Heartbeat's recent payment updates introduced several enhancements and differences compared to the older setup, improving flexibility, accessibility, and control for both community managers and members. With the recent updates, we made some changes to the terminology we use. We understand that change can be confusing, so we have put together a handy table to help you understand the changes in wording:
New Term |
Old Term |
Definition |
|
Sign Up Pages |
Invitations |
Pages you can customize and send to prospective members to sign up to your community. Add offers to sign up pages to collect payment during onboarding. |
|
Access Groups |
Groups |
The foundation of controlling access in your community. Access groups help you segment content in your community. Turn free access groups into products by adding them to offers. |
|
Offers |
N/A |
Create freemium and paid memberships, digital products, and combine bundles of products using offers. You can extend offers to new members on sign up pages or existing members using in-community upsells. |
We've also made some major updates to the feature suite of Heartbeat Payments. Here’s a comparison of some key changes:
Features |
Old Payment |
New Payment Update |
Subscription Control and Options |
Options include weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual subscriptions, installment plans, and free trials. |
All Payments 1.0 payment options, upfront registration fee, default payment options, and pay what you can. |
Managing Member Access |
The “Remove from group” and “Require resubscription” options give admins automated, streamlined control over member access. |
The membership tier process is now more streamlined, allowing members to automatically downgrade to a free tier when the free tier option is enabled. |
Promo Codes and Discounts |
Admins need to create promo codes directly through Stripe, timed offers, and tracking within the platform. |
Discount codes, timed offers, and code tracking are done within the community. |
Upsells and Customization |
Create upsells at different tiers, where members are offered premium content. |
Admins can select access groups, offer bundles, and add multiple tiers to an offer bundle, provided they are not in the same offer access. |
Post-Purchase Redirects |
None |
Post-purchase redirects help personalize the member experience, sending them to specific welcome pages, onboarding instructions, or community guidelines, streamlining engagement right after joining. |
Flexible Payment Models |
One-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and installments |
All previous payment models with limited time offer pricing, setting launch dates and waitlists |
Enhanced Member Insights and Analytics |
None |
Detailed analytics for tracking member sign-ups, subscription status, and engagement, allowing admins to fine-tune offers based on real-time |
Payment Workflows |
None |
Automate after email capture, after purchase, or during cancelation |
Payment Page Preview |
None |
Allows admins to see how their payment pages will look before going live. This preview is available on both mobile and desktop views, allowing for a responsive design check, |
Old Payments:
-
You created specific products for courses, events, or memberships.
-
Pricing and payment options were linked to individual products.
-
Fewer options for tiered memberships and no built-in upselling automation.
New Payment Update:
-
You now create offers that can include multiple membership tiers, pricing models, and access groups.
-
Automated workflows and in-community upsells are now built into the offer process.
-
More flexibility for free trials, temporary access, and managing multiple membership tiers under one offer.
By shifting from the old product-based system to the new offer-based system, you can better tailor how you monetize your community. The new tools streamline everything from pricing to member engagement, ensuring that you can focus on creating a valuable community experience.