This article specifically relates to member types with a Member Type Category of Companies with Individual Seat Dues. (To check this setting, navigate to the Details tab of the Member Type on the backend.)
Topics in this article cover the member's experience on the frontend of your site, including:
An overview of joining under a member type with Individual Seat Dues (the initial signup of the company member and primary contact)
Examples of the two different types of Individual Seat Dues:
How members can manage people and seats in their Member Compass:
Joining from the Frontend with Seat-Based Dues
When a member type is available for frontend registration, prospective members can view the options when they are on the page with this URL: https://yourassociation.com/membership-information. Once they find the member type that's best for them they can click the "Join" button to start the process.
Overview of Frontend Experience:
User Selects Member Type
If the member type they select is set up with a Member Type Category of Companies with Individual Seat Dues, then they will go through the steps in the examples below when joining.
Note that this type of membership setup offers the traditional type of dues rule plus two additional options for charging dues: Incremental Pricing and Tiered Pricing. We'll take a closer look at some examples below and you can also learn more about all available Dues Rule Types here.
User Creates Their Personal User Account Login
After clicking the "Join" button in step #1, the person filling out the online membership application will create their User Account Login (which will allow them to sign in again later, even if they don't make it the whole way through the join process).
Since they are adding a new company member to the system, this person will automatically be assigned as the Primary Contact.
User Enters Personal & Company Key Info
On the next screen, they will fill in any fields that are set as Key Information. The first section will be information about the person filling in the form, and the second section is where information can be entered about the new company.
Checkout
After the user submits their Key Information in step #3, the system will look at the dues rules and show the member their cart with the following:
a quantity field to dial in the number of seats
a list of applicable charge(s)
and payment option(s)
In step #4, when the user is viewing their Checkout Cart, they could potentially see one of these "seat-based" dues rule types:
Incremental Pricing
Tiered Pricing
>> If you're still setting up your dues rules, head over to the Dues Rules article to learn more about Incremental Pricing or Tiered Pricing.
Now let's see what a user would experience if they joined under a seat-based membership...
Example of Incremental Pricing
Individual Seat Dues - Incremental Pricing
Before we look at the frontend user experience let's see what the backend setup is like. In this example, we have 2 dues rules on the member type. One is a base fee for the company's annual membership and the other is to charge a fee for each person under the company member.
Dues Rule #1
Company - Base Dues
Dues Rule #2
Individual Seats - Incremental Pricing
Based on those dues rules, this is what the prospective member will experience when joining on the frontend...
1. User Selects Member Type
Example Member Type Description for Incremental pricing:
2. User Creates Their Personal User Account Login
3. User Enters Personal & Company Key Info
4. User Views Their Checkout Cart
Here's what the cart looks like with the initial default quantity of 1 seat:
If the quantity was increased to 2 seats in this example, the total seat price would still be $575 because that seat is priced at $0 (which you can see in the Incremental Dues Rule screenshot above).
Here's what it looks like if they increase the number to a quantity of 3 seats (which is $575 for seat 1 + $0 for seat 2 + $275 for seat 3 = $850 Seat Dues):
Once they've dialed in the number of seats they want to purchase and selected their payment method, the user will click a button to "Complete Checkout".
Next, they will be asked to verify their email address, and after doing so they will land in their Member Compass.
Example of Tiered Pricing
Individual Seat Dues - Tiered Pricing
Before we look at the frontend cart let's see what the backend setup is like. In this example, we have 2 dues rules on the member type:
Dues Rule #1
Company - Base Dues
Dues Rule #2
Individual Seats - Tiered Pricing
This is what the prospective member will experience when joining if the dues rule is set up as Tiered Pricing...
1. User Selects Member Type
Example Member Type Description for Tiered pricing:
2. User Creates Their Personal User Account Login
3. User Enters Personal & Company Key Info
4. User Views Their Checkout Cart
Here's what the cart looks like with the initial default quantity of 1 seat, which falls in the first tier of $100 per person:
If the quantity was increased to 4 seats in this example, the total seat price would fall in the first tier of $100 per person, for a total of $400 on the seat line item:
Here's what it looks like if they increase the number to a quantity of 15 seats which falls in the third tier and charges $50 per person, for a total of $750 on the seat line item:
Once they've dialed in the number of seats they want to purchase and selected their payment method, the user will click a button to "Complete Checkout".
Next, they will be asked to verify their email address, and after doing so they will land in their Member Compass.
What can members see regarding the people under their company?
When logged into their Member Compass, the primary contact of a company, billing contact, or a person with management access can view the "People" list of their direct parent company. These individuals can see:
The total number of seats available and how many have been assigned.
Each person's membership status, including who has a seat.
If any seats are unassigned they will also see an alert message on their Member Compass Dashboard. Clicking the tile for # Unassigned Membership Seats will take the user to their People tab so they can assign the seat(s).
A person's Member Status could appear as any of the following:
Checkmark = Inheriting
(#1 in the image below)
Individuals who are assigned a seat and are therefore receiving benefits from their company.
These people do not pay their own dues - they "inherit" benefits from their parent company. (This company's status is either Current or Grace Period.)
Plus Sign with "Assign Seat" = Non-Member
(#2 in the image below)
Individuals who are not receiving benefits from their company, but there is an available seat that could be assigned to this person.
If the seat is assigned, the individual will then have a checkmark (see above).
Prospect
(#3 in the image below)
Individuals who have an individual-based member type assigned on their record, but have not joined yet.
These people would pay their own dues (if they joined AND if their member type has dues rules) and would still be prospective members even if they were removed from their company's family.
In order for this person to have a seat and inherit benefits from the company, an admin would need to remove the member type from the person's record. Then a seat can be assigned by an admin or a user on the frontend who has management access.
Current
(#4 in the image below)
Individuals who are receiving benefits from their own personal membership.
These people pay their own dues (if applicable on their individual member type), and they would still be prospective members even if they were removed from their company's family.
These individuals do not count toward the number of people receiving benefits from the company since they have their own individual memberships.
Blank = Non-Member
Individuals who are not receiving benefits from their company, and there is not an available seat that could be assigned to this person.
These people also do not have an "individual" member type of their own, and therefore do not fall under any of the statuses above.
Example of Member Statuses on the People tab:
How can members manage seats for their company's existing membership?
In this section, see how members can add seats, remove seats, and reassign seats for people associated with their company.
Add Seats
To add more seats to a current company's membership, a user with management access can go to the People tab in their Member Compass and click the Add Seats button at the top of the list, or they can also click the link in the Member Status column if there's already a person record listed that doesn't have a seat assigned yet.
If they already have unassigned seats available when clicking the button to add more seats they will see a warning message like this one:
The screen to add more seats looks like this:
If the transaction is an Invoice it is due on receipt. The transaction date and due date on the invoice will be "today" (i.e. the date of creation).
Remove Seats
To remove seats from the company's membership:
A user with management access can go to the People tab in their Member Compass and click the "Remove person and unassign seat" link in the Action column (on the right). This will remove the person from the family. They will still have a non-member record in your database but they will no longer be connected to this family of records.
-or-
They will need to reach out to an association admin to make the changes on the backend if they want to reassign the seat but don't want to completely remove the person from the People list.
Please Note: Members on the frontend cannot remove benefits from other individuals while also keeping them on the "People" list (but admins can on the backend). This is to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the feature (though we'd all like to hope this wouldn't happen, it's a safeguard for your association from deceitful behavior). For example, if we allowed this, the primary contact could hypothetically give benefits to one person, register them for an event at the member price, move the benefits to another person, register them at the member pricing, etc. Not ideal, right?
Reassign Seats
To reassign a seat from one person to another person in the family, a user with management access can:
Go to the People tab in the Member Compass.
Follow the steps above to remove the first person and unassign their seat.
Then find the new person who should have the seat, and click "Assign Seat" in the Member Status column.
Reduce Total Number of Seats
Members must reach out to association staff to reduce the total number of seats on their company's membership. This includes edits to open Dues Invoices - only admins can remove seats/people from a dues invoice.
Viewing and Paying Dues Invoices for Multiple Seats
A user with management access can go to the Account History tab in their Member Compass and see a list of historical transactions. When looking at a Dues Invoice they can "View & Print" or click the button to "Pay" the invoice online.
Pay the Invoice
When the user clicks the Pay button the payment screen will open in a new browser tab.
Example of the frontend payment screen for a dues invoice:
View & Print the Invoice
When the user clicks the View & Print link the dues invoice will open in PDF format in a new browser tab. The view, download, and print options they see will depend on which internet browser they're using (this is not determined by Novi).
Remove Seat(s) from an Open Dues Invoice
Members must reach out to association staff to reduce the total number of seats on their company's membership. This includes edits to open Dues Invoices - only admins can remove seats/people from a dues invoice.
Related Article: Learn how admins can manage seat-based memberships on the backend, including adding and removing seats.