Question
Answer and Explanation
Selling memberships on Shopify to gate access to your website requires a combination of Shopify Apps and possibly custom development depending on the complexity you need. Here's a breakdown of how you can achieve this:
1. Choose a Membership App:
- Shopify doesn't offer native membership functionality, so you'll need an app from the Shopify App Store. Some popular options include:
- Bold Memberships: Offers robust features for recurring subscriptions, member management, and content gating.
- MemberSpace: Provides a comprehensive membership solution, allowing you to gate content and offer different membership levels.
- PayWhirl: Specializes in subscriptions and recurring billing, useful if you offer membership plans.
- Shopify's own Subscriptions API: If you are technically advanced or have developers available, you can create your own custom solution using Shopify's Subscription API.
2. Set Up Your Membership Tiers/Products:
- After installing the app, create different membership levels or products within the app's interface. These tiers will determine what content members can access.
3. Configure Content Gating:
- Most membership apps provide ways to specify which pages, posts, or parts of your website are accessible to members. This usually involves:
- Tagging Pages: Assign tags or categories to content that's only for members.
- Redirecting Non-members: If someone who's not logged in tries to access member-only content, the app will redirect them to a login or sign-up page.
- Using Shortcodes or JavaScript Snippets: Some apps use shortcodes or JavaScript to detect membership status and display content accordingly.
4. User Authentication:
- The app will handle user registration, login, and membership status checks. This usually includes:
- Member Portals: Allow users to manage their memberships, upgrade, downgrade or cancel subscriptions.
- Integration with Shopify Accounts: Some apps might integrate with existing Shopify customer accounts.
5. Considerations for External Websites:
- If the website you want to gate is not on Shopify, you’ll need to use an app that supports custom domains or integrate your website via an API.
- API Integration: You might need to integrate the membership app's API with your website's authentication system. You would typically verify membership status against the Shopify API when a user tries to access restricted content.
- Webhooks: Use webhooks to stay in sync if memberships are changed in Shopify, which can be useful for managing member status in real-time.
6. Custom Development (If Needed):
- For complex setups, you might need to hire a developer to customize the membership app or your website's logic for access control. This could involve creating custom webhooks or coding custom functions to gate content.
7. Testing:
- Always test your membership setup thoroughly: create dummy members, test different membership levels, check redirects, and ensure that only members have access to restricted content. Check on desktop and mobile environments.
In summary, selling memberships for website access on Shopify involves using a membership app, configuring your products or tiers, setting up content gating, and potentially adding custom code to integrate with an external website. Make sure to test everything before going live.