Use profile fields to learn more about your members

Good news, Memberships fans! ????️ In Memberships version 1.19, we added profile fields, which let you collect information about your members beyond the built-in basics. With customized profile fields, you’ll learn more about your members, which will make it easier to support and retain your existing members, as well as target new members. 

Keep reading to learn more!

Fields to gather any kind of information

Memberships sites are not created equal, so we wanted to ensure that profile fields were robust and flexible enough to handle all the different types of data you might want to gather or store for your members.

• Create text or text area profile fields to support open-ended questions.
• Use radio, select, multi checkbox, or multi select fields when there are predefined options. 
• Pick checkbox fields for simple yes / no questions.
• Add file fields to support uploaded documents.

Profile fields also support user-facing labels and descriptions, so you can clearly explain what you’re asking members to share. You can also define which membership plans should have access to these fields so you can create plan-specific fields when needed. If you absolutely need this information from your members, you can also make profile fields required to force members to fill out the field. 

Note: Be certain about requiring profile fields that are displayed on the product page or registration form! Memberships will block users from registering or purchasing if they don’t populate the required fields, so we recommend only requiring fields you truly need to avoid form or cart abandonment. 

For field types with predefined field options, you can set the available options and select one (or more, for multi select and multi checkbox) default option to simplify member selections.

Control if and when members access fields

Profile fields are perfect for managing customer relationships by allowing you to ask for information from your members and also store information internally. You have complete control over who can access profile fields and where they are accessible. 

Ask for information at different stages of the member lifecycle

When fields are editable by members and admins, profile fields can be managed by members as well. You can then control where the profile field should be visible to members. You can use visibility options individually, or combine for different use cases.

Gather data when users join a membership

You can choose to display profile fields on the product page and/or registration form: the two user-facing avenues for granting access to a membership. This is a great way to ask members to answer a few questions when they join your membership site. You can choose to only list the field at this stage if you don’t expect that information to change over time (e.g. “How did you hear about our site?”). 

Note: Profile fields are only displayed on product pages when that product grants access to a membership plan indicated in the profile field settings. Similarly, profile fields are only displayed on the registration form when a field is attached to a registration membership.

Ask members to maintain fields over the course of their membership

If you want members to have the option to update or change their profile field entries, you can display the field on the My Account page under the new My Profile tab. All profile fields will be displayed in this area, so members with multiple plans can make updates and manage their profile in a single location.

Request information when members join a team

If you use Teams for Memberships, you can also ask members to fill out profile fields when they are joining a team by showing the field on the Team member registration. This is a nice way to learn more about that member’s role or position within the team. 

Store internal information about your members

When fields are editable by admin-only, profile fields will never be visible to members—site admins will be the only ones who can populate, view, or manage these fields, and that will all be handled in the site backend. See the next section for more details!

Simple field management options

While we know you’ll be excited to start gathering lots of great information about your members, we wanted to ensure this information is easy for you to access and manage. On the WooCommerce > Memberships > Members page, you can view member profile fields and use search and filters to easily find members based on their field entries.

If you need to manage a member’s profile field entries, you can do that by selecting a particular member and clicking Edit Profile Fields. 

Export and import profile fields

You can also download and upload profile field entries from the WooCommerce > Memberships > Import / Export page. You can export fields to enter them in a different customer management system, email marketing platform, or other application. This makes it easy to sync your member data between Memberships and any other tools you’re using to simplify member management. 

You can also use the import to quickly make bulk updates to profile fields! 

You can also use the Memberships REST API to create and manage profile fields! Click here to access our API documentation. 

Note: Changes you make in the site backend may be visible to members if you also choose to display those modified fields on the My Account page.

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Learning about your members can help you create the content, products, and perks needed to better support and retain existing members, as well as market your memberships to new users! If you have questions about this feature or anything else relating to Memberships, please check out our documentation or contact our support team!