Auto-renewal options for annual memberships?

Mimi Plato 2 · June 2019

We want to start offering an option to auto-renewal annual memberships forever. We have multiple membership levels and want to keep the form simple for the user. We also need the information to sync over to RE via Importomatic. What is the best way to set up the form(s)?

Is it better to have one form with both options - single year and annually - or two forms?
If using one form -- should I use the Standard Donation Level option and allow the optional recurring behavior option?
1. and if so, will the form send the sustaining auto-responder to the user if they auto-renew or the standard donation auto-responder?
2. and also, can I customize the thank you screen based on whether the user chose to auto-renew using a conditional?.
If using two forms -- should I have a toggle near the top where the user chooses "one-time" or "annual auto-renewal" which then sends them to the correct form. One with the Standard Donation Level option and one with the Forever Sustainer Donation Level option?

I feel like using two forms will be easier to customize communications to the user and for tracking. But wanted to see what is working for others.

Thanks for any input, Mimi

Gaby Gollub · June 2019

Hi Mimi,

We have a few forms where we allow people to opt in to automatic annual renewal, rather than presenting two options. This has been a pretty popular choice among our lapsed donors -- we ask them by email to renew their support and 20-30% check that box! I have attached a screen shot so you can get a sense of how it's presented to donors.

We use the Standard Donation Level; the box "Yes, allow optional recurring behavior." is checked; the Fixed Frequency is Annually; and the Duration is Forever. We have a different CRM from yours so I can't speak to what may work best for you.

For the autoresponder, we populate the Standard Donation Thank You and Sustaining Initial Thank You messages (and well as Sustaining Gift Cancelled and Failed Sustaining Payment Notification).

To show the appropriate text on the thank-you page, we use this conditional:

Thank you for [[?xyearsx::x[[S120:dc:recurringFrequencyUnit]]x::choosing to automatically renew your World Wildlife Fund membership annually::renewing your World Wildlife Fund membership]].

We have a report configured in Report Writer to see which donors have an active sustaining annual gift, and use the results to update our group of annually recurring donors.

Hope you find this useful. Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck!

Best,

Gaby

Gaby Gollub

Manager, Online Marketing and Membership

World Wildlife Fund

www.worldwildlife.org

Mimi Plato 2 · June 2019

Hi Gaby,

Thank you this is all very helpful! I also appreciate the bonus information - conditional code for the thank you page.

- Mimi

Auto-renewal options for annual memberships?

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