Full Transcript for [101] Squarespace Member Areas Review: Should You Build a Membership Site on Squarespace?

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WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 I did something over this past weekend that I never thought I would do. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.519 I built a membership site using Squarespace. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:16.559 Now, to those of you who don't know me very well or haven't listened to this podcast in the past, that might seem like a pretty normal thing for someone who loves Squarespace to do. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.000 But here's the deal. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.120 I do not like the member area feature. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.839 I think it's clunky, I think it's messy, I think there is so much room for improvement. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:30.800 But really, my entire problem with the whole member area feature comes down to this. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:38.399 Squarespace lets us create a member area, but it doesn't give us enough control over the membership experience. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:44.560 I'm definitely still not a fan, but it was the right choice for the specific project I was working on this weekend. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:50.960 And this is exactly the kind of conversation that I want to have more of in this podcast of mine, Think Inside the Square. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:59.039 Because technically, yes, Squarespace can do the thing, but whether or not you should use Squarespace to do the thing, that is the interesting question. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:00.880 And that's what we're going to talk about today. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:10.799 I'm Becca Harpain, Squarespace expert and educator and creator of insidesquare.co, and you're listening to episode 101 of Think Inside the Square. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:16.640 Now, before we go any deeper, I do want to mention the term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Incorporated. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:19.920 This content is not affiliated with Squarespace Incorporated. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:27.680 These are just my opinions as a Squarespace designer that I want to share with the world because I've got a microphone and a laptop and the internet, so here we go. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:35.760 Oh, also, for a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidehesquare.co forward slash podcast. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.680 Alright, now here we go for real. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:44.719 Over the last six years, I have created more than 500 Squarespace tutorial videos. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:52.879 And over the weekend, I moved a huge portion of that old content into a brand new member area that I call the archive. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:58.079 At its most basic level, a Squarespace member area, it's pretty straightforward. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:02.959 If you have content, you put that into the member area and it acts like a folder. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.840 Someone creates an account and then they have access to the content that's in that folder. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:08.800 That's the job. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:12.000 Squarespace does that

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job, they do it well. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:22.319 And because I'm using Squarespace for this content, I have control over the way the pages look, so it's going to match the design and style and aesthetic of my site. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:29.120 But I don't have nearly as much control over the member experience that I want as a designer. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:31.840 That is my problem with member areas. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:39.360 Now, right out of the gate, when I tested the sign-up experience for this membership, I got four emails almost immediately. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:41.280 Verify your email address. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:42.960 Your email's been verified. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:44.960 Welcome to the membership area. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:46.319 Here's your receipt. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:50.080 Four separate emails in my already overflowing inbox. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:56.639 Now, personally, if I sign up for something and immediately get four emails about the thing, I'm gonna be annoyed. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.680 But I understand why those emails exist. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.960 Yes, it is important to verify the account. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.280 Yes, you should definitely welcome the person. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.680 And yeah, you absolutely need a receipt. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:09.360 Every email has a purpose. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:14.639 But as the person creating the membership, I want more control over that experience. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:19.840 I want to be able to step back and say, okay, what should they actually receive after they sign up? 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:21.759 Maybe it's only two emails. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:23.599 Yeah, let's do the verification. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.800 And then the one that follows is, hey, it's been verified. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:27.840 Here's your receipt. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:28.879 Here's how you log in. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.159 Welcome to the program. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.240 That would be beautiful. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:38.319 But instead, Squarespace has several separate transactional things that it needs to communicate. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:44.639 So a brand new member of my new membership, they're gonna get a bunch of emails in their inbox before they even had a chance to look around. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.599 Yes, we can customize some of the messaging. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:55.439 Yes, we can kind of customize the style of those emails, but it's a lot more limited than what we can do in an actual Squarespace website. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:59.280 And as a designer, I find that to be really disappointing. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:03.599 I wish that there was a better way to manage that experience, but it's what we've got. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.639 And I didn't let that stop me from using a member area for my particular project this weekend. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:19.120 Now there's one other part about member areas that I find

kind of annoying, and I wish I had more control over it as the designer, as the curator of this experience, but we're just not there yet. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:23.439 And that is the actual interface of the member program itself. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.199 The sign-up process and the account panel, all of that looks like Squarespace. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:39.680 It's white and black and gray, it's got a basic Sans Sarah font on there, it does the function it's designed to do, but we have no control over the design itself. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:45.199 There's no way to make that a branded cohesive experience with the rest of the website content. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:46.160 And I hate it. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:56.879 I really wish I could customize it, I wish I could change it, I wish I could make it look better, but all I have control over is the content of the page inside the member area. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:07.759 If I was working on a larger project for someone that needed a much more curated experience, I would absolutely look outside of Squarespace for the membership functionality. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:18.480 In the past, I've worked with quite a few different clients who needed membership setups, and we always looked for an alternative to Squarespace because of the lack of customization we have on the member experience. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:23.120 But for my project over the weekend, for the archive, Squarespace was the right choice. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:24.240 And here's why. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.040 The content of this membership was a massive blog. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.319 A blog that was already built inside Squarespace. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.720 Pulling that content out of the blog and putting it somewhere else would have been a huge undertaking. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:42.959 And I want this membership to be easy and I want it to be live. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.399 So leaving it inside Squarespace was the way to go. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.839 But I did run into one other hiccup that I want to mention. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:57.680 Now it didn't stop me from choosing Squarespace for this project, but it definitely threw a hiccup into the process that I wasn't prepared for. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:59.680 And that is search. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:04.079 You see, the archive is an archive of hundreds of tutorials. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.560 I have over 400 blog posts in there. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:15.120 Everything I've made back for version 7.0 back in 2019 and 2020, all the way through tutorials that I recorded earlier this year. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.040 Hundreds of blog posts inside this member area. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.800 And I wanted people to be able to search for it before they signed up. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:36.000 I wanted someone to be able to say, hey, I'm looking for this really specific tutorial or I want to customize this specific thing, and they could search what's in the archive to find it out if I have exactly what they need before they opened up their wallets. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:37.839 That's super important to me. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.240 But Squarespace made that difficult. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:47.519 You see, Squarespace wouldn't allow me to search content behind a paywall unless I was already behind the paywall. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:53.920 So I couldn't let someone search for content inside a member area once I moved it to the member area. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:55.600 Definitely a disappointment. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:00.160 So I actually vibe coded a custom search for those blog post titles. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:06.480 So we could look at the title, and if you click on the title for something you find, it'll pull up the page, and then you'll get the paywall. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:13.600 So I made sure that we could see what was the content inside the archive without actually having to be in the archive. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:23.759 That was a vibe coded workaround that I hadn't really considered until it was already Sunday, and I already moved all my blog posts over, and it was time to get the archive ready for the world. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:29.360 So I definitely needed to vibe code a quick solution for that rather than relying on Squarespace features. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.199 Search first, pay second. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.560 But it's a good example of what I want this podcast to be about. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:38.240 Is Squarespace the right choice for this particular project? 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:45.199 Reflecting back on some of the membership needs of some of my past clients, there were features that I didn't really need for the archive. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:55.839 Things like community features, tracking progress, the ability to send some specific onboarding emails or check in with people who've only made it halfway through things or didn't attend live events. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:59.199 Different membership setups require different information. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.920 All I really needed was a folder of content that people had to join the membership to access. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.040 And that was exactly what Squarespace was going to do for me. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:18.560 So if you need a beautiful dashboard or complex automations or personalized onboarding or live interactive chat or community features, Squarespace might not be the right choice. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.639 But if you need a simplified version like I did, someone creates account, someone gets access to content, done. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.560 That's what Squarespace can do. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.439 And honestly, that's all I needed it to do. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:38.559 Yes, I would have loved to have more control over the way the actual account setup works, the way it looks when someone logs in, and oh my goodness, the amount of emails people get. 00:08:38.720

--> 00:08:40.399 I would love to have control over that. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.440 But I didn't. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:47.679 And honestly, I'm okay with letting go of my need to control the design details for this specific project. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:51.519 So this episode is definitely not a love letter to Squarespace. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:55.679 I don't like the member area feature, but it was the right choice for this project. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.519 And I want you to think about that the next time you're creating something with Squarespace. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.559 Instead of thinking, can Squarespace do this? 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:07.120 Your question should be, what needs to happen for the user experience? 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.279 Think about it from that frame of mind. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.240 The user experience rather than the features. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:16.240 Focusing on that for the archive made Squarespace the right choice. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:20.799 So have I changed my mind about member areas now that I'm actively managing one? 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:21.759 Not at all. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.240 Am I going to recommend it to my future clients? 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:26.559 Probably not for more advanced projects. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.279 But for a project just like mine, content that you want to give someone access to, it was exactly what I needed. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:35.519 So here's your soundbite for today. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:40.720 Squarespace lets you create a member area, but it doesn't give you control over the member experience. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:44.559 Now sometimes that's a deal breaker, sometimes it doesn't matter at all. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.360 And the value you bring to this project is knowing exactly which situation you're in. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:54.159 And that, my dear Squarespacer, is exactly what I want to talk more about on this podcast. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:58.159 Not just can Squarespace do this, but should we do this in Squarespace? 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.159 Is it the right tool for the job? 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:10.159 Now, if you feel like you don't have enough emails in your inbox and you would like four more of them, you can check out the new member area that I created over the weekend, the one that inspired this entire rant. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:13.600 It is available at tutorials.squarespace.com. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.519 And that wraps it up for this episode. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:16.720 Thank you for listening. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:23.039 I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're thinking about your Squarespace projects from a different perspective than you have before you tuned in. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:29.519 I'm Becca from Inside the Square, and I'll be back next Tuesday with another update on should we do this with Squarespace? 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.120 And I hope you come back for more. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.120 Thanks for hanging out with me, and most importantly, have fun with your website. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:36.080 Bye for now.

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