Running a website on WordPress is an outstanding way of generating income for a business. Membership plugins are one of the most popular ways to monetize your website. MemberDash is a new innovative plugin from LearnDash, which is a perfect solution for creators who want to add memberships to their WordPress website.
MemberDash boasts a flexible WordPress membership with advanced features that help you utilize the plugin as a standalone solution to build effective membership websites.
The MemberDash plugin is new in the market and has been pitched against the big players in the space, like MemberPress and Wishlist Member. I’ve used it personally, and I’m pretty impressed with its offering. I’ll explain more about the features in the article below.
MemberDash Review
1. Ease of Use
MemberDash is quite flexible and easy to use and has a guided setup process to simplify things from setup to utilization. The membership area can be created within a few minutes using its powerful builder and dashboard.
After you have purchased MemberDash, you’ll get a zip file that you have to install by uploading the file directly to your website. Once this is done, you can see the new option on your WordPress dashboard.
The settings tab of the tool allows you to efficiently alter various options on MemberDash into multiple categories. This includes general settings, where you can easily hide or show the admin toolbar, enable or disable WordPress Cron to send an email and enable or disable the content protection option.
Everything on the tool is designed keeping simplicity in mind, which includes checkouts or workflows. All the items on it can be customized using its drag and drop editor to match your brand identity.
Finally, all of your subscriptions and invoices can be managed on a single dashboard for the utmost efficiency.
2. Flexible Memberships
The accessible setup of MemberDash is one of its biggest selling points. Users of different skill sets can now create plans for recurring, non-recurring, free memberships, etc. Apart from this, you can offer free trials, discounts, and coupon codes with these memberships.
You can click on Memberships in the dashboard, and you will be able to manage all your memberships from there.
The WordPress plugin offers several benefits as compared to other plugins in the market. For example, MemberDash offers excellent user experience based on the actions or content they want to access.
MemberDash membership allows users to streamline your marketing and sales processes to entice people to purchase products by offering different types of bundles, subscriptions, and different tier memberships, having different types of discounts, content, and other perks.
Several of these functions come with your other membership platforms. However, they offer some additional features when building versatile membership websites, which include:
- Automatic enrolment- Members can be automatically enrolled in your online course based on the membership plans they have opted for.
- Compatibility with WordPress plugins- MemberDash is designed in such a way that it is compatible with an array of WordPress themes and plugins. This allows you to create a seamless experience for all its users with utmost efficiency and performance.
- Simple management- LearnDash courses, WooCommerce memberships, and your WordPress can be managed in a single place using the MemberDash tool.
- Multiple membership tiers- You can create different levels of membership tiers so users are able to access premium content based on the customer’s subscription type. MemberDash allows users to create subscription types with names like Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, etc.
- Flexible billing management- The billing management and coupon tool helps you easily customize your invoices and issue coupons that will attract new members.
You will find the members of the websites in the “All Members” section in your dashboard. It also gives you the ability to add new members to your products or select from existing users using WordPress. You simply have to add their respective names, emails, passwords or create new members.
3. Powerful Content Management System
MemberDash has an integrated Content Management System (CMS) with an interactive dashboard that lets you easily check important steps in your business. Using the feature, you can see how many sign-ups and payments you have made or received during a specific period. Further, you can change your user plans with a few clicks, which includes everything from passwords to profile details. Apart from this, you can export your member data at any time directly from your dashboard.
MembarDash has a content restriction feature that allows creators to strategically restrict access to certain posts, pages, or custom categories based on their membership levels. Since the content is restricted, your site’s visitors would have to pay to access them. The premium content can be locked with a few clicks using this feature. This is a great feature for a content creator as they don’t have to publicize all the content. Using the plugin, you can select specific posts or pages that you want to restrict.
The platform also has several add-ons for you to select from. For example, you can send additional email responses for your members using its add-on labeled as Additional Automated Messages.
4. Multiple Payment Methods
The best thing about MemberDash is that you can start collecting payments across the globe without much hassle. After you have installed it on your website, all you have to add the content link or registration login through which users can access your membership content.
All this can be achieved without making visitors to be redirected away from your website. This is great to build trust and streamline the entire process for your users.
In the payment section, you can set up your payment details, like adding your currency, billing address, or Company VAT/TAX number. It also supports manual payment gateways if you don’t want all the hassle. Currently, it supports two major payment gateways- Stripe and PayPal. Users can securely make payments through globally recognized payment methods.
5. Billing Management and Coupons
MemberDash allows you to customize your invoices and efficiently manage your billings.
Who doesn’t love discounts for their products? The tool lets you offer coupon codes and discounts to all your customers. These coupons act as a great way to attract new members and grow your community.
MemberDash not only lets you manage your bills but also helps turn your billing into a strategic mechanism. You have full power to shape your membership to suit you and your members.
6. Support
MemberDash offers support through various channels. It has several resources in the form of blogs, videos, webinars, and access to the LearnDash Academy, where you can learn everything, you need to sell memberships online. Their integration with LearnDash also gives them direct contact with the customer support team on their website.
7. Other Features
Aside from the primary features that I’ve covered above, MemberDash has a few other features that allow it to stand out from its competitors.
1. Built-in Reporting
MemberDash has an in-built reporting and analytics tool that helps users monitor and track every member’s performance. It offers detailed insights about these reports to check different parameters, like user engagement, highest-performing memberships, and the total amount generated from the membership programs.
2. User Profile Management
The feature lets you manage their profile directly on their site. Members can now customize their profiles, manage subscriptions or billing information, and adjust the login information of your website.
3. Membership Management
You can manage and control your members from a single dashboard. Now, you can create numerous memberships, which can be either free or paid. The membership management lets you set a free trial, and once the trial period is over, they will be automatically charged.
4. Customizable Settings
MemberDash lets you customize your settings to configure restrictions. This can be achieved with its intuitive blocks and shortcodes in a few clicks.
5. Integrations
MemberDash is an independent plugin, but you can integrate it with LearnDash. This allows you to create and sell premium courses to your members. It also has other in-built integrations like WP Recaptcha, MailPoet, WPML, MailChimp, Stripe, and PayPal.
Pricing
Now that we have covered the various features that you get with MemberDash. Let us understand the pricing of the plans that they offer. They currently offer 3 plans, which include
- For 1 site- $199 per year
- For 10 sites- $399 per year
- Unlimited sites- $799 per year
All the plans come with full updates and support. After you have purchased it from the website, you can customize your LMS site without much hassle. If you want, you can cancel the license from the LearnDash account dashboard.
There are also a few add-ons that will help enhance your marketing and sales efforts. This includes the ProPanel add-on that costs $49 per year. Apart from this, you can use its Gradebook starting at $49 per year, which allows you to track and share scores while also creating custom report cards and enabling weighted grading. There are also more add-ons, which you can find on the pricing page of MemberDash.
Who is MemberDash Ideal for?
MemberDash is an ideal tool for anyone who is looking to help launch a membership site and manage its members easily to expand its subscription functionality. Here are some use cases that will help you understand the capabilities of the powerful plugin.
- Membership site owners- MemberDash integrated directly with LearnDash to create a powerhouse. You can also use it alone for versatile membership sites.
- Online course creators- Easily handle the membership tool to handle your payments, restrict content, and offer discounts for your online course business.
- eLearning site owners- The content restriction plugin with WordPress is a perfect choice for e-learning sites requiring eCommerce functionality and scalability that you don’t get with the free WooCommerce WordPress integration.
Pros and Cons
- Quite a flexible and simple interface
- Unlimited memberships
- Excellent membership tools- membership levels, access control, etc
- Works with all WordPress themes
- Built-in analytics
- Complete control over your content
- Billing management and coupons
- Keep 100% of your generated revenue
- LearnDash Integrations
- Basic email automation
- Accepts limited payment gateways
- Dependency on WordPress
Is MemberDash Really Worth it?
MemberDash is an upcoming membership plugin on WordPress that is worth the investment for anyone who is in the market to manage their membership website while also offering courses, tiered access, and much more.
The entire point of the plugin is to reduce any stress or challenges that you would associate with creating and managing your e-learning website. It has some limitations when it comes to its payment options or the absence of a free trial on its plans. However, it is worth every penny.
Whether you are using MemberDash alongside LearnDash, you will get access to a clean and modern interface having powerful features to efficiently manage all your members alongside the content in an effective way.
MemberDash Review FAQs
1. Do you need access to LearnDash to use MemberDash?
No, MemberDash is a standalone plugin; however, it integrates seamlessly with LearnDash. You can use it alongside LearnDash for an excellent e-learning and membership solution for your business.
2. Is the MemberDash plugin free?
No, the plugin is not free and doesn’t come with a trial plan. Its plan starts at $199 per year.
3. Does MemberDash take a cut of your revenue?
MemberDash has a straightforward pricing model. After you have selected a plan, the entire revenue that is generated will belong to you. The tool doesn’t have any hidden fees or revenue cuts that you may encounter with other tools in the market.
4. Does MemberDash integrate with any other WordPress plugins?
MemberDash is a standalone plugin, but it integrates seamlessly with several other WordPress plugins, especially those related to content creation or eCommerce. This will ensure a smooth user experience and compatibility for users who require diverse plugins for their business.
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