Immediate, gut answer? No.

After having consultation calls with a dance studio and an online yoga studio about wanting me to build out a membership area for them, I decided to do a thorough analysis about whether I think that is a better option than using something like Mindbody.

ADVANTAGES of Squarespace Membership

1. Unlimited Members
2. On-brand with your website
3. Fairly easy to set up
4. Secure/ you can lock your content
5. If you want to use Squarespace campaigns as your email software it will be really easy to email your members – otherwise you will need to manually upload the new member to your email software (which you may already be doing with Constant Contact).

DISADVANTAGES of Squarespace Membership

1. Even if you are currently using Squarespace for your members, you would have to make them sign up AGAIN if you create a membership area *
2. If you add a membership area, you will need to upgrade your account and pay a bit more depending on what type of membership plan you want ($10-$40 a month more and the transaction fee is 1-7% – this is on top of Stripe or Paypal fees)
3. You can’t have the video hosted in Squarespace. You’ll need to upload the video to Vimeo or YouTube.

* Honestly this is a big downside for me. Squarespace does not have a built-in way to move a member areas subscription between sites. You can export and import profiles with these instructions. (This guide will show you all the content you can import and export.)

So they will need to re-register and purchase again.

A few things to note:

1. If you add a membership you will need to upgrade your account and pay a bit more depending on what type of membership plan you are currently using ($10-$40 a month more and transaction is 1-7% this is on top of Stripe or Paypal fees)

2. With a member area probably the best way to go about it would be a password protected page and then you would add a “blog post” each day with the new training (so once they are in the member area they can see all the past trainings)

3. You will still need to upload the video to Vimeo or YouTube

4. If you want to use Squarespace campaigns as your email software it will be really easy to email your members – otherwise you will need to manually upload the new member to your email software (which you may already be doing with Constant Contact) 

I think overall I would suggest having a membership outside of Squarespace. Most people I know don’t actually use the member area even if there website is hosted on Squarespace. 

What can I use instead?

Other Squarespace websites use the Mindbody app (or something like that like Arketa). This allows clients the ability to have the app once they have signed up and continue signing up through that. It is a fairly easy integration, you would just need to set it up prior (the Mindbody app). 

Here are some examples of Squarespace websites that use that:

1. https://www.dancedynamics.com.au/box-hill
2. https://www.thisistheunion.com/
3. https://www.empirefitspokane.com/class-schedule

Case by Case situations:

Book a class on Squarespace

“I want a place for people to book a class through the website and pay through the website and sign a waiver. Eventually I want a CRM to send them auto emails with updates and classes.”

The issue with the Squarespace scheduling is it is a lot more back end per class for you. You can set recurring classes which is great, but overall doesn’t seem as intuitive as an app like MindBody.

How to do password-protected daily videos on Squarespace

“I’m a fitness studio and I post daily videos and want it to be password protected. Do you think membership area is a good choice?”

No, I would just use a page password without signing up for member areas: LEARN HOW. That way you are also avoiding the financial add-on.

If you decide on a member area, probably the best way to go about it would be a password protected page and then you would add a “blog post” each day with the new training (so once they are in the member area they can see all the past trainings).

I’m still interested in Squarespace member areas

Here’s more info about Squarespace’s feature (member areas): https://www.squarespace.com/blog/set-up-pricing-and-collect-payments-for-online-courses 

Or watch this video for more info – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv3oohX6A8Y 

PHEW that was A LOT, but I hope it helped guide you if you are a wellness studio looking to create a membership on Squarespace (or a Squarespace website designer helping a client decide whether to use member areas).

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