Not Sure If s2 member is quite right for me

Hi there,

Considering using s2member for a fairly simplistic membership site I am setting up.

I would appreciate advice on whether it will fit my requirements:

1) I will be using optimize press as the theme as I will be doing a full launch. Does s2 member work OK with this?
2) I will be using clickbank as a payment processor – I will be setting up three individual recurring payment options – all for the same membership level of the site. Would this integrate OK?
3) I will only have 1 membership level which will allow access to a couple of static pages plus a page that I would like to set up that can be updated in real time (possibly outside of the wordpress framework altogether) Would s2 member be able to content protect such a page?
4) I will need to be able to email members on a daily basis – does s2member have the functionality to send a group email to all members?

Many, many thanks in advance for your help with this!

Regards

Kieran

Hi Kieran, Not sure about your theme (perhaps test it with the free version of s2Member). I can answer Q 2, yes they support clickbank:

ClickBank® ( w/ Buttons )
↑ supports Buy Now & Recurring Products.

Not sure about no 3.

For Q 4, I think you would need to install a 3rd party plugin that handles emailing all members, alternatively set up s2member with aweber or mailchimp and send email from them!

Hope that helps!

Hi Kieran,

You shouldn’t have any problem using s2Member with the OptimizePress theme, but as Zoe suggested we recommend testing it with the free version of s2Member first.

Regarding protecting non-WordPress content: Yes, this can be done, but you’ll need to include the necessary WordPress core files so that your external script has access to the WordPress functions.

We recommend the WordPress.org Support Forums for help with this. This thread in particular may be helpful: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/authenticate-wordpress-login-from-external-php-script

Regarding sending emails to members: We integrate with AWeber and MailChimp to provide email services. We recommend using one of those two services to automatically subscribe your users to a list (see Dashboard -› s2Member® -› API / List Servers). Then, you can easily send mass emails to all your members from within the list service.

Hi,
I’m also using the OptimizePress theme with s2member pro and Aweber. From what I’ve experienced so far everything seems OK. However I’m still in the testing stage.
S2member seems a great plugin but I only use a tiny section (1 PayPal specific page form).

No sure I should hi-jack this topic but it seems to cover all the same software.

I’ve read lots of documentation but still unsure on a few of points:

How does Aweber know what list to add a user to when they purchase via my ‘PayPal Pro Page Specific Form’? Do I need to assign a ‘Page Level Restriction’ to the page containing the form, and then update ‘API/List Servers >> Aweber Integration’?

Hi Phil,

s2Member List Integration currently only supports membership Levels, not Specific Page/Post transactions. If you want a customer to be added to a list (e.g., AWeber or MailChimp), they will need to become a member registered to one of the Levels. You can then define which levels should go to which lists in the List Server settings (Dashboard -› s2Member® -› API / List Servers -› AWeber®).

Hummm! This feature was my main reason for purchasing the plugin.
I don’t want users to signup as this may cause them not to buy.
Is there any work around.

Hi Phil, could you hide the username and password fields and set them automatically, so all your need from a user is an email address essentially…

With any ecommerce site you have to “sign up” even if its not apparent, in order to provide you with a product site owners have to store your data somewhere!

Just a thought :)

That sounds like a plan.
I presume the username and password fields are required, so need I’m not sure how to set them automatically.
I’m sure I could hide these fields by deleting the relevant code with the template file. Would this work?

Hi, hope I’m posting in the right place!

I have a website where people who need to get a certification for continuing education login, watch videos, take a test, and pay for the certification.

I was wondering if your membership plugin allows for the following:

1. Main page will ask visitors to create a login and password, or login as existing user.

2. When they create a username and password, and give their email address, there will be no charge, and I will be able to use an autoresponder (like mailchimp or other third party solutions)

3. They should receive an email upon registering, I want to control the content of the email as well as when the email goes out.

4. Only registered users will have access to the content, and they will have instant access to videos and other pages, and finally come to a test. When they finish the test, a page tells them “Test completed!” and gives them an option to pay for the certificate.

5. I would like to be able to somehow track the users, their progress through the content, and when they have completed the course I guess.

6. I want them to automatically receive an email when they complete the test explaining how they can purchase the certificate.

7. I suppose the purchase can be completed through a shopping cart, but the only time they should have to make any payment is for the certificate itself, not for registration or viewing the content.

8. Lastly, would I be able to have the users who have completed the course to be exported into an existing database that I have?

Does your plugin offer this functionality, and if not, what combination of plugins might I need?

Thank you so much for your time!

Jason Jacobson

1. s2Member doesn’t prevent you from doing this.

2. You can have free registrations if you want. [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› General Options -› Open Registration[/hilite]

Integration with email services like MailChimp is possible. [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› API / List Servers[/hilite]

3. s2Member lets you edit the email WordPress sends to new users. [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› General Options -› Email Configuration -> New User[/hilite]

4. You can protect pages/posts at Level 0, so being logged in is a requirement to access it.

5. s2Member doesn’t do this. I don’t know what to recommend for this.

6. This would need to be done by the solution you pick to manage your tests.

7. If you won’t restrict/show content based on whether the user purchased the certificate, then you can do it with a shopping cart, but if you plan to have s2Member restrict manage access based on this, you’ll need to sell through s2Member.

8. s2Member Pro has a User Export tool you could use. To identify users who complete the course, giving them a custom capability that reflects it, and this will let you pick those out from your exported users list.

I hope that helps.