You can create, launch and manage your entire membership site from one place. Ontraport’s full arsenal of built-in membership site features allows you to drip content, choose which pages and blocks to show or hide, host videos for your members, and more — all from your Ontraport account. You’ll be able to personalize member experiences and manage payments seamlessly.
Your options are endless — which is why we want to make sure you know what your Ontraport account is capable of.
Here are 7 of the most powerful Ontraport membership site features that you may not know about:
1. Prebuilt membership site campaigns
To save months of planning and building from scratch, try downloading a prebuilt membership campaign template of your choice. When selecting your campaign, it’s helpful to first think about how you’d like to deliver content to your members.
You can choose from either a content drip or immediate access membership site model template. A content drip site releases your content to members little by little on a time frame you determine. This is an especially useful option for those offering educational information that should be consumed piece by piece. On the other hand, you can release all your content to members as soon as they subscribe to your site, which allows them to work through your content on their own schedule.
When you download a membership campaign template, your new membership site is automatically created in your Ontraport account. This includes your site’s pages and preset automation, which is designed to manage new users and release content based on your selected membership site model.
The framework for your whole site is built for you — all you need to do is customize it with your branding and content.
2. Show/hide content to create membership levels
“Fear of missing out” is a strong motivator — one you can use to encourage members to upgrade their subscriptions. One way to accomplish this is to show/hide content based on membership level. When members start wondering about content they could be benefitting from, they’ll be more motivated to pay for higher-tier memberships.
In Ontraport, you can use page and block display settings for flexible content protection on your site. You can choose what your members see based on their membership level tags (or other customer data). For example, try showing a member with a lower level membership a sneak peek of something only the higher levels get. Then, incorporate a call to action (CTA) button that prompts them to upgrade.
3. Login redirect rules
When your members are instantly redirected to a relevant page after logging in, they get an immediate user experience boost. You can send your contacts to specific pages tailored to their needs using their stored information. The most common redirects are based on membership levels, such as redirecting gold members to a welcome page tailored to them, silver members to the silver page, and so on.
4. Automatic redirects on protected pages
You can improve your site’s user experience even more by setting up page-level redirects. When site visitors try to visit a page they don’t have access to, an error or login page can be frustrating or confusing. Instead, try sending them to a more strategic upsell page.
On this page, you can include a preview of what your visitors would get if they had the upgraded subscription. From there, you can offer them an opportunity to purchase access to the page they were trying to visit. You can do this on a per-page basis through your page’s settings, meaning you can customize the redirect page based on which content the person is trying to access.
5. Merge fields to personalize pages
Personalization goes a long way toward establishing a relationship with your members and making them feel like part of your community. All of your site’s pages are built with Ontraport Pages, so you can use any information from your members’ contact records as merge fields to tailor your pages directly to them.
You can simply greet members with a “Welcome back, [First Name]!” header on your homepage, or you can include more complex information, such as showing the date and time of your next phone call appointment on the member’s “appointments” page.
6. Forms and media on pages
You probably have videos, images and other media to incorporate into your membership site pages, and it’s easy to add them to your site with the Ontraport Pages builder. Simply drag and drop video, slideshow or image elements onto your page and add your media to them.
You can also build your forms directly on your pages to customize exactly how you’d like them to appear, or add lightbox forms and control when and where they’ll pop up.
7. Automatically generated pages and emails
When you use Ontraport membership sites, you don’t have to worry about setting up any of the foundational automation, such as delivering a username and password to new members or sending reset password emails when your existing members lose their passwords. As soon as you create a new site, the essential emails and pages are generated at the same time. They are professionally designed and customized with your business colors and logo.
When it comes to selling a subscription product or service with a membership site, Ontraport has you covered. Whether you’re well-versed in membership sites or kicking off your first one, these tips will set you up for success.
Kristen holds a degree in Communication and Liberal Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara. With five years working as a writing tutor at SBCC and experience as an Ontraport support rep, Kristen now uses both her writing and software expertise in the role of Content Engagement Coordinator. Outside of her time at Ontraport, she is also involved in a variety of creative writing projects.
