Setting up automatic recurring billing

[perryny]

I thought this should be easy, but...

I've got a product for sale. They purchase and get a free, 30-day trial to the membership site.

I'm using Amember. I can't figure out how my customers can purchase essentially both products at once and then get automatically billed on a recurring, monthly basis for the membership begining 30 days after the initial purchase (that's what I want to do, right?).

I'm working with a very respected WF copywriter on this project and he suggested I steer away from attempting this setup (he suggests I go with a OTO for the membership instead), because he says technically, it's a major pain in the arse.

I can't believe it's this complicated.

If Amember was the wrong way to go, I can switch to wishlist (which seems to be the favorite around here).

Help is greatly appreciated.
-Rob

[joshril]

Why is your copywriter handling your tech stuff?

[Chris Pambos]

Hi,

If you want your customer to purchase both your continuity and an upsell within your sales funnel, you should implement 'One Click Upsells' where your customer only needs to enter the billing information once and it's as simple for them to click 'YES' they want that particular product and it will add it automatically to their cart which they can preview on the final checkout.

Alternatively, you could sell whatever related product on the front end, offer 1 months subscription to your continuity as an added BONUS to go with your initial product, that way you don't require your customer to make 2 purchases, they make 1 purchase on a great offer you've crafted and receive both your quality front end product + automatically put into your continuity program with the first month free.

Also as joshril had asked, I'm going to ask the same question, why is your copy writer handling your technical stuff?

You can easily find an affordable and experienced coder from Script Lance who will manage all the technical stuff for you.

Regards,

Chris Pambos

[tecHead]

What payment processor are you using?

I ask because depending on the processor; some of them do not allow trial memberships... which is what you want to do. aMember is a membership software, so in order to use the "one" software, you'd need to position your ebook as a one time payment membership.

Then; somehow (I'm not an aMember user); offer the trial to the other membership. Your copywriter might be right in suggesting an OTO; as you're talking about two separate products.

Hope this helps
PLP
tecHead

[perryny]

This is my first IM venture. I hired the best copywriter available to both write my copy AND guide me through this process.

[perryny]

Originally Posted by Chris Pambos

Hi,

Alternatively, you could sell whatever related product on the front end, offer 1 months subscription to your continuity as an added BONUS to go with your initial product, that way you don't require your customer to make 2 purchases, they make 1 purchase on a great offer you've crafted and receive both your quality front end product + automatically put into your continuity program with the first month free.

Also as joshril had asked, I'm going to ask the same question, why is your copy writer handling your technical stuff?

You can easily find an affordable and experienced coder from Script Lance who will manage all the technical stuff for you.

Regards,

Chris Pambos

This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve. I just can't figure out how to implement it. Is it really so difficult that I need to outsource it? It's not something I can accomplish myself through Amember (or something similar)?

[perryny]

Originally Posted by tecHead

What payment processor are you using?

I ask because depending on the processor; some of them do not allow trial memberships... which is what you want to do. aMember is a membership software, so in order to use the "one" software, you'd need to position your ebook as a one time payment membership.

Then; somehow (I'm not an aMember user); offer the trial to the other membership. Your copywriter might be right in suggesting an OTO; as you're talking about two separate products.

Hope this helps
PLP
tecHead

I'm using Paypal Pro and Authorize.net. The "Somehow" you mention is what I'm trying to find out how to do.

[perryny]

So, I'm probably spinning my wheels trying to accomplish this in the wrong place (amember as opposed to Paypal).

[Chris Pambos]

Originally Posted by perryny

This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve. I just can't figure out how to implement it. Is it really so difficult that I need to outsource it? It's not something I can accomplish myself through Amember (or something similar)?

Hi Perry,

If you have little to no knowledge with PHP then I highly recommend that you hire a coder to do the work for you. The process itself is a 2 second job for any experienced coder and a very difficult job for those like yourself and I who are primitive when it comes to PHP.

Think of it this way, at least if you outsource such a task that is difficult for yourself, rather than investing so much time trying to figure it out, let an experienced professional figure it out for you, allowing you more time and freedom to work on more important aspects of your online business.

If you were to sell product X with a free 1 month trial as an added bonus, I've personally haven't used Amember yet but setting up such an offer shouldn't be too difficult at all, I would expect Amember to have relevant customization settings allowing you to do so but I could be wrong as I'm yet to use Amember.

Regards,

Chris Pambos

[gxd5]

Originally Posted by perryny

So, I'm probably spinning my wheels trying to accomplish this in the wrong place (amember as opposed to Paypal).

If you want to start out with basic recurrent billing, then just use paypal. It is good enough for most small type of products.

Once you get bigger, Paypal just won't do, and you will need to check out something like Authorize.net. They have a fairly functional recurrent billing gateway, unfortunately it is COMPLETELY undocumented. There is a lot of sample code out there, though, so you will have to do like the rest of us and slog through it.

Good luck with your venture.