The membership upgrade works very similar to how the membership renewal process works.
When a logged-in member pays for a membership level that is different from their current one, it is considered an upgrade. Their account will be updated to the new level they have just purchased.
An existing member can log into your site at any time and purchase any available membership level. After completing the payment, their account will be upgraded to the selected level, granting access to the content allowed for that membership.
Table of Contents
- How to Handle the Membership Upgrade
- Handling Upgrade When Using Subscription Type Payments
- Membership Payment Before the Account is Expired
- Upgrade Email Notification
How to Handle the Membership Upgrade
Step 1) Create a WordPress page called something like “Membership Upgrade”.
Step 2) Put the membership payment buttons on this page. You can use the same buttons that you are using on your join us page or you can create new buttons for the upgrade.
If you want to offer a discounted price for the upgrade then create new payment buttons with the discount price then put them on this newly created page.
Step 3) Optionally, protect this page using simple membership so ONLY logged-in members can view this page and take advantage of the discounted upgrade options.
Handling Upgrade When Using Subscription Type Payments
If you have set up subscription/recurring type payments for memberships, the existing subscription payment agreement will need to be terminated if a member wishes to upgrade to a new membership level. Members can cancel their subscription by either contacting you or logging into their PayPal account and cancelling it from there. It is irrelevant whether the existing subscription agreement is terminated before or after the upgrade to the new level.
To learn about the available options for cancelling a subscription, please refer to the membership payment section of our documentation.
Membership Payment Before the Account is Expired
To learn more about how the plugin handles payments made before an account expires, please refer to this documentation.
Upgrade Email Notification
When a member makes a payment for a membership level that is different from their current level, it is considered an upgrade. In this case, the plugin will send the email configured in the “Account Upgrade Notification” section of the email settings.
You can customize this upgrade email by going to the Email Settings menu of the plugin.
If you prefer not to send a notification after an upgrade, you can disable it by checking the “Disable Email Notification After Upgrade” option.
Refer to the screenshot below for a visual reference of these settings.