Contents
Introduction
Neon CRM supports an auto-renewal setting for memberships. Selecting this setting means that a membership will be automatically renewed upon expiration at the same level and term.
Auto-renew memberships are only supported for two Tender Types:
- Credit Card (Online)
- E-Check/ACH
This setting can be enabled by a system user or can be selected by the constituent and is optional unless the Force Automatic Renewal option is enabled for membership levels, as described below.
Neon CRM does not store credit card or E-Check/ACH information. Any payment information that is entered for auto-renewal is saved by your credit card gateway. For more information, please review our Gateway Settings guide here.
Note: Auto Renewal should not be used for membership terms with "write-in" amounts. This applies to the following cases:
- System users processing a transaction and overwriting the set term fee on the data entry screen;
- "Other Amount" term options added to online membership forms;
- Additional amounts added to the membership fee if this has been allowed in your system's Membership Settings.
Auto Renewal will always process the renew transactions at the defined fee for the membership term. It will not renew for the last amount paid.
Enabling Auto-Renewal as a System User
To enable auto-renewal for a new membership, go to the appropriate account and scroll to the Membership History section, then select New Membership or Renew Membership. On the Membership page, for Auto Renewal, select Yes.
When you select Add Membership, a message will appear alerting you that only Credit Card and E-Check/ACH will be available options on the payment page. Click OK.
On the Summary page, you will be provided with a summary of the information that you entered. In the Payment section, enter the credit card or E-Check/ACH information, then click Submit Payment. to complete the membership entry. The information entered on the payment page will now be sent to your gateway provider for processing.
On the account page for the new member, you will now see information in the Membership section, including an indicator that this membership is set for auto-renewal.
Modifying Auto-Renew Memberships as a System User
Auto-renew memberships can be edited by going to the member's account, selecting Edit Auto Renewal underneath Actions (three dots).
On this screen, you can:
- Replace the auto-renewal payment option on file with another E-Check/ACH or Credit Card
- Turn off auto-renewal
To replace the auto-renewal payment option, select Replace Current Credit Card.
You will be prompted to enter new credit card information. You can also use the Select a tender drop-down menu to change the tender type to E-Check/ACH. Note that Neon CRM will not run the new credit card at the time of entry; it will wait to use this credit card until the membership expires.
To turn off auto-renewal for this membership, uncheck the Auto renew membership box and click Next.
Modifying Auto-Renew Memberships as a Constituent
When logged in, a constituent may view their current and previous memberships. For active memberships, they can modify their auto-renewal settings by selecting selecting their active membership and then selecting Manage Auto-Renew.
On the Manage Auto-Renew screen, they can select the Auto-Renew toggle to the on or off position to enable or disable this feature for their membership. Once they have made their selection, they must select Save at the bottom of the screen.
Force Automatic Renewal
By default, the auto-renew option is optional on front-end forms. However, you can choose to require auto-renewal for membership terms. To force automatic renewal, go to Global Settings cog > Global Settings > Memberships > Levels & Terms and select Edit next to the membership for which you want to require auto-renewal. Select Next on the membership level settings page, and then select Edit next to the membership term you wish to update. You may make change the Require auto-renewal for this membership term drop-down to Yes.
When you change Require auto-renewal for this membership term to Yes, the auto-renewal option will be grayed out for this level on front-end forms and the membership will auto-renew.
Note that auto-renewal will only be required for this level on front-end forms. You can still assign this level to a member as a system user without enabling auto-renewal.
Auto-Renew Membership System Emails
Neon CRM has two system emails specifically for auto-renewing memberships. You can view and modify these system emails here: Global Settings cog Global Settings Communications Transaction Acknowledgements System Emails.
Both of these system emails are turned off by default. To enable them, you will want to change the enable button to "On."
The Membership Auto-Renewal Notice is a reminder to the member that their membership will auto-renew soon. The Advanced Days field determines when the member will be reminded about their upcoming auto-renewal. For example, if an auto-renewing membership is set to expire on September 30 and the Advanced Days is set to 15, the member will receive this email on September 15.
To set the Advanced Days, you will want to select "Edit" in the email's Settings.
The member will receive the standard Membership Renewal Completion Notice system email when the auto-renewal is successfully processed.
The Membership Auto-Renewal Error Notice email will be sent to the member if the auto-renewal is unable to be successfully processed. Typically, this would occur if the credit card on file is expired or has been deactivated by the member. The email will prompt the client to log in to the constituent login portal to update their credit card information.
Reporting on Auto-Renew Memberships
You can report on all current auto-renewing memberships here: Reports New Report Membership Current Member Report. For Search Criteria, select Membership Auto Renewal Equal Yes.
What happens when a Membership Level is Deactivated or Fails?
In the event that you need to mark a Membership Level as Inactive, any members that have Auto-Renewal enabled will no longer be able to renew at that membership level.
When marking a membership level as Inactive, System Users will be presented with the below warning message:
Clicking on Disable Auto-renew and make inactive will deactivate the membership and also display the following message in the Memberships section of the account detail page:
Any constituents that have an active Membership Term with a deactivated Membership Level will still be able to:
- Be captured in reports (both when the term is active or expired)
- Take advantage of discounts that are only available to those members (while the term remains active)
- Access pages that are only available to those members (while the term remains active)
If an auto-renew membership has failed, you can remove it from the top "Active" section of the membership tabs.