**: Renews every month (most common) * **Yearly**: Renews every year (ideal for season passes) * **Once**: One-time charge with no recurring billing (perfect for season tickets, festival badges, or single-purchase access passes) * **Tier Cost**: The amount charged per billing period (can be set to $0.00 for free memberships) {% hint style="warning" %} ***Factor any fee costs into your membership pricing when setting your price.*** **Fees are always absorbed on membership purchases.** Regardless of your theatre's fee settings, transaction fees on all membership transactions are never passed on to the patron. This ensures members are always charged a predictable, consistent amount each billing cycle. {% endhint %} * **Select Show or Class**: What the membership covers. Pick whole events, tags, individual ticket tiers, *All Shows*/*All Classes*, or an **"Any tier named…"** rule that keeps covering events you create later. [See Choosing What a Membership Covers >](#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) * **Exclude Specific Events or Tiers** *(optional)*: Carve something back out of what you just included — a show, a class, a tag, one ticket tier, or a tier name. [See Choosing What a Membership Covers >](#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) * **Member Benefit**: What members receive on the admissions your tier covers. Choose from: * **Free Admission**: members claim covered admissions at $0 — the classic membership behavior, and the default * **Percent Off**: members pay a reduced price — a set percentage off each covered admission * **Dollars Off**: members pay a reduced price — a set dollar amount off each covered admission * **Benefit Amount**: Appears once you choose Percent Off or Dollars Off. Enter the percent (like 20%) or the dollar amount (like $5) that comes off each covered admission. * **Max Uses per Renewal** *(optional)*: How many *different showtimes* a member can claim per billing period. Leave blank for unlimited. [See how the two limits differ >](#how-often-a-member-can-claim-the-benefit) * **Password** *(optional)*: Set a password requirement to enroll in this membership tier (useful for VIP or exclusive memberships) * **Admissions per Use** *(optional)*: How many admissions receive the member benefit *at a single showtime*. Defaults to 1 — raise it when a membership should cover a member plus a guest, or a whole household. [See how the two limits differ >](#how-often-a-member-can-claim-the-benefit) 4. Click **Save Group** to create the membership tier *** ## Choosing What a Membership Covers Coverage is the part of a membership tier worth slowing down for. It is built in two steps, and the second step is what makes precise offers possible: 1. **Include** — in the **Select Show or Class** field, add everything the membership should cover. 2. **Exclude** *(optional)* — in the **Exclude Specific Events or Tiers** field, carve pieces back out. CrowdWork assembles everything in the first field, then removes everything in the second. You can leave the second field empty; most simple memberships do. ### The five ways to include coverage Click the **Select Show or Class** field and type to search. Options are grouped, and you can mix as many as you like: * **By Type** — *All Shows* or *All Classes*. Covers everything of that type, including events you create later. * **A whole event** — shown as *Event Name - All Tiers*. Covers every ticket tier on that one event. * **One ticket tier of one event** — shown as *Event Name - Tier Name ($Price)*. Covers only that price point on that one event. * **A** [**tag**](/for-theatres/tags.md) — covers every event carrying that tag, including events you tag later. * **Dynamic Tier Names** — shown as *Any tier named "General Admission" (12 tiers)*. Covers every ticket tier with that name across your whole account, on events that exist now *and* events you create later. This is the one that does the most work for the least maintenance. An event with a single ticket tier appears as one plain entry rather than an *All Tiers* row plus a tier row — there is nothing to choose between. ### "Any tier named…" — the rule that covers events you haven't created yet Most theatres reuse the same tier names on every event: every show sells a *General Admission*, a *Student*, a *VIP*. Picking those tiers one event at a time means hundreds of clicks, and the list goes stale the moment you add next month's shows. An **Any tier named "…"** option saves the *name* instead of the list. Every time a member checks out, CrowdWork looks at that event's ticket tiers and applies the membership to any tier carrying that name. Add a show six months from now with a *General Admission* tier and it is covered the day you create it — no edit to the membership. {% hint style="warning" %} **It matches the whole name, not a keyword inside it.** *Any tier named "General Admission"* matches a tier called *General Admission*, *general admission*, or *General Admission* with stray spaces around it — capitalization and surrounding whitespace are ignored. It does **not** match *General Admission + Featured Cocktail*, *General Admission (Late Show)*, or any other longer name. Those are separate names, and each has its own *Any tier named…* option in the list. That is usually exactly what you want — it is how a membership covers the plain seat and leaves the upgrade to be paid for. But if you expected a partial match, this is where the surprise lives. {% endhint %} The number in each option — *(12 tiers)* — is how many ticket tiers carry that name in your account **today**. An option reading *(no tiers currently)* is a rule you saved earlier whose name no longer matches anything; it stays in the list so a saved selection never silently disappears, and it will start matching again if you create a tier with that name. ### Select all by keyword — a shortcut, not a rule Under the **Select Show or Class** picker is a **Select all by keyword** box with a **Select All Matches** button. It is easy to mistake for the tier-name rule above; it is a different tool. Type a word and it filters the list you are looking at, matching that text *anywhere* in an option's label. Click **Select All Matches** and every currently matching option is added to your selection at once. The line underneath reports how many options match and how many aren't selected yet. {% hint style="warning" %} **The keyword box matches loosely — check what it grabbed.** Because it matches any part of an option's label, typing `General Admission` selects the *Any tier named "General Admission"* rule **and** the *Any tier named "General Admission + Featured Cocktail"* rule, plus every individual *Event Name - General Admission* tier, plus any event whose own name happens to contain those words. That is the fast way to build broad coverage, and the easy way to cover something you meant to leave out. After clicking **Select All Matches**, read back the chips in the field and remove anything you didn't intend. {% endhint %} ### The coverage line — check this before you save As you build a selection, a line under the field reports what it actually resolves to: *"Currently covers 34 ticket tiers across 12 events."* When a tier-name rule is part of the selection it adds *"Tier-name rules keep applying to events you add later."* If nothing matches, it says so plainly: *"This selection doesn't match any ticket tiers right now."* The count updates as you add and remove items in both fields, so it reflects your exclusions too. It counts your **current** events — a tier-name rule will go on covering events beyond that count as you create them, which is what the extra sentence is telling you. {% hint style="success" %} **✨ A rule that quietly matches nothing is the failure worth catching.** If you name a tier slightly differently from how it is spelled on your events, the membership will simply never apply and nothing will look broken. A glance at this line before saving catches it. {% endhint %} ### Excluding events and tiers — two different effects The **Exclude Specific Events or Tiers** field takes shows, classes, tags, individual ticket tiers, and *Any tier named…* rules. What an exclusion *does* depends on which kind you pick: * **Exclude an event or a tag** → the membership stops applying to those events entirely. Use this for "all our shows except this one benefit night." * **Exclude a ticket tier or a tier name** → the membership still applies to the event; it just won't cover that tier. Members claim their benefit on the other tiers and pay full price for the excluded one. {% hint style="info" %} **To exclude a tier everywhere, exclude the tier \_name**\_\*\* — not the individual tier.\*\* Excluding *Event Name - VIP ($40)* excludes the VIP tier **on that one event only**. Excluding *Any tier named "VIP"* excludes it across every event that has one, including events you create later. When you want a standing rule, pick the **Any tier named…** option in the exclude field. {% endhint %} ### Common coverage setups **Members get into everything.** Include *All Shows* (and *All Classes* if you want both). Leave the exclude field empty. **Members get the standard seat, but pay for the upgrade.** Say every show sells a *General Admission* tier and a *General Admission + Featured Cocktail* tier, and the cocktail should never be free. Two ways to set it up, both durable: * **Include only what you want covered** — put *Any tier named "General Admission"* in the include field and nothing in the exclude field. The membership covers general admission on every event that sells it, now and in future, and touches nothing else. * **Include broadly, then carve out** — put *All Shows* in the include field and *Any tier named "General Admission + Featured Cocktail"* in the exclude field. Members get every other tier and pay for the cocktail. Better when new tier names appear often and you'd rather cover them by default. **A membership for one series or festival.** [Tag](/for-theatres/tags.md) the events, then include the tag. Anything you tag later joins automatically. **A members-only night at a member price.** Include the single event, set **Member Benefit** to *Percent Off* or *Dollars Off*, and members see the reduced price at checkout instead of $0. ### Editing coverage later Coverage is re-evaluated at checkout, not frozen at signup. Editing a tier's included or excluded selections changes what **current** members can claim from that moment on. Price changes behave differently — they only apply to members who enroll after the edit. *** ## How Often a Member Can Claim the Benefit Two fields sound similar and do different jobs. Setting the wrong one is one of the easier mistakes to make here. * **Admissions per Use** — how many admissions get the benefit **at a single showtime**. Defaults to 1. Set it to 2 for a member-plus-guest membership, or 4 for a household pass. * **Max Uses per Renewal** — how many **different showtimes** a member can claim in a billing period. Blank means unlimited. A flex pass good for five shows a month is `5`. They stack: *Admissions per Use* = 2 with *Max Uses per Renewal* = 5 gives a member five outings a month with a guest on each — up to ten admissions, but never more than two at any one showtime. {% hint style="info" %} **"Showtime" means one specific date \_and**\_\*\* time.\*\* If a show runs at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM on the same day, those are two separate showtimes. A member with the default settings can claim one admission at the 7:00 PM and one at the 9:00 PM — and each one counts separately against **Max Uses per Renewal**. If you want a run capped by day rather than by performance, program it as a single showtime. {% endhint %} Two more behaviors worth knowing, both automatic: * **The benefit goes to the most expensive eligible seats first.** If a member's cart holds more covered admissions than their allotment, CrowdWork applies the benefit to the highest-priced ones and charges normally for the rest — the member always gets the best outcome available to them. * **Only one membership applies per checkout.** A patron can hold as many memberships at your theatre as they like. At checkout CrowdWork uses the single one that saves them the most on that order rather than combining them. {% hint style="info" %} **A use is only spent when the benefit is actually worth something.** If a covered admission is already free, or a *Dollars Off* benefit has nothing to come off, no use is consumed. Members don't burn a flex-pass slot on a $0 seat. Membership benefits do not apply to [bundle](/for-theatres/setting-up-bundles.md) purchases. {% endhint %} *** ## Membership Types & Use Cases ### Recurring Memberships Perfect for ongoing access to your regular programming: * **Monthly Comedy Pass**: $25/month for unlimited access to all comedy shows * **Class Membership**: $50/month for unlimited access to all classes * **VIP Membership**: $75/month for priority seating and member-only events ### One-Time Memberships Great for special situations where recurring billing doesn't make sense: * **Season Pass**: One-time $150 payment for access to entire 6-month season * **Festival Badge**: One-time $40 payment for weekend festival access * **Workshop Series**: One-time $200 payment for 8-week intensive course ### Free Memberships Useful for building community or offering special access: * **Student Membership**: Free tier for students (password protected) * **Volunteer Access**: Free membership for your volunteers * **Patreon Supporter Access**: Free tier for existing Patreon supporters * **Performer & Cast Comp Access**: Free membership for cast, crew, and performers to reserve their own complimentary seats each run {% hint style="info" %} **Using memberships to manage comps?** Free memberships are one of the most efficient ways to handle recurring complimentary tickets — patrons self-serve without any admin effort on your end. [See the full guide to issuing complimentary tickets.](/for-theatres/issuing-comps.md) {% endhint %} ### Limited-Use Memberships When creating your Membership Tier, use the **Max Uses per Renewal** setting to control access frequency while maintaining value. Common campaigns include: * **Flex Pass**: $30/month for up to 5 shows * **Date Night Pass**: $40/month for up to 2 shows * **Premium Access**: $60/month for up to 10 events plus merch or concessions *** ## Understanding Membership Fees & Pricing ### How Membership Fees Work Unlike regular ticket sales, membership transactions do not follow your theatre's fee settings. Even if your fee settings are configured to pass fees on to customers, membership fees are always absorbed by the theatre rather than passed to the member. This design choice exists for several important reasons: * **Subscription model psychology**: Hidden fees on memberships feel deceptive to customers who expect one clear price * **Competitive positioning**: Most subscription services (Netflix, Spotify, gym memberships) show one all-inclusive price * **Processing complexity**: Recurring billing with variable fees creates reconciliation and accounting complications * **Customer experience**: It's much cleaner to say "membership is $30/month" rather than "$30/month + processing fees" ### Pricing Strategy When setting your membership prices, we recommend building processing fees into your tier pricing. For example, if you want to net $30 after fees, price your membership at about $33 (not $35, which overshoots by about $2) to account for the absorbed fees. A $33 membership nets about $30.41; anything under $32.57 nets less than $30. The fees themselves are a $1 flat fee, a 1% Special Feature fee for Memberships, and standard credit card processing (2.9% + $0.30) — together roughly 8% of the price on a $30–35 tier. If Gift Cards is also active, add another 1%. ## How Memberships Work ### Key Features * **One Admission Per Showtime**: By default, a member's benefit applies to one admission at each covered showtime. A show playing at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM on the same day is two showtimes, and a member can claim at each. Raise **Admissions per Use** to cover more than one seat at a showtime * **Free or Discounted**: A tier can give free admission, a percentage off, or a dollar amount off — set with **Member Benefit** * **Tier-Level Coverage**: Include or exclude individual ticket tiers — or every tier sharing a name, across events you haven't created yet — so a membership can cover a standard seat while leaving a premium or add-on tier for members to pay for. [See Choosing What a Membership Covers >](#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) * **Usage Limits**: Cap how many different showtimes a member can claim per renewal period with **Max Uses per Renewal** * **Password Protection**: Restrict membership enrollment with passwords * **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 ### Member Login Requirement Members must be logged in to their CrowdWork account when purchasing tickets for their membership benefits to apply automatically. When logged in, covered events show their member price during checkout — $0 on a Free Admission tier, or the reduced price on a Percent Off or Dollars Off tier. A few limits worth knowing: * Benefits apply to **online checkout only**. Sales rung up in the POS app don't apply a membership. * Benefits don't apply to **pay-what-you-want** events or to [bundle](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-bundles) purchases. * To **enroll**, a patron must be logged in with a **confirmed email address**. Until they confirm it, the membership page shows a **Confirm Email** button where **Enroll** would be. ### Billing & Renewal * Initial charge occurs immediately when a patron signs up * **Recurring memberships**: Renewals happen on the same calendar date each period (e.g., signup on the 5th = bill on the 5th of each month) * **One-time memberships**: No renewal charges - access continues based on event eligibility * Renewals are processed once a day at 16:00 UTC — 11am Central during daylight saving time, 10am Central in winter * When a renewal payment fails for a recurring membership: * A renewal gets up to **three** payment attempts in total, and the member is emailed when an attempt fails * A declined card does **not** fall back to a second card. The card assigned to the membership is the card that is charged — a saved card under another heading is never tried automatically. The one exception: if that card has been **removed** from the member's saved cards, the charge goes to another card they still have saved with your payment processor * After the third failed attempt the membership status is set to **Canceled**. This is not a temporary hold, and nothing restores it automatically — the member has to sign up again once their card is sorted out {% hint style="warning" %} ***Factor any fee costs into your membership pricing when setting your price.*** **Fees are always absorbed on membership purchases.** Regardless of your theatre's fee settings, transaction fees on all membership transactions are never passed on to the patron. This ensures members are always charged a predictable, consistent amount each billing cycle. {% endhint %} ### Password-Protected Memberships When you set a password for a membership tier: * The tier is **hidden** from the list on your public membership page — patrons don't see it until they enter the password * A password box appears on that page whenever you have at least one active password-protected tier; entering the right password reveals the tier * Someone who follows a direct link to the tier sees *"This membership is password protected"* and is asked for the password before they can view the details or enroll * Useful for exclusive access programs, student discounts, or VIP memberships ### Discount Codes for Memberships You can offer discount codes for membership tiers: 1. Create discount codes in your **Discount Codes** section 2. When selecting events to apply the discount to, your membership tiers will appear as options 3. Discount code fields automatically appear on your membership page when active codes exist 4. Great for promotional campaigns, existing supporters, or special offers {% hint style="info" %} **Important:** Discount codes applied to a membership tier discount the **membership purchase itself** — the **signup** charge only; renewals are charged at the member's regular membership price. They also do not give members an ongoing discount on individual ticket purchases. Members receive their benefit on the events the tier covers simply by logging in and checking out — $0 on a Free Admission tier, or the reduced price on a Percent Off or Dollars Off tier. To give members a break on events the tier *doesn't* cover, create a separate discount code and share it with your members directly. {% endhint %} ### Season Ticket Considerations For traditional season ticket programs where patrons expect one ticket per production (not per occurrence), use the Max Uses feature. For example, if you have a 5-show season, set Max Uses to 5 — each member gets five admissions to use across the season. ## What Members Receive by Email Three membership emails go out automatically. They're built in — there's nothing to schedule or switch on: * **"You're now a member of {tier} for {theatre}!"** — sent the moment someone joins, and it doubles as their receipt. * **"Your membership has been renewed!"** — sent each time a recurring membership renews successfully. * **"Reminder: {tier} renewal is coming up!"** — sent ahead of a renewal, so nobody is surprised by the charge. ### Three places the wording comes from Two of those three emails carry copy you write: the **welcome email** and the **renewal confirmation**. What a member reads in them is assembled from up to three fields, and it helps to know which is which before you write any of them: * **Tier Description** — your *public* sales copy. It appears on the membership page and is what persuades someone to join. * **Confirmation Email Details** *(per tier)* — email-only. Never shown publicly. This is where the practical, after-you-join information belongs: how to claim the benefit, what to bring, who to contact. * **Global Membership Description** *(theatre-wide)* — set once in **Theatre Settings** and added to *every* membership: on your public membership page, and in the welcome and renewal-confirmation emails. Ideal for the things that never change: refund policy, parking, house rules. [See Customizing Your Theatre Settings »](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/customizing-your-theatre-settings) The third email — the **upcoming-renewal reminder** — is a fixed notice. None of these three fields appear in it, so anything a member needs before a renewal charge has to reach them another way. {% hint style="info" %} **Write the confirmation details as a follow-up, not a repeat.** The welcome email still includes your public **Tier Description** as well, so anything you put in Confirmation Email Details lands *in addition to* the sales pitch, not instead of it. Keep the two doing different jobs. (The renewal confirmation does not repeat the public description — it carries only the two fields above.) If you set up your memberships before the Confirmation Email Details field existed and packed the practical instructions into your public description, it is worth a pass through your tiers now. {% endhint %} ### The automatic Upcoming Events list All three emails include an **Upcoming Events** section that CrowdWork builds for you. It comes last in the welcome email and the renewal reminder; in the renewal confirmation your own copy follows it. It shows **up to three** events that are active, still have a future date, and are covered by that member's tier — including events covered by a tag, by an *All Shows* or *All Classes* tier, or by an "Any tier named…" rule, not just ones you attached by hand. Each entry carries the event's poster image, its name, the opening line or so of its description, and a **View Event** button. Two things worth knowing about it: * **It's automatic** — CrowdWork lists the soonest upcoming events the member's tier covers, earliest first. If a tier has no upcoming events at all, the section simply doesn't appear. * **It reflects your coverage rules, so it is a useful check on them.** If a member tells you an email advertised something their membership doesn't actually cover — or left out something it does — that is your tier's coverage talking, not the email. [See Choosing What a Membership Covers »](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-memberships#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) {% hint style="warning" %} Because the list is built from live event data, an event's **own** description is what members see quoted in the email. A description that opens with internal notes or a wall of logistics will read badly there — the first line or so is the part that travels. {% endhint %} *** ## Managing Individual Memberships To view and manage individual member subscriptions: 1. Navigate to **Memberships** → [**Members**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/memberships) in your Dashboard 2. Find the member in the table. It lists every membership with its **Membership Name**, **Member**, **Enrolled** date, **Renews On** date and **Status** — click any column heading to sort by it 3. Click the **•••** menu at the end of the member's row to change the membership: * **Mark Paused**: Suspends the member's benefits until you mark it active again, and moves the renewal date forward by the length of the pause * **Mark Active**: Reactivates a paused membership * **Cancel Membership**: Ends the membership — see **Pausing vs. Cancelling** below for when access stops Clicking the membership name opens that tier's settings; clicking the member's name opens their Customer profile. ### Tracking Member Activity Since members "purchase" tickets even when using their membership benefits, their activity appears in your regular dashboard sections: * [**Orders**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/orders): Membership-based ticket purchases show here — as $0 orders on a Free Admission tier, or at the reduced price on a Percent Off or Dollars Off tier * [**Tickets**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/tickets): Individual ticket records for shows * [**Registrations**](https://crowdwork.com/dashboard/registrations): Individual registration records for classes This allows you to track member attendance and engagement using the same tools you use for regular ticket holders. ## Pausing vs. Cancelling ### **Pause Functionality**: * Temporarily suspends access to benefits * Shifts the renewal date forward by the length of the pause — a membership that renewed on the 1st and was paused for five days renews on the 6th from then on (a one-time membership has no renewal date to move) * Only your team can pause a membership or reactivate it with **Mark Active**. Members who want a break contact you; their own account offers **Cancel** * No membership charge is taken while paused, and none on reactivation — billing picks up on the shifted schedule ### **Cancel Functionality**: * **Recurring memberships:** no further renewal charges, and access remains until the end of the current paid period * **One-time memberships:** access ends **immediately** — there is no paid period left to run out * Cannot be reactivated (new signup required) * When **you** cancel from the Members page, the confirmation reads: "If you cancel, your membership will remain active until the end of your current billing period. After that, you'll lose access to the current membership features. *This action cannot be undone.*" (That wording describes recurring memberships; a cancelled one-time membership ends right away.) * When **members** cancel from their own account, they see only: "Are you sure you want to cancel this membership? This action cannot be undone." ### **Refunds** * By default, there are no prorated refunds when memberships are cancelled * If you want to issue a refund as a theatre admin, find the transaction and click the refund button * For detailed refund procedures, see the Issuing Refunds guide ## Tracking Membership Revenue Membership revenue appears in your payment processor's dashboard — Square or Stripe, whichever your theatre uses — alongside other sales. You can identify membership transactions by: 1. Logging in to your Square or Stripe dashboard 2. Opening its sales or payments list 3. Looking for transactions labeled as "Membership" The [Membership Value report](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/reports-and-analytics/membership-value-report) in your Dashboard gives you the same picture without leaving CrowdWork. ## Best Practices for Memberships ### Pricing Strategy * **Recurring Value Calculation**: Price recurring 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! * **One-Time Value**: For season passes or festival badges, price below what individual tickets would cost for the full season — if you're not sure where to start, try 20–30% off the full-season total * **Free Tier Benefits**: Use free memberships to build community and convert casual attendees into regular supporters * **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 * **Account for Fees**: Remember to build processing fees into your membership pricing since they're absorbed by the theatre ### Membership Program Design * **Limited Use Strategy**: Offer tiers with usage limits (like "5 shows per month") to create urgency and encourage regular attendance * **Password Protection**: Use passwords for exclusive tiers, student discounts, or special promotions * **Mixed Offerings**: Consider offering both unlimited and limited memberships to appeal to different patron types ### Tag Management * 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 ### Communication * Clearly explain membership benefits on your Public page * Send welcome emails to new members explaining how to use their membership * Every membership email already ends with an automatic **Upcoming Events** list, so you don't need to assemble one by hand — see [What Members Receive by Email](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/setting-up-memberships#what-members-receive-by-email). Use your own sends for what that block can't cover: a fourth event, a members-only night, or a nudge about benefits going unused * For limited-use memberships, let members know how many uses they have remaining * Remind members to log in when purchasing tickets to receive their benefits ## FAQs for Theatre Administrators **Q: Can members book multiple tickets for the same show?**\ A: By default a member's benefit applies to one admission at each covered showtime. A showtime is a specific date *and* time, so a show playing twice in one evening gives a member a claim at each performance. Raise **Admissions per Use** on the tier when you want the benefit to cover more than one seat at a single showtime — that's how you build a member-plus-guest or household membership. **Q: How do members redeem their benefit?**\ A: Members must be logged in to their CrowdWork account and still "purchase" tickets through the normal checkout process. On covered events the price shows as $0 on a Free Admission tier, or already reduced on a Percent Off or Dollars Off tier. **Q: Can we limit how many shows a member can attend per month?**\ A: Yes! Use the **Max Uses per Renewal** field when creating a membership tier. Leave it blank for unlimited access, or set a number like `5`. It counts *different showtimes* — a member who brings a guest to one performance has used one of their five, not two. [More on the two limits >](#how-often-a-member-can-claim-the-benefit) **Q: Can a membership cover one ticket tier but not another?**\ A: Yes, and there are two ways to do it. Either include only the tier you want covered — pick *Any tier named "General Admission"* in **Select Show or Class** — or include the show broadly and put the tier you want left out in **Exclude Specific Events or Tiers**. Choosing the *Any tier named…* option in either field makes the rule stand for events you create later too; choosing one event's individual tier applies only to that event. [Full walkthrough >](#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) **Q: Can members get a discount instead of free admission?**\ A: Yes. Set **Member Benefit** to *Percent Off* or *Dollars Off* and enter a **Benefit Amount**. Members then pay a reduced price on covered events rather than $0 — useful when free entry is more than you want to give on a premium tier but you still want members to feel the value. **Q: Can a membership cover more than one seat at a showtime?**\ A: Yes — raise **Admissions per Use** above its default of 1. That is how you build a membership covering a member plus a guest, or a whole household. **Q: Will a membership cover shows we haven't created yet?**\ A: Yes, if you set it up that way. *All Shows*, *All Classes*, a [tag](/for-theatres/tags.md), and any *Any tier named "…"* rule all keep applying to events you add later. Picking individual events or individual ticket tiers covers only what existed when you saved. [More on tier-name rules >](#choosing-what-a-membership-covers) **Q: A member holds two of our memberships. Do they stack?**\ A: No — at checkout CrowdWork applies the single membership that saves them the most on that order. Patrons can hold as many of your memberships as they like; they just won't combine on one purchase. **Q: Can we offer free memberships?**\ A: Absolutely! Set the price to $0.00 when creating a membership tier. This is great for student memberships, volunteer access, or building community engagement. **Q: How do one-time memberships work?**\ A: Select "Once" as the cadence when creating the tier. Members pay once and keep the benefit on whatever the tier covers for as long as the membership stays active — it has no end date of its own, so change the tier's coverage or cancel the memberships when the season or festival is over. Cancelling a one-time membership ends its access immediately. **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: Every membership is **canceled immediately** (not paused) — members lose their benefits at once, even partway through a paid period, and CrowdWork does not email them about it. Every membership tier is also set to **paused**. Reactivating the feature restores neither: members have to sign up again, and each tier needs **Activate Tier** clicked on its settings page before patrons can see it. If you're thinking of turning Memberships off, tell your members first. **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. **Q: How do password-protected memberships work?**\ A: Set a password when creating the tier. The tier is hidden from your public membership list, and a password box appears on that page whenever you have an active password-protected tier. Entering the password reveals the tier; a direct link to it asks for the password first. Anyone with the password can enroll in that specific tier. **Q: Can we offer discounts on memberships?**\ A: Yes! Create discount codes in your Discount Codes section and select your membership tiers when choosing what the discount applies to. The discount code field appears on your membership page when active codes exist. A code discounts the signup charge only — renewals are charged the member's regular price. **Q: Why don't membership fees follow our theatre's fee settings?**\ A: Membership transactions always absorb fees rather than passing them to customers. This creates a cleaner subscription experience and matches how most subscription services work. Build any necessary fee costs into your membership pricing. **Q: Can members pay with Apple Pay?**\ A: Memberships are paid by credit or debit card, including at a Square theatre where Apple Pay appears at ticket checkout. A membership renews on a schedule, and those later charges need a card saved on file. The same applies to payment plans. See [Apple Pay at Checkout](/for-theatres/setup-your-theatre-account/connecting-your-square-account.md#apple-pay-at-checkout) for where it is offered. **Need help setting up your membership program?** [Contact our support team](/contacting-support.md#for-theatre-owners-and-administrators) for assistance customizing your membership offerings. {% hint style="info" %} **Just getting started?** Our [Quick Start Guide](/the-academy/crowdwork-academy/memberships-quick-start-guide.md) walks you through simple setup steps and popular membership models. {% endhint %}