Wild Apricot includes many online self-service features for members, including the ability for members to renew their membership, change their membership level, and pay membership dues online.
For each membership level, you can provide for a membership renewal invoice to be automatically generated and emailed in advance of the renewal date.
Renewing a membership
Members can renew their membership from the membership renewal notice they received by email, or from your Wild Apricot site.
Renewing via email
Depending on how you have set up the membership level, you can provide for a membership renewal notice and invoice to be automatically emailed to the member. If the member clicks the View invoice online link within the emailed invoice, they will be able to view and pay the invoice online without logging in. This option is not available for levels with automatic recurring payments.
Renewing from your Wild Apricot site
To renew a membership or change their membership level from your Wild Apricot site, members must log in.
After a member logs in, a message will appear in the bottom right corner if the member has unpaid invoices or incomplete registrations, or if the member is lapsed, overdue, or within a week of their renewal date.
To renew or upgrade their membership, a member clicks the View profile link to jump to their member profile page. Depending on the website theme, their name may appear as the link.
From their member profiles, members can perform a variety of self-service functions, including membership renewal.
You can customize this page by modifying the Contact profile system page.
To renew their membership, the member clicks the Renew button from their Profile page. When a member is limited to renewing only one period ahead or only within a certain number of days or months before the membership expires, a notice informing the member of the next possible renewal date will appear in place of the Renew button.
The Renew button does not appear if the member's status is Pending - Renewal. This status means that a renewal invoice has been automatically generated by the system or manually generated by the administrator, or that the member has already started the renewal but has not completed the payment.
After clicking the Renew button, they will be given the opportunity to review and update their membership details. If a discount coupon was enabled for membership renewals and the current membership level, a field will appear where the member can enter the coupon code.
After clicking Update and next and confirming the renewal, members will be taken to their Invoices and payments page where they can pay for the invoice (see Member invoices and payments).
You can customize this page by modifying the Membership renewal system page.
Until the payment is made, a Balance due notification will be shown on the notification bar,
and a message will be displayed on the member profile:
Renewals can also be processed automatically if automatic recurring payments are enabled.
Changing membership level
If a member's current membership level allows level changes, an option will appear within their member profile to change their membership level.
The option is not available if the membership status is pending, or if the member has an active recurring payment profile and you are using a payment processor other than Wild Apricot Payments/AffiniPay. For information on changing levels to or from a level with recurring payments, click here. Bundle members cannot change levels unless they are first removed from their bundle, and bundle admins can change the entire bundle to another bundle level, or change to an individual level if they have no bundle members. For more information on changing bundle levels, click here.
When a member changes their membership level, the full price of the new membership term will be billed, and the next renewal date will be calculated based on new level settings and payment date. There is currently no pro-rating based on the previous membership level.
After clicking the Change membership level button, members will be presented with the list of available membership levels.
You can customize this page by modifying the Membership level change system page.
Next, they are given the chance to update their profile. If a discount coupon was enabled for member level changes and the selected membership level, a field will appear where the member can enter the coupon code.
After clicking Update and next, the member is asked to confirm the level changes.
You can customize this page by modifying the Membership renewal system page.
Members click on Confirm to add the invoice to their profile (see Member invoices and payments). After the successful online payment, the membership record will be updated with a new membership level and renewal date. Until the payment is received, notice about the level change is shown on the member's profile, along with the option to view and pay the invoice.
Changing to or from levels with recurring payments
If a member upgrades from a membership level without recurring payments to a level with recurring payments enabled, they will follow the recurring payment process as a new member would.
If a member already has an active recurring payment profile, they cannot change membership levels themselves without first canceling their recurring payments. For instructions on canceling recurring payments by members or administrators, click here.
However, an administrator can at any time change a member's membership level if they have an active recurring payment profile. If you are using PayPal Payments Standard, PayPal Payflow Pro, PayPal Express Checkout as your payment processor, you must first cancel the member's recurring subscription within PayPal then change the membership level as required.
Automatically generating membership renewal invoices
For each membership level, you can provide for a membership renewal invoice to be automatically generated and emailed to members a specific number of days before their renewal date.
To enable automatic generation of renewal invoices:
- Hover over the Members menu and select the Levels option.
- Select the level for which you want automatic generation of renewal notices.
- Click Renewal policy.
- Under Renewal reminders and actions, enter the number of days in advance of the renewal date to email the invoice.
- Check the Generate invoice and changing status to Pending - Renewal option.
- Check the Email invoice option.
- Click Save.
The membership renewal notice will be automatically generated and emailed to active members the specified number of days in advance of their renewal date. On that day, the membership status will be changed to Pending - Renewal.
A copy of the email may also be sent to administrators depending on your routing settings.
Automatic invoice generations will be added to the audit log.
Automatically voiding overdue membership renewal invoices
You can provide for membership renewal notices to be automatically voided a certain number of days after the renewal date.
To enable automatic voiding of renewal invoices:
- Hover over the Members menu and select the Levels option.
- Select the level for which you want automatic voiding of renewal notices.
- Click Renewal policy.
- Under If not renewed within x days, enter the number of days after the renewal date to void the invoice.
- Check the Void renewal invoice option.
The Change status to lapsed option is automatically enabled. - Click Save.
The membership renewal invoice will be automatically voided for members with a status of Pending - Renewal if not fully paid within the specified number of days following the renewal date. The invoice will be voided whether generated automatically or manually.
The voiding will be recorded in the audit log.
