Complete InstaMember Review from A Current User

12 replies
I've seen a lot of posts around the forum lately about people looking to start up membership sites, how to get started, etc. So I figured I would post about my experience using InstaMember to set up a membership site. Hopefully it will help others looking to get started. Feel free to reply if you have any questions.

So, I purchased the multisite package from InstaMember when it first launched a couple weeks ago. I believe it was $39 at the time that I bought. No issues downloading and installing the plugin on a wordpress site. Pretty straight forward.

What I like about InstaMember
Built in Dashboard - I like the built in dashboard with analytics. It shows how many members you have brought in over the last 7 days as well as revenue. It also shows who your most recent sign ups are, as well as when members were last active on your site.

Drip Feed Content - You can drip feed content or pages to members of different membership levels.

1 Click Upsells - You can create sales funnels full of upsets and downsells to your members. Easy to set up.

Built in Support Desk - I like the support desk feature, but it could use some work. It is very basic and was difficult for me to set up at first.

Autoresponder Integration - You can integrate your site with Aweber, Get Response, MailChimp, iContact, Constant Contact, ImnicaMail and InfusionSoft.

Broadcast Emails - You can blast emails to your members, affiliates, or both from within the InstaMember dashboard, instead of your auto responder if you choose to do so.

Built in Affiliate System - You can have people sign up as affiliates on their site, and they are automatically given an affiliate link to promote. They can come back to your site and check their stats, sales, hops, etc.

Integration with 3rd Party Payment Systems - You can integrate with PayPal, 2Checkout, Payza, WSOPro, JVZoo and other payment systems. Integrating with WSOPro or JVZoo will also enable you to handle affiliate sales through those payment systems, rather than InstaMember.

What I don't like about InstaMember
Not trying to bash here, just trying to give people an honest review.

The first issue I had was the set up instructions. Each aspect of setting up your site has an attached pdf file that gives you a better idea of what each option inside the admin area does. However, these pdf files are very vague. Most of these pdf instructions don't explain what each option does, they just tell you what the option is. So I kind of had to figure things out for myself as I went along.

Along the lines of the vague pdf files, they also have videos that go along with setting up your site. However, in my opinion, the videos are not much more detailed than the pdfs. Also, the person who is doing the voice over for the videos speaks very broken English, so it is hard to understand. I would expect better voice overs for a massive product launch like this. You can watch some instruction videos on their YouTube channel to see what I mean.

Another issue I had with InstaMember was the theme they include in their download package, InstaTheme. I installed it on my site, but ran into a range of glitches, so I uninstalled it. I ended up installing Optimize Press for the layout of my site, which worked great.

The last issue I have had with InstaMember is the support. I ran into some road blocks along the way; most I were able to figure out on my own, one I had to contact support about. However, it took 4 days for anyone to get back to me. As you can see on this thread, other people have reported this problem as well. Offering quick customer support is a must when launching a product. They did help resolve the problem though, which was much appreciated.

Overall
Aside from the lack of support, which was my biggest issue, I am satisfied with my purchase of InstaMember. The plugin is easy to use once you get the hang of it, and is powerful enough to handle whatever tools you need to run your site. I like the built in analytics so I can see new members, as well as who is coming back onto my site and when they are active.

Although I did purchase the multisite license, I am tempted to give MemberMouse a try. It looks like a good alternative. My biggest concern with InstaMember is the lack of support, so I may shop around first if I decide to do another membership site.

Other Membership Plugins/Software
Here is a list of alternate membership site plugins and softwares, both paid and free. Shop around and find something that works best for what you want your site to do. No affiliate links here.
Feel free to add any other membership software/plugins/scripts you recommend, and I will add them to the list.

Digital Access Pass (DAP) - WordPress Membership Plugin | Membership Software For WordPress Blogs And HTML/PHP Sites
Wishlist Member - WishList Member | Membership Site Software
S2 Member (Paid and Free Plugins) - s2Member® | A powerful (free) membership plugin for WordPress®
Member Mouse - MemberMouse - WordPress Membership Plugin
Easy Member Pro - Membership Site Software | Easy Member Pro
WP Your Members - http://www.yourmembers.co.uk
Amember Pro - http://www.amember.com/p/
#complete #current #instamember #review #user
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    • Profile picture of the author AJMontoya
      My pleasure!
      Originally Posted by ideasuniversity View Post

      Thanks for this honest and analytical review
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  • Profile picture of the author GerardCoyne
    Excellent, thorough review. Thanks alot!
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  • Profile picture of the author Russell Hall
    Well done AJ.
    Good to see an honest review.
    I'd add to that by saying that the built in support ticket mechanism is very basic (good enough for basic support but not robust enough for anything much more IMHO) maybe they'll beef that up a bit.
    Other thing that would have been nice would have been more IPN forwarding options for people that need to send keycodes out (the built in feature of keycode delivery is fine but some people (like me) use a separate DB manager for Keycodes delivery).
    Also,.. and option to switch off the shopping cart and affiliate modules and to be able to use external cart and affiliate manager if desired.

    I have used other member scripts such as WP YourMembers (good plugin that has been well developed by a UK team over the past few years), Wishlist (wasn't a good fit for me) and DAP which is very robust and got great features but I had to stop using it as I had some internal conflicts and glitches I couldnt get past despite excellent support from the developers.
    Currently I'm using WP-emember, WP-estore and WP-Affiliate as a 3-suite set up from the same developer. This suite in unison is really great to work worth. Very robust and feature strong and the support is great too. There are just a couple of things I'd like it to do personally which I'm planning to have coded in at my expense. I figure that if you can get something that's even 80% right for you then to have to spend a few hundred bucks perhaps to make it sing then its money well spent especially when applying it to several sites that are producing thousands of dollars every year.
    Back on topic,... I think Instamember is very good and I'm sure were going to see lots of cool little developments with it in due course. So I'm very happy to own a copy (license).

    Best regards,
    Russell Hall
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    Mvlti svnt vocati, pavci vero electi - Many are called [but] few are chosen

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    • Profile picture of the author AJMontoya
      Thanks Russell!
      I ended up disabling the built in support desk. It wasn't sufficient enough in my opinion. I agree they need to strengthen that aspect of their plugin.

      I think I'm going to hang on to the plugin for a while to see what new updates come out. It will be an extremely powerful system once it is completely operational.

      I'm gonna go ahead and add WP YourMembers to the list of alternate softwares. From the features page on the website it looks pretty solid. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Originally Posted by Russell Hall View Post

      Well done AJ.
      Good to see an honest review.
      I'd add to that by saying that the built in support ticket mechanism is very basic (good enough for basic support but not robust enough for anything much more IMHO) maybe they'll beef that up a bit.
      Other thing that would have been nice would have been more IPN forwarding options for people that need to send keycodes out (the built in feature of keycode delivery is fine but some people (like me) use a separate DB manager for Keycodes delivery).
      Also,.. and option to switch off the shopping cart and affiliate modules and to be able to use external cart and affiliate manager if desired.

      I have used other member scripts such as WP YourMembers (good plugin that has been well developed by a UK team over the past few years), Wishlist (wasn't a good fit for me) and DAP which is very robust and got great features but I had to stop using it as I had some internal conflicts and glitches I couldnt get past despite excellent support from the developers.
      Currently I'm using WP-emember, WP-estore and WP-Affiliate as a 3-suite set up from the same developer. This suite in unison is really great to work worth. Very robust and feature strong and the support is great too. There are just a couple of things I'd like it to do personally which I'm planning to have coded in at my expense. I figure that if you can get something that's even 80% right for you then to have to spend a few hundred bucks perhaps to make it sing then its money well spent especially when applying it to several sites that are producing thousands of dollars every year.
      Back on topic,... I think Instamember is very good and I'm sure were going to see lots of cool little developments with it in due course. So I'm very happy to own a copy (license).

      Best regards,
      Russell Hall
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  • Shout out to Suzanna (you really should stop lurking). Get some guts and put a forum in your members area (this will help with the slow response to your tickets), release a full blown theme (Instatheme - we know you will be trying to upsell everyone on this) for buyers of the developer version for free and rerecord all of your tutorials and this will help your credibility some. For me, I haven't the time to wait and am moving on to WLM until this is ready for primetime.
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    • Profile picture of the author Its Trish
      I agree that Suzanna needs to take responsibility.

      Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

      she (Suzanna) and her team have had high refund rates on some of their other software, plus complaints about their support.
      When I requested a refund last week, they told me they will be giving a refund, but they have delayed and delayed... so far no refund, just games. Very disappointed in you Suzanna.



      Lots of people have reported problems and software bugs (on this forum) and are not getting tickets answered.

      Originally Posted by williamtan View Post

      I'm kindda disappointed that I've no reply to my tickets
      Originally Posted by Kal B View Post

      (Instamember) Everything is all good until a purchase comes through...
      Originally Posted by chuckharris View Post

      We have used Instamember for a small test of a launch . . . a complete wreck. So many issues we can not even count, and all are straight up bugs. ZERO support. My vote for the worst support in the industry. It will be the last product of theirs that we buy.
      Originally Posted by sunnysmiles View Post

      The problem is their support. Non-existant.
      Originally Posted by mobisocialjobs View Post

      I haven't the time to wait and am moving on to WLM (WishListMember) until this (Instamember) is ready for primetime.
      Originally Posted by xismfofx22 View Post

      I just ran into another issue with InstaMember. I just had a member pay their recurring monthly charge, yet their payment did not show up in their member profile on the backend of the plugin. Had I not seen the email (which went into my junk folder) I would have thought members weren't paying their monthly fee.
      Originally Posted by Kal B View Post

      So all in all Insta-Member is the best thing since sliced bread UNTIL you put it in commercial use. When you do, it becomes a nightmare.
      Originally Posted by sunnysmiles View Post

      I say, proceed with caution if you want to use InstaMember. If all goes smooth for you then you'll love it. If you encounter even 1 problem, then you're screwed, because they'll never help you!
      Originally Posted by Juana411 View Post

      I bought the multi-user license on 6/24. I sent in a support ticket the same day and haven't heard a word from them. not a good sign......
      Originally Posted by williamtan View Post

      The lack of support for my ticket 5 days back got no response too. Sighed.
      Originally Posted by treasures4u View Post

      I emailed about instathemes not working and was sent back to download again. it said it installed correctly but i haven't gone past that.. good to see there are others with the same problems.
      Originally Posted by kyraline View Post

      I ditched the Instatheme and installed my own theme
      Originally Posted by kyraline View Post

      unhappy with the lousy documentation/tutorials. How do people register as a member? There's a signup form somewhere but nothing in the documentation shows how people get there. I want to make a bunch of video's available within the members area and I want to spread them out over different pages, but I don't see how people can navigate through members content. How exactly should I set up the members home page?
      Originally Posted by williamtan View Post

      I'm kindda disappointed that I've no reply to my tickets, both to Insta-Member (because of the faulty bonus themes and the difficulty in setting up the member's home page; due to no documentation) and also a ticket to MemberRocket on a IPN bug (the IPN is indeed forwarded by WarriorPlus side but not sure why MR is not allowing paid member to register).

      The lack of support is something I don't really appreciate. ... ... With no support and tickets hanging there for more than a week or 2, I'll have to abort using both of 'em.
      Originally Posted by williamtan View Post

      Update : My InstaMember ticket has been replied ... after more than 10 days.
      Originally Posted by sunnysmiles View Post

      It also lacks integration with Paypal Pro, which is a must if you're running a real business and want to offer Paypal payments.
      Originally Posted by xismfofx22 View Post

      Hi Mike,
      My main issues with InstaMember have been the lack of support and lack of detailed instructions. I had a problem setting up the site that completely froze my website for a few days before someone in their support got back to me. I understand that it was a huge product launch, but they should have had some sort of customer support in place ready to go before hand.

      I'm giving MemberMouse a try right now since they have a 14 day free trial. I haven't been able to get real deep into it, but I'm liking the system so far.
      Originally Posted by williamtan View Post

      Ouched ... I was thinking of using back InstaMember for my next WSO but (a big BUT) looks like I'm going to abort that idea. It's pity such a full-featured membership plugin is now going to be shelved at a dark corner of my harddisk.

      Is there NO ONE that has successfully used InstaMember operationally?
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Thanks AJ, you just saved me from spending cash on another plugin.
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    • Profile picture of the author Walter Parrish
      I haven't really tested it out yet, but I will in a few days.

      As far as support initially I had to wait for about a week on questions I had before purchasing. The answers were satisfactory and the wait was understandable due to the fact that the product had just launched.

      As far as the documentation and videos they were lacking, but they seem to give enough information to get started at least for the more advanced users.

      Where the product really shinned for me was the ability to spit out paypal buttons, and the affiliate functionality. Being able to create a paypal button means that they solved the mrr rr rights problem with wordpress. Meaning I could create buttons add them to my html pages and serve up the protect files through Instamember.

      The affiliate tracking I am told can also do recurring payouts. That was all I needed as other similar programs like DAP (267.00 multisite and you will probably need help with it) , and DL Guard 147.00 (with the owner forcing customers to purchase 2 licenses) that have similar functionality wouldn't do this for this price.

      As far as beginners I would say hang in there because what it looks like to me is Instamember is a power house it's just that the complete plugin wasn't well documented.

      As far as the template I don't know it seemed to me that the creators said enough in the members area and documentation to let me know that it was just a template.

      I will return after a little testing to see if it actually does what I want. As far as softwares it's like the other Warrior said on here if you can get one to do 80% of what you want then you're doing good. Otherwise you might as well do it yourself or higher someone .
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  • Profile picture of the author monitizer
    Any workout of Memberrocket IPN bug for warriorplus?
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  • Profile picture of the author Sharyn Sheldon
    Thanks so much for the honest review. Someone else had recommended that I wait for Instamember before committing to another software, but the support and instructions issues are way too big for me.

    Member Mouse was highly recommended to me, but I'm concerned about how well another affiliate software will integrate with it. Usually when something goes wrong, one company blames the other, so it can be a nightmare to fix.

    aMember is used by a lot of my colleagues, but it's customer and affiliate interfaces are terrible, particularly if you have more than a handful of products.

    I'm going to check out some of the others mentioned here. This was incredibly helpful
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    • Profile picture of the author Mary Greene
      I've had a positive recent experience with Suzanna and her team. I contacted InstaMember's support staff with a download problem in early November 2013, and they knocked themselves out solving it FAST.

      1. Instamember support sent me to a new registration site now that it's selling on a different marketing platform.

      2. They provided the login info for the download in their support reply.

      3. They followed up to see if I had any more questions.

      In the coming months, I'll build my first membership site using this platform. Suzanna has posted a bunch of Instamember tutorial videos on the site now, so I hope the instruction will cover most questions.

      I remind myself I paid about 15% of what most unlimited membership site software costs. Also, the Instamember team was funded only by Warrior startup purchases initially until they moved to Clickbank.

      The fact is many expensive membership scripts are too complex for nonprogrammers or have persistent major bugs in the first year. I learned this while working in the software industry. It takes that long for software bugs and compatibility issues to even emerge let alone be fixed. Since every support request and programming upgrade costs a vendor money, my expectations are pretty realistic about bargain software.

      I'm continuing to bet on Instamember for now because I've experienced problems with Wishlist and RoboForm compatibility recording login URLs and login info correctly. I just want simple software that works.

      I'll post again if I have Instabuilder support problems, but I'm a very happy about their current support so far.

      Cheers,
      Mary Greene

      P.S. I also had one good support experience with Instabuilder.
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      Cheers,
      Mary Greene

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