How Memberships Works if You Also Have Monthly Supporters
If you have monthly supporters and are considering offering Membership tiers this FAQ is for you.
Definitions
For clarity in this article we will use these terms:
Monthly Supporters = supporters who chose the 'monthly' option when they donated and pay you a recurring donation. Now known as 'Simple monthly donations (no tiers)' in the membership selection.
Tier Members (new) = Supporters who became a member of a tier.
Will I Lose my Monthly Supporters if I switch to Membership Tiers?
No, the monthly supporters you had prior to switching to Membership Tiers will remain active and payments will be processed monthly as normal.
Can I Convert Monthly Supporters to Membership Tiers?
Yes, you can choose to upgrade your monthly supporters to membership tiers by following the steps in this article.
Can I have Membership Tiers and Monthly recurring donations switched on at the same time?
No, you can only have either Monthly recurring donations or Membership Tiers switched on. To choose simply click Memberships and you can choose between the two options.
If you select Membership Tiers, when supporters choose monthly in the donation panel they will see your tiers as options. If you select Simple monthly donations (no tiers) supporters will be directed to the payment step.
Can I create content for my Monthly Supporters and Members of tiers?
Yes, You can choose the audience every time you upload an image or create a new post. You can choose if your post is available only for specific tier members or include your monthly supporters or one-off supporters too.
Let's assume you have existing Monthly supporters and new tier members in three tiers called Bronze, Silver and Gold. Here is a breakdown of what each audience option means.
The audience options become more specific the further down the list you select. If you want more of your audience to see the content you will select options closer to the top.
- Everyone (Public): All visitors to your Ko-fi page, supporters and non-supporters will be able to see this content.
- All Supporters (One-off & Monthly): Anyone who has donated one-off in the last 30 days, donates monthly, or is an active Member of any tier will see this. Note: This content will be available to members of tiers priced lower than your former monthly supporter (coffee unit) price.
- All Monthly Supporters (Members): Monthly Supporters and Members of all tiers will see this content. One-off donators will not see this.
- 'Bronze Tier' and above: Members of Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers will see this content. Content will not be available for Monthly Supporters.
- 'Silver Tier' and above: Members of Silver and Gold tiers will see this content. Content will not be available for Monthly Supporters or Bronze Tier members.
- 'Gold Tier' and above: Only Members of the Gold tier will see this content. Content will not be available for Monthly Supporters or Bronze and Silver Tier members.
I Have Monthly Supporters, Should I Switch to Tiers?
If you are considering offering rewards to monthly supporters in the future we recommend creating a single membership tier rather than choosing Simple monthly donations. It is highly probable that you will earn more by creating different levels of membership for your supporters and offering rewards. Rewards can be as simple as allowing DM's, giving a social shout-out or making some existing content you have exclusively available to tier members.
We do understand some creators would prefer to just let supporters pay a donation on a monthly basis without rewards or any of the other Membership. There are currently no plans to remove the Simple monthly donations option.