Offering group membership plans allows site owners to tap into big business, enterprise sales. According to Forbes, over 50% of middle market companies plan to increase online training budgets in 2023. Now is the time to take advantage!
In this in-depth guide, you‘ll learn:
- Key benefits of offering group membership accounts
- How to configure bulk subscriptions with sub-account management
- Which WordPress membership plugins work best for groups and teams
- How to integrate permissions and content access
- Tips to attract business and organization purchases
Let‘s dive in…
Why Offer Group Membership Plans on Your Website?
Before we get into the technical details, let‘s discuss the main reasons you should consider offering corporate or organizational membership plans:
Benefit #1 – Attract Big Spenders
Large enterprises have big budgets for employee training, development, and digital access. Unlock sales opportunities beyond just individual subscribers by offering teams packages.
Benefit #2 – Groups Want Discounts
Provide discounted rates for bulk purchases. Groups expect price breaks, and you can afford to offer lower rates thanks to the higher lifetime value (LTV) of bigger groups.
Benefit #3 – More Recurring Revenue
Larger groups tend to renew more consistently from year to year. And recurring revenue is the key to scalable growth. Sell once, get paid for years to come!
Benefit #4 – New Partnership Potential
HR directors, university department heads, IT managers, and learning & development leads make great partners when you offer group accounts.
Based on my experience managing corporate WordPress sites, those four factors make group accounts a must-have.
Now let‘s explore how to configure them properly in WordPress…
Choosing the Right WordPress Membership Plugin
There are dozens of WordPress membership plugins available. But only a handful properly support organizational accounts and sub-users.
Here is a comparison of the top options based on 10+ years of experience using these solutions professionally:
| Plugin | Sub Accounts | Permissions | Updated Recently |
|---|---|---|---|
| MemberPress | ✅ | Advanced | ✅ |
| Memberful | ✅ | Basic | ❌ |
| Paid Memberships Pro | ❌ | N/A | ✅ |
My suggestion: MemberPress
MemberPress is the leading all-purpose WordPress membership plugin. They offer an excellent Corporate Accounts add-on for $99/year to handle groups and sub-users.
I‘ve used MemberPress on dozens of sites due to the automatic updates, top-notch support, and advanced access rules.
Now let‘s take a look at how to configure MemberPress for selling group access…
Step-by-Step: Configuring MemberPress for Group Memberships
Selling group memberships requires a few one-time configuration steps:
Step 1) Install and activate MemberPress. You‘ll need the latest version 2.8+.
Step 2) Enter your MemberPress license key under Settings to enable automatic plugin updates. For security, I recommend removing inactive admins to limit access.
Step 3) Install payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal. This allows you to collect payments automatically from groups:
| Gateway | 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction | Easy account setup |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | ✅ | ✅ |
| PayPal | ️❌ | ❌ |
My suggestion: Stripe offers seamless integration with WordPress. Automated net-30 payouts and intuitive reporting in the same interface. PayPal makes account creation more complex for new users.
Step 4) Install and activate the Corporate Accounts add-on to enable sub-account management. Then navigate to Memberships and click Add New Membership to create your first group product.
Step 5) On the membership configuration screen, check the the This membership is for Corporate Accounts box.
Step 6) Adjust settings like billing, maximum sub-accounts, price, etc. See the next section for recommendations on configuring group products.
And that‘s the basic installation and setup complete! Now let‘s explore how to smartly configure your first group membership offer…
Recommended Settings for Group Membership Plans
Based on managing many corporate WordPress sites over the past 5+ years, here are my top recommendations for configuring your team memberships:
Pricing Tips
I suggest pricing your group levels based on expected team size. For example:
- Small Biz Plan – $299/mo for up to 25 seats
- Enterprise Plan – $999/mo for up to 250 seats
Offer increasing discounts for more seats to incentivize bigger purchases.
You can also offer custom quotes for large organizations if needed. But set reasonable caps to prevent abuse.
Billing Setup
Recurring annual subscriptions are better for revenue projections and cash flow. To encourage yearly renewals:
- Offer small monthly premium
- Charge full price up front annually
- Provide email renewal reminders
Prevent Abuse
To avoid reseller abuse, disable public registration. Require sales calls for large bulk purchases beyond your standard tiers.
Cap sub-account totals based on pricing:
- Small Biz Plan – Max 25 sub-accounts
- Enterprise Plan – Max 250 sub-accounts
Make Adding/Removing Members Easy
Provide self-service admin dashboards to managers. Allow them to easily invite new team members by email in 1-click.
Handle employee off-boarding smoothly as well with instant license removal.
Now that you know how to configure those key elements, let‘s explore advanced functionality…
Advanced Tips for Group Memberships
The basics above should cover 80% of use cases. But groups often have unique needs for more advanced management and access permissions.
Here are some advanced tips to level up your team membership offerings:
Integrate With SSO
For larger companies, use APIs or SCIM integration to connect single sign-on (SSO) solutions like G Suite or Okta. This improves security.
Offer Membership Segments
Beyond basic access, use segments for groups like "support team", "engineering", etc. Then provide permissions rules and content filtering by segment.
Set Up Staging Sites
For big training initiatives, offer staging/sandbox sites per client request. This lets them preview and test content before deploying network-wide.
Automate License Assignment
Integrate with the organization‘s HR system to instantly assign access by job code or manager permissions. Remove access immediately on termination.
Send New Feature/Content Emails
Set up automated update emails to draw attention to new tutorials, case studies, or platform features. Drive continual engagement and education.
While those tips require more customization, they can pay dividends for big organizational clients.
Final Thoughts on Group Memberships
Selling team and organizational memberships requires some extra effort. But it opens up big revenue potential from mid-market and enterprise companies.
Investing in bulk pricing, group management functionality, and advanced permissions puts you ahead of competitors still selling individual logins.
Based on the growth trends highlighted earlier, I expect 30-50% of online revenue will stem from organizational purchasing over the next 5 years. Now is the perfect time get your plugin configured to attract this growing segment!
Have you offered team accounts in the past? Or have any other questions on best practices outlined in this guide? Let me know in the comments section below!
