Enable the Membership Auto-Renewal Option on Applications

When a member joins or renews, you can encourage them to enroll in automatic membership renewal by adding the option to your membership application forms.

Auto-renewal simplifies life for your members and makes your dues revenue more predictable.

In this article, we’ll learn how to:

• Add the auto-renewal option to a membership application form
• Change the default setting to pre-selected auto-renewal
• Support members who need to make changes to their auto-renewal membership

Add auto-renewal to a membership application form

When added to the form, the auto-renewal field will appear as a clear checkbox that your members must select to opt into auto-renewal.

Helpful hint: If you only want to prompt members to sign up for auto-renewal in certain scenarios, be sure to create a separate form without the auto-renewal option and assign it to the appropriate processes.

1. Navigate to the Membership + Committees app.
2. In the left toolbar, select Setup, then Applications, and then Forms.
3. Click the + Create Membership Application button to create a new form or click the pencil icon next to an existing form to edit it.
4. Before you can add the auto-renewal component, a field group must exist. To create a new field group, click the + Add Component button and select Field Group.
   1. If you already have a field group you would like to use on your form, click the pencil on that field group. 
5. To add the auto-renewal component to a field group search for “Renew Automatically” in the field browser. Add it to the field group by selecting the checkbox. Then, click the Save Changes button.
   
   
   
   
6. If you want to change the field label that members will see on the form, click on the field in the editor and rename the field display.
   
   
   
   
7. When you’re done editing your form, click the Save button.
8. To learn more about form configuration, check out this article.

Designate pre-selected auto-renewal as the default

If you want members to opt out of auto-renewal instead of having to opt in, you can change the default setting at the membership package level. When enabled, the auto-renewal field will appear as a selected checkbox that your members must clear to opt out of auto-renewal.

1. Navigate to the Membership + Committees app.
2. In the left toolbar, select Setup, then Membership, and then Packages.
3. Click the + Create Membership Package button to create a new membership package or click the pencil icon next to an existing package to edit it.
4. Scroll down to the Membership + Renewal section and enable the setting to automatically renew membership unless members explicitly opt-out.
   
   
   
   
5. Once this is done, click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

Helpful hint: We recommend making the pre-selected auto-renewal option very clear on forms to avoid member frustration and unnecessary manual corrections for your staff. It may be helpful to add additional text to the form to let users know that they are enrolling in auto-renewal by keeping the box checked.

Making changes to a member’s auto-renewal settings from the portal

Members can make changes to the settings of their auto-renewal membership from the portal from the built-in Membership Overview component.

Here are the steps to make those changes should you need to assist them:

1. Navigate to the Membership Overview page.
   

   Note: This page may be named something different in your organization’s portal. If you are unsure, speak with your team’s Rhythm administrator or a member of our support team.

2. From the list on the right, select Change Auto-Renewal Settings.
3. From here, they have the option to update the credit card on file for auto-renewal or cancel the auto-renewal altogether.