Renewing online: how a member renews from a private link

Once online joining is on, the same switch lets members renew from your website. The join page has a link: "Already a member? Renew your membership."

What a member does

1. They type their email address. The page answers the same way whatever they type, so nobody can use it to find out who is a member.
2. If the address is on your roll, they are emailed a private link. It works once, a mail program that merely opens the link does not use it up, and it lasts seven days.
3. The link opens a page, with no sign-in, that lasts 30 minutes. They can confirm their name and phone, keep their level or ask for another, and re-confirm or change their three choices (newsletter, directory and club notices). They also see how to pay.

What happens next

• Name, phone and choices apply at once. The record notes that it came from a renewal form and who did it.
• A different level is a request, not a change. It appears for you under the applications, and you decide with one click: Move them to the new level, or Leave their level as it is. Moving a member changes what they owe, and the Dues page shows it as an adjustment with your name on it.
• A re-confirmation that changes nothing writes an audit entry saying they re-confirmed, with the wording they saw, and no change to their choices.

What the member cannot do

A renewal does not record a payment. Payment instructions are shown, and you record the payment when it arrives: see record a payment. A member with no email cannot use the link, so you renew them from their record.

If they say the link did not arrive

Check their address on the roll first. A mistyped address gets no link, and nothing tells the person, by design. If the service's email is in its restricted mode, the link may be held. See why you cannot publish or email yet.

Related

Turn on the online join form