Make the Most of Your WordPress Membership Plugin with Automator

WordPress membership plugins can help you design user profile pages, restrict content and create unique members-only spaces on your website. But if you really want your members to stand in the spotlight, short of getting them tickets to the Academy Awards, your membership plugin is going to need some help.

Enter, stage right: Uncanny Automator. Automator can help you make the most of your WordPress membership plugin to grow your membership, lower your churn rate and make your members feel like gold—Oscar gold.

Cast the Right Membership Plugin

Picking the right WordPress membership plugin for your website is like casting the right actor for the lead role in a major Hollywood production. The production of Membership Impossible: WordPress Protocol. You could go with Katherine Hepburn, but maybe you need an action star who can do their own stunts. Alternatively, Charlie Chaplin is available—but his salary is half of your casting budget.

We’ve already compiled a list of the best WordPress membership plugins to turn any website into a box office (read: internet) smash but you can find some suggestions here as well.

WooCommerce Memberships + Subscriptions

WooCommerce Memberships + Subscriptions is a chameleon of a membership plugin—it can take on just about any role. If you need a plugin that is versatile—and that won’t cost more than a CGI battle scene with dragons and dinosaurs—then we recommend casting WooCommerce.

In one of our automations below, we show you how to improve your free trial conversions with WooCommerce Subscriptions and MailPoet. Believe us, there won’t be a dry eye in the audience.

Ultimate Member

Star power is overrated—unless we’re talking about The Rock. Then it’s perfectly warranted. But no film set (or WordPress website) would be complete without a very strong supporting cast. That’s where Ultimate Member shines brightest. Working silently—but very terribly efficiently—in the background, Ultimate Member is likely to steal the show.

In the second automation below, we show you how to connect Ultimate Member to Google Sheets so that you can keep track of your members’ data and never let them fade into the background.

LearnDash

Whoever said that there was nothing glamorous about e-learning never used LearnDash. This learning management system (LMS) can turn your WordPress website into the Hollywood of e-learning (or the Harvard of the internet).

In the third automation below, we show you how to connect LearnDash to Zoom Webinars. Get ready to put on some Emmy-winning webinars.

Restrict Content Pro

There’s really nothing like a captive audience with an appreciation for great acting… or digital content. Restrict Content Pro allows you to create tiered membership levels with varying degrees of access to your premium content. Keep it all behind the velvet rope or draw the curtains and let the masses in.

In the last automation below, we show you how to connect Restrict Content Pro to Slack so that your members stay tuned throughout your riveting performance.

Connect WooCommerce Subscriptions to MailPoet

Free trials are kind of like auditions for your membership website. And while most membership plugins can definitely help you to book those auditions, they’ll need the help of Automator to land the starring role. This recipe helps you connect WooCommerce Subscriptions to MailPoet so that you can follow up with your free trial participants.

Step 1: Configure Your Free Trial

WooCommerce Subscriptions allows you to create free trials for your subscription products within the Classic Editor.

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Products > Add New and configure your subscription product as desired. Under General in the Product data panel, you can set your free trial period. We’ve set ours to 30 days.

Step 2: Create a New Recipe

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Add New. In the pop-up window that appears, select Logged-in users and click Confirm.

Step 3: Name Your Recipe

Come with a name for your recipe that makes it easy to recognize at a glance. We’ve named this recipe WooCommerce-MailPoet: Free Trial Mailing List.

Step 4: Configure Your Trigger

In the Triggers panel, click WooCommerce. From the drop-down list, select A user subscribes to a product. Automator will prompt you to select your subscription product. When you’re finished, click Save.

Step 5: Configure Your Action(s)

In the Actions panel, click Add action. From the menu of available integrations, click MailPoet.

From the drop-down list that appears, select Add the user to a list.

Automator will prompt you to select a mailing list. We have a mailing list named Unsubscribed Free Trial Participants. Additionally, depending on your privacy policy and terms of service, you can choose to add the user to the list without sending a confirmation email.

Once you’ve selected your mailing list, click Save. Your action should look something like this:

Next, we want to ensure that only users who have unsubscribed from the free trial end up on this mailing list. To do this, we’ll use Automator’s filter and delay features.

Hover over the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the action and click Delay.

A pop-up window will appear where you can set your delay or schedule a time for the action to fire. Given that we have a 30-day free trial, we won’t want to add trial participants to this mailing list until after their trial has expired (i.e. 31 days). Once you’ve configured your delay, click Set delay.

Now, we’ll add the filter so that only users who haven’t renewed their subscription after the free trial will be added to the mailing list. Once again, hover over the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the action and click Filter.

A pop-up window will appear where you can set your filter conditions. Navigate to WooCommerce > The user does not have an active subscription to a specific product.

Automator will then prompt you to select the subscription product. When you’re finished click Save filter. With the delay and the filter, your action should look something like this:

Step 6: Go Live and Land that Role!

You nailed the audition with the free trial but your customers just need a gentle reminder of how great you are. In the Recipe box, toggle your recipe from Draft to Live and wait for that call-back!

If you really want to make sure that you land the role, add another action to notify your sales team via Slack so they can put together a beautiful little monologue to really knock the socks off your trial participants.

Connect Ultimate Member to Google Sheets

Call sheets keep film sets organized—and they can do the same for your WordPress membership website. With this automation, we’ll show you how to connect Ultimate Member to Google Sheets so that you can store, manipulate and analyze valuable member data. Keep your production on schedule and on budget with this recipe.

Step 1: Configure Your Google Sheet

From your Google account, create a new spreadsheet. Depending on the member data you want to sync to your spreadsheet, name the first cell of each column. We’ve decided to collect First Name, Last Name, Username, Role and Date of Registration.

Step 2: Connect Google Sheets to Automator

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Settings. Click the Premium Integrations tab then select Google Sheets. Finally, click Sign in with Google and follow the prompts to connect your account.

Step 3: Create a New Recipe

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Add New. In the pop-up window that appears, select Logged-in users and click Confirm.

Step 4: Name Your Recipe

We’ve named this recipe Ultimate Member-Google Sheets: Member List.

Step 5: Configure Your Trigger

In the Triggers panel, click Ultimate Member.

From the drop-down list, select A registers with a form.

Automator will prompt you to select your registration form. When you’re finished, click Save. Your trigger should look like this:

Step 6: Configure Your Action(s)

In the Actions panel, click Add action. From the menu of available integrations, click Google Sheets.

From the drop-down list that appears, select Create a row in a Google Sheet.

Automator will prompt you to select the Drive, Spreadsheet and specific Worksheet where you want to create the new row.

Under the field labeled Row, click Get columns. Automator will retrieve the columns from your worksheet as you labeled them in the first step.

Now is when you get to configure the data that you want to sync to your Google Sheet. Under Value, click on the Asterisk in each field (this is the tokens icon) so that Automator will populate the new row with dynamic data.

When you’re finished, click Save. Your action should look like this:

Step 7: Go Live and Break a Leg!

The director is ready to start filming so it’s time to get that call sheet out! Toggle the recipe from Draft to Live to start populating your member list.

The recipe above will only add new users to your Member List. But what about your veteran cast and crew? The recipe below will add your existing members to the Member List when they log in. An action filter ensures that the recipe will only work for your existing members while a recipe run limit will prevent duplicate entries from multiple logins.

Connect LearnDash to Zoom Webinars

“Lights. Camera… LearnDash!” Webinars are the membership website equivalent of a live theater production. And with this recipe, you can connect LearnDash to Zoom Webinars and put on some truly spectacular Shakespeare revivals. Or, you know, host informative and educational webinars. It’s really up to you.

Step 1: Connect Zoom Webinars to Automator

Connecting your Zoom account to Automator won’t take as long as an opening soliloquy. Nevertheless, you can click here for a detailed guide or find the abridged version below:

1. Sign in to your Zoom account and navigate to the Zoom App Marketplace.
2. In the box labeled JWT click Create.
3. Click on App Credentials and copy the API Key and API Secret.
4. From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Settings > Premium Integrations > Zoom Webinars.
5. Paste the API Key and API Secret into their corresponding fields.

Step 2: Create a New Recipe

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Add New. In the pop-up window that appears, select Logged-in users and click Confirm.

Step 3: Name Your Recipe

We’ve named this recipe LearnDash-Zoom: Webinar Registration.

Step 4: Configure Your Trigger

In the Triggers panel, click LearnDash. From the drop-down list that appears, select A user is enrolled in a course. Automator will then prompt you to select the course. Once you’re finished, click Save.

Step 5: Configure Your Action(s)

In the Actions panel, click Add action. From the menu of available integrations, click Zoom Webinars.

From the drop-down list that appears, select Add the user to a webinar.

Automator will prompt you to select the webinar. You can also choose to retrieve webinar questions. Once you’re finished, click Save. Your action should look something like this:

If your course includes access to a webinar series, you can simply click Add action and line up the second, third, fourth, fifth and even sixth act! And, if you feel like it, use the delay feature to create some room for intermission.

Step 6: Go Live and Get Ready for an Encore!

Your webinars are ready for their standing ovation. Toggle the recipe from the Draft to Live and get ready to perform an encore!

With Oscar-worthy webinar performances like these, it won’t be long before your members start to clamor for a sequel (or at least some spin-offs). Use ActiveCampaign tags to keep your members informed about related courses.

Connect Restrict Content Pro to Slack

Walk-outs are the worst. They’re bad for box office grosses and word-of-mouth. Not to mention, they ruin your churn rate. However, with this recipe, you can connect Restrict Content Pro to Slack and notify your retention team whenever a member cancels their subscription.

Step 1: Create a New Recipe

From your WordPress Admin Sidebar, navigate to Automator > Add New. In the pop-up window that appears, select Logged-in users and click Confirm.

Step 2: Name Your Recipe

We’ve named this recipe Restrict Content Pro-Slack: Retentions.

Step 3: Configure Your Trigger

In the Triggers panel, click Restrict Content Pro. From the drop-down list that appears, select A user’s membership to a specific level is canceled. Automator will then prompt you to select the membership level. Once you’re finished, click Save.

Step 4: Configure Your Action(s)

 the Actions panel, click Add action. From the menu of available integrations, click Slack.

From the drop-down list that appears, select Send a message to a channel.

Automator will then prompt you to select a Slack channel and draft your message. You can use tokens to include more information for your retention team. When you’re finished, click Save.

Step 5: Go Live and Keep ‘Em Captivated!

Toggle the recipe from Draft to Live and win back your members’ attention!

In the business of memberships and subscriptions—much as in show business—there’s a simple rule. You can’t please everyone. But, with this recipe, it won’t be for lack of trying.

The Show Must Go On

Take a bow! With these recipes, your WordPress membership plugin will sparkle under the spotlight and your members can take center stage. But don’t forget, the show must always go on. What are some of the ways that you use your membership plugin? Let us know in the comments section below.