Museum Membership Cards

[lvcm]

I run a children's museum and we are wanting to set up a yearly membership...where our customers purchase a one time purchase (once a year) and they can in turn visit the museum as much as they want for the year. Does square have this capability, to track usage of the passes?

Thank you

Lisa

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @lvcm.  Actually, I can think of at least two ways you can accomplish this.  But in order to steer you to the one that I think is the best fit I need to ask a few questions.

1. Will your members check in with a human being who will check their membership, etc?
2. Are you wanting to give them a physical card to identify them?  Would an electronic card/system serve the same purpose?
3. Do you currently, or are you wanting to, offer gift cards through Square for non-visit purposes (gift shop, etc)
4. Is there a reason you’d need to know how many times someone visited, since you are offering them unlimited visits for a year?

Thanks, in advance, for your answers.

[lvcm]

Thank you.... Here are the answers. 

1. Yes they would be checking in with a human. 

2. Yes I would like to give them a physical card. 

3. Yes we do offer gift cards

4. We are starting a trial for membership, so our board would like a way to  track usage, but isn't necessary. 

[TheRealChipA]

Very good.  Thank you for the answers.  Especially the last one.  I used to serve on a nonprofit board, so I know how they think!  LOL. Anyway…..

My recommendation would be to first order a custom gift card design that looks completely different from your other merchandise gift cards.  Maybe with your museum logo and “Membership Card” or something like that on it.  Just for quick identification and to remove any confusion with your staff.

Then, sell your gift cards for the price of your membership.  This will load up the card with that amount.  In order to track visits, create a new item variation for each entry fee called “Member Visit” or whatever.  Staff will ring up these museum visits using that variation for reporting purposes, as opposed to using the “Regular” museum visit variation.

As your members enter, they present their card and your staff use it to check them out.  While doing so, the staff member can also check the balance and reload it with whatever amount you want.  In order not to charge the visitor for this additional card balance, create a discount that staff can use to discount the “sale” 100%.

Be sure to put an expiration date on the card during the initial sale.  When staff receives an “expired” card they can clear out any remaining balance and/or set up the card for a new year.

As for reporting, if you set up two variations for each museum entry item you’ll be able to run reports for how many of those were used.  For example, say you have an Adult and a Child entry price.  Then you’d have two items with two variations each — Adult Regular, Adult Member, Child Regular, Child Member.

Does that make sense?

[lvcm]

That does make sense.....I'll see if I can get that set up! Thank you!

[Pintuna]

Hi @lvcm Pintuna is a Square app marketplace partner. Our membership solution can handle your requirements. Along with supporting digital and physical membership cards, we offer a check-in app that will allow you to track usage. Most museums also offer discounts to members in the museum store. We support that as well.

Happy to demo the solution if you are interested. You can reach out to us at [email protected] or just request a demo.

[TheRealChipA]

Thanks for resurrecting this, @Pintuna.  I just looked at your App a few days ago, and put it in my toolbox of ideas for the future.  Of course, since it had been a few months ago I had forgotten about this post.  So I appreciate you — as a third-party integrator with Square — following up on it!