WooCommerce subscription setup

Overview

This article explains how to configure a paid membership with a subscription.

Business logic: A role with low permissions is assigned on registration. The plugin auto-logins users after registration and redirects them to the page where they can buy a product-subscription. Once the subscription is purchased a role with high permissions is assigned. Once the subscription is expired a role with low permissions is assigned.
Note: You can configure permissions for each user role on wp-admin > Ultimate Member > User Roles > Edit Role, see details here. User role can be used to restrict access for the member directory, profiles, categories and pages, blocks. Extensions also may have role-related permissions and features.

Required software #

There is no built-in payment functionality in the Ultimate Member. We recommend using a popular commerce plugin WooCommerce for payments. Install our extension Ultimate Member - WooCommerce to integrate Ultimate Member with WooCommerce and let them work together.

This is enough for a simple paid membership. With the core WooCommerce plugin you can create a "Simple product" - a product with a single payment.

You have to install the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin if you need a subscription feature. With this plugin you can create a "Simple subscription" - a product with initial payment and periodical renewal payments.

Note: WooCommerce Subscriptions is a paid plugin.

How to set it up #

  • Install plugins
  • Configure extension settings
  • Create a product subscription
  • Select initial user role
  • Set redirect after registration

Install plugins #

You should install these plugins to have a paid membership with the subscription:

Configure extension settings #

Go to wp-admin > Ultimate Member > Settings > Extensions > Woocommerce and set settings for the extension:

  • Ignore the roles update, if the user has these roles on complete/processing or refund payment: "Administrator"
  • Remove previous roles when changing role on complete/processing or refund payment: "No"
  • Disable subscriptions roles switcher: turn on

Create a product - subscription #

Go to the menu "Products" and create a product with the type "Simple subscription".

Select roles you want to assign users when a subscription status is changed. Select a role with high permissions in the setting " When subscription is ACTIVATED move user to this role". Select a role with low permissions in the settings "When subscription is EXPIRED move user to this role", "When subscription is CANCELLED move user to this role". You can ignore other subscription statuses or select a role that better suits your business logic.

Note: WordPress users may have multiple roles. Ultimate Member uses settings from the user role with the highest priority. Use role setting "Role Priority" to solve role conflicts.

Subscription Status Guide #

  • Pending Subscription Status - This status indicates that the subscription has been created, but no payments have been processed on the subscription.
  • Active Subscription Status - his status indicates the subscription will renew or expire at a given time in the future. After the initial payment for a subscription has been processed (if any payment is required), it will be transitioned to the Active status.
  • On-Hold Subscription Status - This status indicates that the subscription is awaiting payment or the owner has manually suspended the subscription. It will only reactivate once the payment is processed or the owner manually reactivated it. When the status is on-hold, users/customers cannot have special access.
  • Pending-Cancellation Subscription Status - When a user/customer canceled its subscription manually, it will not be transitioned immediately to a canceled status because of the pre-paid term. When the pre-paid term ends, the subscription’s status will be transitioned to Canceled. When the status is pending-cancellation, users/customers can still have special access.
  • Canceled Subscription Status - If the users/customers' reached the end of the pre-paid term, the subscription status will be canceled.
  • Expired Subscription Status - When the subscription has an expiry date, the subscription status will be expired once it reached the end date.
Read this article for a complete and detailed subscription status guide.

Select initial user role #

There are three ways to select the initial user role with low permissions that is assigned on registration before users will purchase a product-subscription, see details here. You can use any, but it is recommended to use the registration form setting Assign role to form on wp-admin > Ultimate Member > Forms > Edit Form. This setting has a higher priority.

Set redirect after registration #

Go to wp-admin > Ultimate Member > User Roles > Edit Role, scroll down to the Registration Options section. Set options:

  • Registration Status: "Auto Approve"
  • Action to be taken after registration: "Redirect to URL"
  • Set Custom Redirect URL: a link to the Checkout page with the additional parameter add-to-cart, the parameter value is the product ID.

An example of the registration process when purchasing a subscription

Step 1 - Registration

Step 2 - Redirect after registration to Checkout

Step 3 - View the order details after the checkout complete

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