Pros and Cons of Squarespace's Members Areas
Written by Anastasia Matveeva Hisel • Co-Written & Edited by Rob Ennis
Have you heard the news?! Squarespace recently launched a new offering in their platform: Squarespace Member Areas! Woo!
This means Squarespace allows you to monetize your website by giving your audience the option to buy a membership that allows them to access certain "premium" pages on your website. This can include videos, text, courses, PDFs, and more… but there are some imitations.
In this post I will be discussing the pros and cons, as well as giving you a quick overview of how the Squarespace Member Areas work and how to best take advantage of them.
What are the “cons” of Squarespace’s Member Areas?
You can only offer a maximum of 10 courses.
There’s no way for users to mark their progress.
Bundling of memberships isn’t offered as an option.
Beware of the odd pricing structure.
Does not offer video hosting, which means you still need to have a Vimeo Business account. (Vimeo does still boot people from their system for having commercial content on their lower tier plans.) Again, not a deal breaker (Vimeo is a high quality product with a lot of controls and the ability to have tightly branded content), but it may bother some people. Note: DO NOT USE YOUTUBE FOR THIS. It’s tacky and unprofessional, and your members will be served ads in your membership.
No file-specific protection. This means that some jerk could share a link to your files and others would be able to download it. So if you’re focused on, say, selling monthly subscriptions to your stock photography service, you’ll likely want to look at a different solution.
What are the benefits or “pros” of using Squarespace’s Member Areas?
Hosted all in one place!
Easy to set up!
Add all kinds of elements and content to your page.
Host both paid and free courses!
Seamless design & no Squarespace branding
Unlimited memberships!
To Summarize:
Should you use Squarespace’s new Member Areas feature?
Our answer is MAYBE! Unless you already have a bunch of content elsewhere, or you have more than 10 different courses to offer, SquareSpace Member Areas can be the right choice for you. Especially if you don’t mind paying a little more per purchase to enjoy the benefit of having everything in one place. It might not offer all the bells & whistles yet, but my bet is the Squarespace team is already working on updates. Plus, even if you have more than 10 courses, you may not want them all “up and available” on your site at all times.
What About Digital Downloads?
Here’s a great article about selling digital product downloads on Squarespace!
Member Areas – Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does it work with 7.0?
Yes! Member Areas works with both 7.0 and 7.1! Right now the only difference is that 7.1 has advanced navigation options, otherwise it’s all the same.
2. Can I upload videos to a Member Area?
No. You still have to host the videos elsewhere and embed them. I like Vimeo because of their excellent privacy and embedding feature, but any 3rd party host works that has privacy options and integrates with Squarespace.
3. Are documents and files protected by the Member Area?
Not right now. When you upload a file to Squarespace it is stored and accessible outside the Member Area. For PDF's I recommend to use a PDF password and share that inside your Member Area. Not sure about other file types though.
4. Can I trial Member Areas before I pay?
Yes! You can create a Member Area and test all it's features and when you are ready to launch it you simply purchase a Member Area plan.
5. Can I use discounts?
Yes, you can have Member Area specific discounts.
6. Can I have a Discussion Forum?
No. You could use a blog and the comment feature but for a discussion forum I recommend a Facebook group, Slack or Mighty Networks.
7. Can I manually add members, or transfer members from another platform?
Unfortunately not. Every member has to create an account on your website and join the Member Area. What you could do is offer a 100% discount code for existing members of paid Member Areas, or make the Member Area free until everyone has moved over and before you start selling it publically.
8. Can I have one Member Area and sell access to it with multiple products?
No, this cannot be done with Member Areas. However, there is a workaround by using regular store products in conjunction with Squarespace Campaigns: create your multiple products and set up a Campaigns automation for each product and include a link to the Member Area and either use a 100% discount code for the Member Area (because they have already paid) or you can make the Member Area free and simply monitor that only people who bought the products sign up for it.
9. Can I sell bundles with multiple Member Areas?
This is similar to question 8 and we basically have to get a bit creative here: create a regular product for the bundle and use a Campaigns automation to send an email after the purchase with a link to each Member Area. The member would create their account and then use the links to add each Member Area to their account. For this the member could either use a 100% discount code for the Member Area (because they have already paid) or you can make the Member Area free and use regular products to sell access to it.
10. Can I offer payment plans?
Not yet. The workaround would be to use a regular subscription product in conjunction with Squarespace Campaigns: set up a subscription with your desired billing cycle and also create an automation in Campaigns that sends an email with a link to the Member Area after someone purchases it. Make the Member Area free and monitor sign ups to make sure they have bought the subscription product, or give the customer a 100% discount code for the Member Area.
11. What is the difference between Member Areas in 7.0 and 7.1?
Right now the only difference is the navigation. In 7.1 you have the option to replace the main website navigation with the Member Area navigation once a member is logged in.
12. How is this better than the page password?
The page password can absolutely work, I've been using it for years. But Member Areas are definitely better because members can create their own password so you don't have to worry about changing the password for everyone if someone leaves a Member Area, or dealing with lost passwords. With a Member Area everything is controlled through the customer account which is especially great for subscriptions because if someone cancels a subscription they automatically lose access to the Member Area.
13. I like the look of Member Areas in 7.1, how do I switch to 7.1?
Currently there is no migration path between the two versions so you'd have to create a new website and start from scratch. It's what I am doing and yes, it's a lot of work but in my mind it's worth it, I love 7.1! Here is a post on how to make the switch with a step-by-step guide.
14. Which is the best template for Member Areas?
One important aspect of Member Areas is user navigation, i.e. making it easy for your member to navigate the content.
In 7.0 this can be done by using a sidebar, they are great for listing all of your Member Area pages. Either use a template that comes with a sidebar (like Bedford) or use the fabulous sidebar plugin (affiliate link). Or use a footer plugin, that would work, too.
In 7.1 you get the nice Member Area navigation and it doesn't matter which 'template' you choose as 7.1 only has one template. What you see in the ‘template’ store are just different design iterations of the same template.
15. Can I remove a member?
Yes! You can easily remove access to a Member Area via a member's Profile.
16. Can I use a 3rd party Email Marketing service with Member Areas?
Member Areas integrates seamlessly with Squarespace Campaigns and cannot be connected to another email service except for ConvertKit if you are on the Advanced Commerce Plan and have the ConvertKit extension. (Thank you Yazzi for the heads-up on this!)
What you can do for other 3rd party services is export all Member Profiles and then filter them by Member Area in a spreadsheet. Which is a potentially cumbersome effort but if you definitely don't want to use Campaigns or don’t have the ConvertKit extension then at least you still have access to your member emails this way.
17. How many Member Areas can I have?
Right now, up to 10.