MemberWing — Review of WordPress Membership Plugin

Overall rating:
Version:	6.550
Reviewed by:	M.K. Safi

MemberWing is a specialized membership plugin. It has some interesting features that no other membership plugin offers. Not only can MemberWing drip-feed content based on a member’s subscription date, it can also control availability of content based on content’s publishing date. For instance, it can make an article first available to paid members and then later unlock the article to the public—all automatically. This can be useful for sites, such as those that release market trends intelligence reports.

MemberWing also has outstanding digital files protection features. It allows you to specify teaser versions of premium files, embed a traceable digital signature in files, and even automatically create a basic digital online store.

However, MemberWing is priced higher than most other membership plugins—starting at $199.95. Therefore, it is best suited for those who can take full advantage of its specialized features, namely time-based content protection and digital file protection.

Installation & Admin UI

A trial version of MemberWing can be downloaded from MemberWing.com for free. You just upload it and activate it, and you’re set.

When you’re ready to upgrade to the full version, you buy the license (from the same website) and validate it within MemberWing’s admin area.

The installation process of MemberWing is smooth. The same cannot be said about its admin UI, which is made of tables and the colors of the rainbow. The cells of these tables are stuffed with tiny text that’s difficult to read. Take a look at the screenshots.

Documentation & Support

MemberWing has a single PDF user-manual. I found it a little difficult to follow and doesn’t give sufficient demos and examples. It is mostly dedicated to explaining content protection methods, and doesn’t explain in details the various registration scenarios that MemberWing supports or various payment gateway setups.

But the plugin has detailed inline documentation, which helps in understanding the numerous option fields.

As for support, it is provided through two channels: support forum and direct contact with developer.

Member Management

MemberWing uses WordPress users to manage its members. But the way it handles user access privileges is not tied to WordPress in anyway. WordPress built-in roles and capabilities are not used at all. With MemberWing you basically create products and then give users access to those products.

Using this model, you can create unlimited products and give users access to any number of products. These products determine users access rights to posts and files.

You can’t collect or utilize custom profile fields with MemberWing.

Flow of Registration Steps

MemberWing supports almost all registration flow models, but not without additional costs and plugins.

It has support for the following models without any additional plugins (‘→’ represents a redirect):

• Register → Login & access free content → Pay
• Register → Pay → Login
• Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login

And with the help of the Authorize.Net WordPress plugin ($89), it can also support the following models:

• Pay and register on one page on your site → Login
• Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial

There isn’t enough information on implementing some of these registration flows. You’ll either have to figure things out on your own or seek support.

Payment Processing Features

MemberWing works with PayPal Standard (no support for PayPal Website Payments Pro), E-junkie, ClickBank, 2Checkout, and NMI Payments. It can also integrate with Authorize.Net with the help of the Authorize.Net WordPress plugin ($89).

But most of MemberWing payment integrations are basic. There is no support for upsells or discount coupons.

Processing of Cancellations and Refunds

When a member of your MemberWing-powered site cancels, refunds, or charges back, MemberWing will automatically and immediately revoke their access to premium content.

Content Protection Features

MemberWing provides advanced and complex options in serving time-sensitive content and digital files.

The plugin relies completely on “{premium markers}” to protect content. These premium markers can be placed within the content of a post or a page. Or they can be placed in the category settings page of MemberWing’s admin. That way you can protect individual posts as well as entire categories.

Gradual Content Delivery

Creating gradually delivered content in MemberWing is a matter of setting a ‘maturity’ period as custom field for the post or page. You give the maturity custom field a number of days by which you wanna delay the content.

Time Sensitive Content

Gradual content delivery is based on the date a member joins your site. MemberWing can also control access privileges based on the publish date of posts. For example, when you first publish a post, you may want platinum members to see it first. And 5 days after, you want the rest of your members see it. And two months later, make the post completely public. MemberWing can do that, and it calls this feature Time Sensitive Information protection. This feature is only available in the TSI edition of the plugin.

Protecting Files

MemberWing has very advanced files protection features. I’d say it’s the best in this category.

Simply place your premium files inside the pre-designated PREMIUM_FILES directory, which MemberWing creates upon activation. Within that directory, you can create sub-directories with names that match the names of the membership level that you offer. If MemberWing detects a name match, it’ll grant access—otherwise, access is denied.

MemberWing employs some cool features when it comes to file protection. It allows you to serve an alternate version of the denied file. This could be a shorter, teaser version. It can also embed a digital signature in each file, which helps you trace back sources of leaked premium files.

Another unique feature of MemberWing’s file protection is its ability to instantly build and launch a digital online store (albeit a very basic one).

Teaser Content

There are several ways by which you can create teaser content with MemberWing. You can simply place the {premium markers} in your content so that anything before the premium marker is visible. Or you can specify a teaser length at the category level.

As stated earlier, you can even provide teaser versions of protected files.

MemberWing also claims support for Google’s First Click Free but I couldn’t find documentation or instructions on using this feature or how it works within MemberWing.

Having said all of that, there some types of content that MemberWing does not officially protect, such as discussion forums. MemberWing cannot generate member-specific protected RSS feeds, and it has no option to simply protect an entire WordPress site.

Extensibility & API

MemberWing has no documented API upon which 3rd party developers can build. But it has simple web-like API. You send a request to mwx-api.php and MemberWing will respond with requested data. This is, however, very basic and is only good for managing affiliates within MemberWing.

Email Communication with Subscribers

MemberWing has basic integration with the following autoresponder services: MailChimp, AWeber, and 1ShoppingCart. New subscriptions are automatically added into whatever list you configure. MemberWing doesn’t have the ability to automatically move members from one list to another based on changes in their subscriptions.

Affiliate Management Capabilities

MemberWing has a basic built-in affiliates management module.

But if you need more flexibility, MemberWing can be readily integrated with the popular affiliates management software iDevAffiliate. Additionally, you could use the affiliates management features of ClickBank or E-junkie, if you use one of those as your payment processor.

Who is Using It

Wall Street Week, The Dribbler Mag, WordPress Academy, Oil and Gas Investments, MLM The Whole Wealth, and Waldorf Homeschoolers.

Notice how some of these websites are stocks and investments related. These types of websites are more likely to take advantage of MemberWing’s time-sensitive content protection capabilities than regular membership sites.

Money Matters

A trial version of MemberWing can be downloaded for free. Once you’ve tried the plugin and liked it, you can purchase one of three types of licenses: Pro One, Pro Unlimited, and TSI Edition.

Pro One ($199.95) can be installed on one domain only. Pro Unlimited ($299.95) can be installed on unlimited number of websites. The TSI Edition ($299.95) includes the TSI protection features and can only be installed on one domain.

Because there’s a free trial version of the plugin, refunds are not issued.

Each license is backed by one-year support and upgrades, which can be renewed ($40/year for Pro One, $60/year for Pro Unlimited and the TSI Edition).

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