If you’ve been reading the updates for WP-Members 3.2, you may have noticed a number of entries regarding “membership products.” This is an exciting new feature for the plugin that has been needed for a long time and it is maturing quickly.
I avoided a big announcement when 3.2 first launched because I did not have much to talk about other than how I saw them being utilized. But as I’ve found with most other features of the plugin, it’s you the users who find new and different ways to use the plugin. So I knew the audience of users would drive how this feature would grow. Also, being new, there wasn’t a large library of example code for people to learn from – yet.
The examples are coming along. People are asking questions – as they often do – and examples are being created based on those queries. It has also led to some additional work being done in the plugin itself.
As with most new things, I do limit it initially to support subscribers. So you’ll see links to tutorial posts and the code snippet library that are limited to subscribers. If you’re not a support subscriber, please consider it. It will help you get the most out of the plugin and it’s available at a cost that breaks down to less than $5/month for basic support and less than $11/month if you get all the extensions with it. And it really is important in order to keep this plugin available.
New WooCommerce Extension
Speaking of extensions, there is a NEW extension in the works that I am really excited about. This will connect WP-Members Membership Products to WooCommerce!
Here’s a screenshot of the WooCommerce product screen. The extension will add a “Membership Access” setting to this screen. Any Membership Products you’ve created in WP-Members Memberships will be able to be linked in this setting. Because Membership Products are flexible, these can be memberships that expire or that continue until revoked. When a Membership Product is linked, the user will be able to purchase that through WooCommerce to be assigned access.
This extension will allow you to link a product in WooCommerce to a membership product so you can sell membership content using WooCommerce. Isn’t that exciting? I think so.
You may have noticed that RocketGeek.com has been using WooCommerce for the better part of a year. That’s where most of the work on this new product has been done – right here on the premium support site.
I have not yet decided exactly how this extension will be offered. It may be a basic tool available free, possibly with a more feature rich paid version, or it may just be a premium extension like the others. So while I am deciding that, I will be making it available to all subscribers with a Pro Bundle Subscription (legacy support subscribers – that includes you) in order to get some users using it (hopefully) so we can work the bugs out and possibly expand it.
If it launches as a premium extension (which is what I expect), as always it will launch at a lower price initially that will be increased in the future. Watch for that because that’s the time to get in. Pricing does not increase for existing users, so if you get in at the launch price, you’ll keep that for the life of your subscription.
So if you’re a Pro Bundle subscriber, watch for information regarding the release of the WooCommerce Connector. And if you’re not a Pro Bundle subscriber, this would be a good time to think give that consideration.