There are four ways your community members can join groups in Heartbeat:
For paid groups, use upsells. If joining a group requires a purchase, set up an upsell on your Offer to ensure that members subscribe before accessing the content.
Which groups members can join
Members can only add themselves to a group when its Group Membership is set to Joinable. With Admin Controlled or Automated, only admins or the automation add people, and a group an Offer sells shows Paid, because the Offer decides who is in it.
- Visibility: members can't see or join a Hidden group, which only admins and moderators can see. Profile shows the group on member profiles, and Badge shows it next to member names.
- Who can join: to let only some members join, turn on Limit who can join this access group? and pick the groups whose members can join. These groups show as Limited Joinable in Settings > People > Access Groups. For a subgroup, any limit on the groups above it applies too.
Join a group through onboarding
If you want to invite new members that haven't joined your community yet to a specific group, you can use a Sign Up Link so they can go through your onboarding before joining the group.
Here, you can customize your onboarding to suggest specific groups to your new members during onboarding.
Join through My Groups
Members click their profile picture, then My Groups, to see the groups they're in and join any group they're allowed to. Admins find it in Settings > Account > My Groups. Members can also leave a Joinable group there by hovering over Joined and clicking Leave. Groups that aren't Joinable can't be left this way.
Join through a $join card
Type $join in a chat message or Threads post and pick the group. Members see a card with the group's name, description and a Join button. If the group isn't Joinable, Heartbeat asks whether to make it Joinable when you post.
- A free group adds them straight away.
- A group an Offer sells takes them to checkout, or to a tier change if they're already on another tier of that Offer.
Members don't see the card for a Hidden group, only the $join text. Admins and moderators can see Hidden groups, so the card always works for them. Check it with Preview as Member in your profile menu, or with a member account.
Join through a link
Anywhere Heartbeat lets you pick a link, such as a button in a popup, a Workflow or an Offer's post-purchase redirect, search for the group and choose Invite to and the group's name. Members who open it are asked to join the group, with the same rules as the $join card. If the group isn't Joinable, Heartbeat offers to make it Joinable.
To bring in people who aren't in your community yet, or to keep a group Hidden so it stays off profiles, use a free Sign Up Link that gives access to the group. Members who already belong to your community are added when they open it and click Join Groups.