How to include an inactive membership levels in email renewals?

Ela Zawadzka
Ela Zawadzka
Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Altru® General Discussions

Hello,

We have created one-time levels of membership with specific benefits last year (now we know it is not ideal). For instance for a regular Family level we created Victorian Radical Family level. This was 2-month long promo that brought us a couple of hundreds of members. However, those special levels are not something that we will be offering again, so I need to somehow pull them all into my marketing renewal notices. Does anyone know how to do this?

Thank you,

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Comments

  • Devendra Shrikhande
    Devendra Shrikhande Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1

    Hello Ela

    Please let me know if this KB article is what you are looking to do:
    I need to exclude members from a membership renewal process

  • Margaret Matteson
    Margaret Matteson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Under “Set up membership renewal notices” on the Membership page, does the level show up as available to include? Or does it not show up because it's inactive?

  • Ela Zawadzka
    Ela Zawadzka
    Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    It doesn't show up because is inactive, exactly what you suspected.

  • Ela Zawadzka
    Ela Zawadzka
    Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    Thank you, Devendra,

    Unfortunately this is not what I need, I need to include inactive current members that will expire in the next year.

  • Devendra Shrikhande
    Devendra Shrikhande Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1

    Hello Ela

    A-ha! I was not aware that you had set those membership levels to inactive. I thought the level was still in active status - you were not just signing up any new members or renewing existing members to that level.

    Typically, if we want folks to transition to a new membership program or level because we are closing it down, we recommend keeping the membership program or level active so those members can get any ongoing discounts and are available for renewals etc. We just switch off the Web forms for those particular program or levels - so they are not directly accessible to the public, make sure there are no direct buttons in Daily Sales and educate the team to not renew or sign up into those levels.

    So you have the above option to consider. If for certain operational reasons you need to keep the membership level inactive, you can use the Appeals process in Altru. Set up a constituent query for those members you want to target and then send them communication via the letters or emails via appeal mailings. One would not be be able to take advantage of the ease of the renewal process or the renewal emails but still should be able to reach those members.

  • Margaret Matteson
    Margaret Matteson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Devendra is spot on, and I will add this: it is very arduous for front line staff to renew or rejoin a member from an inactivated level. They have to really dig into the menu and it is not at all intuitive. I would definitely recommend leaving that level active for now.

  • Ela Zawadzka
    Ela Zawadzka
    Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    Thank you, Devendra! That totally makes sense. I will reactivate all the levels if that will include them in the renewal processes. FYI those inactive levels still show as active membership and members get all the perks and benefits.

    I will just have to make sure that they don't show on the website or in Daily Sales so people don't try to sell it again.

    With gratitude,

    Ela

  • Ela Zawadzka
    Ela Zawadzka
    Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    Hello Devendra,

    I am reaching out again because after reinstating all the levels (making them active again) we run the test renewal processes with out test accounts and the levels are not pulled into the renewal, even though the expiration date is in line with all data that is pulled in. Also, even though we don't have buttons for those levels on the Daily Sales main page they do appear after we hit the mid-term upgrades button. Any advise how to clean it up?

    Ela

    Devendra Shrikhande:

    Hello Ela

    A-ha! I was not aware that you had set those membership levels to inactive. I thought the level was still in active status - you were not just signing up any new members or renewing existing members to that level.

    Typically, if we want folks to transition to a new membership program or level because we are closing it down, we recommend keeping the membership program or level active so those members can get any ongoing discounts and are available for renewals etc. We just switch off the Web forms for those particular program or levels - so they are not directly accessible to the public, make sure there are no direct buttons in Daily Sales and educate the team to not renew or sign up into those levels.

    So you have the above option to consider. If for certain operational reasons you need to keep the membership level inactive, you can use the Appeals process in Altru. Set up a constituent query for those members you want to target and then send them communication via the letters or emails via appeal mailings. One would not be be able to take advantage of the ease of the renewal process or the renewal emails but still should be able to reach those members.

  • Devendra Shrikhande
    Devendra Shrikhande Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1

    Hello Ela

    This would require a deeper dive to see your process configurations and how they would need adjustment. Please reach out to Chat support and they should be able to have a closer look at the nuances of your configuration/processes and assist.

    Thanks!
    Devendra

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