You can easily upgrade your existing WishList Member plan to a new plan if you are interested in one of the currently available WishList Member plans and all it includes. Your existing plan will be taken into account and a prorated price will be available to you (if applicable).

This means the prorated price takes the time between your original purchase and new purchase into account.

You can select the new WishList Member plan you would like to purchase and you can select the “Upgrade an Existing Plan” option from the Prorate Plan section of the Order Form. If you are eligible for a prorated purchase, that will provide you with the prorated price to upgrade your WishList Member plan.

You also have the option to retain your existing WishList Member plan and purchase a new plan as an additional WishList Member plan by selecting the “Buy Level as New Plan” option on the Order Form.

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Upgrade an Existing WishList Member Plan

Once you click to purchase the new plan, you would select your existing plan from the “Upgrade an Existing Plan” option in the Prorate Plan section. The example screenshot below shows a logged in user with a WishList Member Basic plan. The user is able to select their existing plan (WishList Member Basic) from the “Upgrade an Existing Plan” section.

You will need to be logged into the Customer Center with your WishList Member account when you purchase. This will allow you to select your existing plan when purchasing the upgrade.

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Once you select your existing WishList Member plan, you'll see the purchase price is updated to a prorated price based on your previous purchase (if applicable).

As an example, if you were to purchase an upgrade to a new WishList Member plan today, it would display a prorated purchase price. But, if you were to instead purchase an upgrade to that same new WishList Member plan a month later, the prorated purchase price would be different as it takes the specific time between the original purchase and the new purchase into account to calculate the prorated price.

You would then be re-billed each year for the regular annual price of the new WishList Member plan moving forward and you would be provided with all the features in that new plan. Your original re-bill date remains the same.

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You can select the new plan you would like to purchase on the WishList Member Pricing page.

Please feel free to reach out to the WishList Member Success team if you have any questions.

There will be times when a member decides they want to cancel their membership. This could be due to a number of reasons ranging from financial to personal. Whatever the case may be, you have different options available to allow members to cancel when using WishList Member to power your membership site. Some options result in immediate cancellation while other options allow you to check and confirm with members before the cancellation is processed.

Cancel Membership By Cancelling Payment

A member can cancel their membership by stopping the payment/subscription within the online payment provider if you have integrated fully with one of the WishList Member Full Integration methods.

As an example, if you have integrated with PayPal in the Setup > Integrations > Payment Providers section in WishList Member, this means a member can cancel their subscription in PayPal and it will automatically cancel their access to the level in WishList Member.

This option is available for any payment provider you may have integrated with in that Integrations section in WishList Member. If you use one of these Full Integrations and a member stops their payment, their membership level will automatically be cancelled.

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Stripe Profile Page Shortcode

The Stripe integration with WishList Member includes a Profile Page shortcode that can be used to add a profile page to the site for members. This specific profile page includes the option for members to cancel their membership when logged into your site.

This allows members to click to cancel directly on your site and it will cancel their payment and access to the membership.

Below is an example of how the profile page can appear to members of the site. Members can click to update their payment information or use the provided button to cancel.

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The Stripe Profile Page shortcode is explained in more detail (including screenshots and examples) in this Knowledge Base entry.

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Cancellation Request / Save the Cancellation

An effective way to potentially save a cancellation is to explain and remind a member what they will be losing if they decide to proceed with the cancellation. Some members may not remember all that is included in their membership and this can be especially true if they are paying an annual subscription. We all tend to have multiple subscriptions at once for various services and it can sometimes be a challenge to keep track of them all. A common initial reaction to a seemingly unexpected subscription charge may be to cancel that plan only to discover later you actually wanted to keep that plan active all along.

You can provide an email address or contact form members can use to request a cancellation. This allows you to respond and ask why the member is considering cancellation and you can address their questions in the hopes they remain a member. Of course, if the member ultimately decides to cancel, you can process that right away for them. This method isn't intended to completely prevent member cancellation, but instead to provide members with the opportunity to remain members who might be unsure what they would be giving up.

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This cancellation option can be managed a couple different ways.

Create an Unsubscribe/Cancel Page with Email Address

You can include an Unsubscribe/Cancel page and that page can include an email address members can use to request cancellation. You can then monitor that inbox and communicate with the members who reach out that way.

Create an Unsubscribe/Cancel Page with Web Form

A web form can be created and added to an Unsubscribe/Cancel page on your site that allows a member to fill in the form to request cancellation. This form can include fields like Name, Membership Level, etc.

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In either case, you can keep track of the inbox or web form and respond to any members who reach out and you can cancel any member who decides to go that route.

You can cancel the level(s) for any members in the Members section of WishList Member.

You or the member will need to cancel the corresponding subscription/payment in the online payment provider. Cancelling the membership level in WishList Member will not automatically stop the payments. This means payments must be stopped at the payment provider as well.

If you are using a Full Integration as mentioned above, you can cancel the payment in the online payment provider and that will automatically cancel the corresponding level in WishList Member.

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WishList Member provides different ways you can allow your members to cancel or request cancellation. You can allow members to cancel right away or engage in conversation to determine if they want to possibly remain a member. The available options provide you with a choice on how you present cancellation to your members.

There may be times when you run into an unexpected issue on your site and some tests need to be run to identify the root of the problem. This might include deactivating plugins or applying a default theme to see if that has an effect on the issue. Or, you might want to test out some new WordPress or plugin features before applying them to your live membership site. It's a good idea to be sure (and safe) before deploying any major or significant changes.

In these types of scenarios, a copy of your WordPress/WishList Member site you can use for testing is ideal. This type of test site is often called a “staging site” as it can be used while you're building the site or running tests on the site and it won't effect a live site. There are plugins that can be used to create a duplicate of your site and those can be useful when you want to transfer your site to another URL. But in this specific case, we are looking to create a staging site that can run as a standalone site for testing on an ongoing basis. This allows you to test any new features on the staging site and once you're satisfied with the results, you can apply the features to the live site. You can do this any time you want to double check something new will work as intended.

Create a Staging Site – WordPress Plugin

An easy method to create your own staging site is to use a WordPress plugin that handles the process for you. A quick all-in-one solution like this is helpful whether you are an experienced developer or a bit of a novice when it comes to servers and hosting accounts. You can download and install the plugin on your site and then fill in a few fields and settings and you end up with a fully functional staging site.

A popular staging site plugin is named WP Staging. This isn't a plugin we have developed but it has a high user rating and includes a number of useful features. You can create a staging site in a few minutes with just a few clicks.

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The WP Staging plugin also includes a feature that shows an orange banner across the top of the staging site to help clearly indicate you are working in the staging site. This is a seemingly small but helpful feature that can prevent any potential mix ups when switching between the live site and test site.

Something to keep in mind is the staging site will often use the same hosting account as the live site. This means the staging site will be consuming some of the resources on that hosting account so you'll just want to ensure your have enough resources to go around. Depending on the size of your site, you should be all set to deploy a staging site using the same hosting account. But, if you have a larger site with a large number of members, you might notice some slow downs or resource issues. You can always check with your hosting provider to find out if your current hosting plan can handle running the live site and staging site.

Create a Staging Site – Hosting Provider

You can also contact your hosting provider and ask them to create a staging site for you. Often times, there is no additional charge for this service and they can handle it all for you. In this case, you may need to wait longer than if you created the staging site yourself as it depends on how quickly your host responds and creates the staging site. But, this option means you can simply make a request for a staging site and then wait until it's provided to you.

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Having a staging site ready and available is a good idea if you plan on trying new features or ideas on your membership site. A quick test on that staging site can reveal potential issues and conflicts. Better to discover any unexpected problems on the staging site and not on your live site where members could experience those issues. This saves you time and effort (and makes for happy members).

Each major release will receive security fixes for nine months following the release of the next major version release. After these nine months have passed the product will be moved to End of Life at which point it will no longer receive security fixes and customers will be advised to immediately upgrade to a supported version of the product.

Currently Supported Versions

Unsupported Versions

Semantic Versioning

WishList Member Distributed software products and code bases follow semantic versioning. Each release is assigned a unique version number made of of at least three numbers: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.

• The MAJOR version indicates the release contains backwards incompatible changes.
• The MINOR version indicates the changes in the release are backwards compatible.
• The PATCH version indicates the release contains backwards compatible bug fixes.

Customer Access

Customers with active subscriptions are entitled to customer support and will be provided with access to downloads of currently supported versions of software products and code bases included in their subscriptions. If, for any reason, a customer's subscription ends, expires, access to product downloads and customer support will immediately cease.

Bonus Plugins

The suite of older “Bonus Plugins” which were once made available to some WishList Member subscribers in the past are no longer supported. These plugins include:

WishList Access Control
WishList Audio Player
WishList Badge
WishList Checklist
WishList Comment Headings
WishList Content Archiver
WishList Content Manager
WishList Content Scheduler
WishList Coupon
WishList Coupon 2.0
WishList Dashboard
WishList Dashboard 2.0
WishList Directory
WishList Easy Member Profiles
WishList Favorites
WishList Gifts
WishList Icons
WishList ID Card
WishList Login
WishList Login 2.0
Member Elements
WishList Points
WishList Pop Content
WishList Post Login
WishList Quiz
WishList Quiz 2.0
WishList Registration Cap
WishList Remove Dates
WishList Shortcode Plus
WishList SmartLinks
WishList SmartNav
WishList Spotlight
WishList Tabs
WishList Tags
WishList Variables
WishList Welcome
WishList Widget Control

A Page Builder is a popular option for those looking to create and design their own site. Each Page Builder includes different types of content that can be added to a page in the form or blocks, sections, elements, etc. Pages Builders like Elementor, Divi, OptimizePress, etc. typically have their own names for these tools. As an example, the WordPress Gutenberg Page Builder calls these “blocks”.

Shortcodes / Mergecodes and Page Builders

Most Page Builders will allow for the use of shortcodes and mergecodes and will often have a dedicated option to insert a shortcode/mergecode or HTML. These useful bits of code can be inserted into a page and will automatically display corresponding information on the live site. WishList Member includes it's own set of helpful Shortcodes and Mergecodes that cover a wide variety of functionality. This includes the Registration Mergecode which will insert a registration form with all its fields into the page.

That being said, you may experience an issue with the expected content not appearing on the live site when you insert a shortcode or mergecode. If you insert the shortcode or mergecode into a page and don't see the actual corresponding information on the live site, it could be due to the way the Page Builder tries to display that info.

If a WishList Member shortcode or mergecode isn't displaying content as expected on the live site after you've inserted it into a page using the Page Builder's specific block/element for shortcodes/mergecodes or HTML, you can typically add a WishList Member shortcode or mergecode using the Page Builder's standard Text or Paragraph option and it will display as expected.

So if you find a WishList Member shortcode/mergecode isn't displaying the expected content on the live site (appears blank or incomplete), please use the Page Builder's Paragraph or Text option to insert the WishList Member shortcode/mergecode and it should display the correct info on the live site.

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WishList Member Shortcodes / Mergecodes and the Gutenberg Classic Block

WishList Member shortcodes and mergecodes can easily be inserted into a page using the Classic Block in the WordPress Gutenberg Page Builder. This allows you to quickly generate and insert the code.

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Additional info on using the Classic Block in the WordPress Gutenberg Page Builder to insert WishList Member shortcodes or mergecodes can be found here.

Another option to generate and copy a WishList Member shortcode or mergecode is the Shortcode Creator found on the WishList Member Dashboard in the Tools section.

Uncaught Error: Undefined constant “WishListMember\AUTH_SALT”

This message can appear if your WordPress site has not defined “AUTH_SALT” in your wp-config.php.

If the WordPress site has Debug display errors enabled, the error message will appear during registration. If the WordPress site doesn't have the Debug display errors enabled, the error message will be logged in the WordPress error logs/debug.log file. 

WishList Member uses the defined WordPress salts when generating cookies, hashes, etc. as it helps with security purposes. (More info on WordPress Salts available here).

So with that being said, you may have removed or forgot to define your WordPress salts if you see the message mentioned above.

Add WordPress Salts to Site

We suggest you add WordPress salts in your site by generating one and pasting on your wp-config.php file through FTP. 

You can visit this link provided by WordPress which will automatically generate unique phrases for you.

You will just need to copy those phrases and use them for your site's wp-config.php.

Please note that changing your WordPress salts and keys will log out all of your WordPress users so if possible, do this at the end of the day or at a time with less active users.

If you are unsure how to access your wp-config.php file to make this change, we suggest you contact your server/hosting provider and they should be able set it up for you. Or you can reach out to our Customer Success Team to assist you further.

This is definitely possible, there are just a few things to keep in mind when it comes to WishList Member to ensure a smooth transition for you and your members.

Create a Full and Complete Back Up

You can start by creating a full and complete back up of the WordPress database.

There are WordPress plugins that have been developed specifically to duplicate entire sites. One of these plugins can create a duplicate/copy of your WordPress/WishList Member site. This includes all WishList Member settings, members, etc. because they are stored in the WordPress database.

So, if you use a plugin that creates a complete copy of the WordPress site/database, it should also include all the WishList Member settings, members, etc. 

This is explained in more detail (including Plugin suggestions) in this Knowledge Base article.

Once you create a full and complete back up of your WordPress site/database, you're heading in the right direction. You can then install that back up on your new site URL. That will bring over all the WishList Member settings, members, etc.

Points to Consider

Lets touch on some points to consider when moving a WordPress/WishList Member site from one URL to another URL:

• You will need to use your license key to activate WishList Member on the new site URL. This means you can deactivate your license key from the previous URL and then activate WishList Member using your license key on the new URL. 
  
  You can get more details on deactivating or activating a license key Right Here (including where to find your WishList Member license key in the Customer Center).

• You will need to update any internal links on your site since the URL is changing. This includes any links that used to direct to other pages/posts within the site using the previous site URL. This is more of a general WordPress related task since the site URL is changing. 
  
• With that being said, you'll also want to update the URL(s) for any integrations you may have set up in WishList Member. This includes any Payment Provider, Email Provider, or Other Services you may have configured in the Setup > Integrations section of WishList Member.
  
  As an example, if you have an integration with a Payment Provider set up, you will need to update any of the URLs that reference the previous site. This could include Thank You URLs, Webhooks, etc. in the Integrations you use. It is recommended to look into the settings of any active integrations you have configured and check to see if any links need to be updated with the new URL once you move to the new URL.

WishList Member allows for the protection of podcasts through the use of RSS Feeds.

This means you can provide your members with a podcast only they can access.

The video below runs through a method to protect a podcast and provide access through the RSS Feed.

Please Note: The video references an HTML Block to insert the RSS Feed onto a page. You can also simply insert the WishList Member RSS Feed without HTML if you would like. This can be done using the WishList Member RSS Feed shortcode.

More info on how to insert the RSS Feed shortcode onto a page can be found in this article.

Video Tutorial

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Hide Protected Content from WordPress Menu and Pages

The focus in the video below is placed on using the sequential upgrade feature with private tags to display content in a specific way to your members as they progress through the schedule. You can set your site navigation to only show the pages your members have access to when they actually gain access.

This can be done using the WishList Protection option for menu items in the Appearance > Menu section of WordPress.

The screenshot example below shows the My Lessons page with three sub menu items (a page for each membership level named Module 01, Module 02 and Module 03).

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This means you could have a selection of membership levels and you can decide to only show a link to the corresponding protected page once the member has been upgraded to the next membership level. You can use WishList Member private tags to hide the links on a page and can use WishList Member protection options on the WordPress menu items to hide those from the site navigation.

The screenshot below shows the My Lessons page with the WishList Member private tags being used to hide links to the protected pages. Only members with the assigned membership level will be able to view the protected content on the live site.

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The results being a page and site menu that only shows content when the member can access it.

Here is a screenshot example of how that appears to a member who has progressed through the sequential upgrade and has access to the Module 01 and Module 02 membership levels so far. They can see the content for those first two levels but cannot see the content assigned to the Module 03 level yet.

Once they can access the Module 03 level, they will be able to see the corresponding content.

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You have full control over what appears in the site menu and what appears if the member cannot access the protected content yet. The details are included in the Video Tutorial below.

Video Tutorial