How to add clients to memberships manually

This guide explains how to manually add clients to your memberships, which is useful when you have clients paying via direct debit or other payment methods outside of Stripe.

Overview

Manual member management allows you to:

• Add individual members to a membership
• Edit member details and status
• Import multiple members at once via CSV or JSON

Manually added members are independent of Stripe subscriptions and won't be affected by Stripe webhook processing. This is perfect for:

• Clients paying via direct debit
• Clients using alternative payment systems
• Providing free or complimentary memberships
• Managing members who have cancelled Stripe subscriptions but you want to keep active

Adding a Single Member

Step 1: Navigate to Membership Management

1. Go to your admin dashboard
2. Click on Memberships in the navigation
3. Find the membership you want to add members to
4. Click on the membership to open the detail view

Step 2: Open the Members Tab

1. Click on the Members tab in the membership detail view
2. You'll see a list of current members (if any) and action buttons at the top

Step 3: Add a New Member

1. Click the Add Member button (or the plus icon on mobile)
2. A dialog will open with a form
3. Enter the member's Email address (required)
4. Optionally enter the member's Name (if not provided, the email will be used as the name)
5. Click Add Member

The system will:

• Check if the email already exists as a member for this membership
• Create or find the client record for this email
• Add them to the membership with "active" status
• Make them immediately eligible to access membership content

Important Notes

• Email validation: The email must be unique within the membership. If the email already exists, you'll see an error message.
• Client creation: If the client doesn't exist in your system, a new client record will be created automatically.
• Default status: New members are added with "active" status by default.

Editing a Member

You can edit a member's details and status at any time.

Step 1: Find the Member

1. Navigate to the Members tab in your membership detail view
2. Find the member you want to edit in the list

Step 2: Edit Member Details

1. Click the Edit button (pencil icon) next to the member
2. A dialog will open with the member's current information
3. You can update:
   • Email: The member's email address
   • Name: The member's display name
   • Status: Choose from:
     • Active: Member has full access to membership content
     • Cancelled: Member's access is cancelled
     • Past Due: Member's payment is overdue
4. Click Update Member to save changes

Use Cases for Editing Status

• Reactivating a member: If a member cancelled their Stripe subscription but you want to give them free access, you can set their status back to "active"
• Temporarily suspending access: Change status to "cancelled" to temporarily remove access
• Marking payment issues: Use "past_due" status to indicate payment problems

Importing Multiple Members

You can import multiple members at once using either CSV or JSON format. This is especially useful when migrating existing clients or adding a large number of members.

Step 1: Prepare Your Data

You can use either CSV or JSON format:

CSV Format

Create a CSV file with the following structure:

email,name,status
[email protected],John Doe,active
[email protected],Jane Smith,active
[email protected],Bob Johnson,cancelled

Columns:

• email  (required): The member's email address
• name  (optional): The member's display name
• status  (optional): Member status (active, cancelled, or past_due). Defaults to "active" if not provided

JSON Format

Create a JSON file with the following structure:

[
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "John Doe",
    "status": "active"
  },
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "Jane Smith",
    "status": "active"
  },
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "Bob Johnson",
    "status": "cancelled"
  }
]

Fields:

• email  (required): The member's email address
• name  (optional): The member's display name
• status  (optional): Member status (active, cancelled, or past_due). Defaults to "active" if not provided

Step 2: Import the Data

1. Navigate to the Members tab in your membership detail view
2. Click the Import Members button (or the file icon on mobile)
3. You have two options:
   • Upload a file: Click "Upload CSV or JSON file" and select your file
   • Paste data: Copy and paste your CSV or JSON data directly into the text area
4. The system will automatically parse your data and show a preview

Step 3: Review the Preview

Before importing, review the preview to ensure:

• All emails are correct
• Names are displayed properly
• Statuses are set as intended
• The number of members matches your expectations

Step 4: Complete the Import

1. Review the preview carefully
2. Click Import X Member(s) (where X is the number of members)
3. The system will process each member and show you results

Import Results

After importing, you'll see a summary showing:

• Success count: How many members were successfully added
• Failed count: How many members couldn't be added
• Error details: Specific errors for any failed imports

Common Import Issues

The import process will skip or fail members if:

• Duplicate emails: The email already exists as a member for this membership
• Invalid email format: The email address is not in a valid format
• Missing email: A row/entry doesn't have an email address
• Duplicate in batch: The same email appears multiple times in your import file

All errors will be clearly displayed so you can fix them and re-import if needed.

Best Practices

Email Management

• Always use the same email address format (lowercase is recommended)
• Ensure emails are unique within each membership
• Double-check email addresses before importing large batches

Status Management

• Use "active" for members who should have access
• Use "cancelled" for members who have ended their membership
• Use "past_due" to track payment issues

Bulk Import Tips

• Start with a small test file (5-10 members) to verify the format
• Keep a backup of your import file
• Review the preview before confirming the import
• Check the results summary to identify any issues

Client Records

• The system automatically creates client records for new emails
• If a client already exists (from bookings or other memberships), that record will be reused
• This ensures all member data is properly linked in your system

Troubleshooting

"This email is already a member" Error

This means the email address is already associated with this membership. You can:

• Edit the existing member instead of adding a new one
• Use a different email address
• Remove the existing member first (if appropriate)

Import Shows Errors

If your import has errors:

1. Review the error messages in the results summary
2. Fix the issues in your source file
3. Re-import the corrected data
4. The system will skip members that already exist, so you can safely re-import

Member Can't Access Content

If a manually added member can't access membership content:

1. Check their status is set to "active"
2. Verify their email address is correct
3. Ensure they're logging in with the correct email
4. Check that the membership is active and has content available

Need Help?

If you encounter any issues or have questions about manual member management, please contact support or refer to the main help documentation.