MemberVault

MemberVault is a hosted platform for creators who sell courses, memberships, coaching and other online offers, and who want free and paid content in one place. Its homepage puts the idea this way: "Put all of your content, free and paid, in one place, and make it easy for people to binge your content & buy (and buy again)." It is aimed at creators "who care about more than just the first sale", which shows in how much of the feature set is about engagement and follow-up rather than checkout alone.

The company is MemberVault, LLC. Erin and Mike Kelly started it in 2016 "based on a need to have a course platform that just worked", and the site describes it as queer and woman owned, self funded, and run by a small team in Olympia, WA who use MemberVault themselves.

Products, not tiers of features

The central unit is the product. The pricing FAQ defines a product as "any offer you want people to opt into or purchase", whether a course, membership, VIP day, 1:1 client portal, digital download, challenge, summit or something else, and a product can be made inactive or deleted at any time to free up a slot. The homepage lists courses, memberships, group programs, 1:1 offers, free opt ins, summits and bundles as things the product builder handles. Plans differ by how many products and communities you run, not by which features you get: the pricing page headline is "All features. Every plan. No gotchas."

Building a course or membership

Courses are mobile responsive, so they work on a computer, phone or tablet without extra effort. The courses page highlights two strategies: pre-selling a course with the drip feature, and offering two versions of the same course, "one with access to you, and a lower priced option that's self led". Lessons can include quiz questions, and comments let members discuss lessons. Drip options, progress tracking, notifications and certificates are all on the feature grid for every plan.

For memberships, MemberVault supports open access content, progressive or drip content, and a foundation offer that members must complete before the next steps open. The memberships page suggests using quizzes not only for testing but for private engagement, nurture and market research, and comments for discussion inside the membership community. Each plan includes communities: 1 on the 5 Product Plan, 3 on the 15 Product Plan and unlimited on the Unlimited Plan.

Engagement and personalization

Much of MemberVault's feature list is about keeping members moving. Gamification includes confetti celebrations, milestones, a leaderboard and bonus modules, and completion triggers can release a bonus module or offer when a member finishes certain content. A customer quoted on the memberships page sums it up as "quizzes, bonus module unlocked by activity, celebration pop ups".

Email is personal rather than broadcast. The courses page explains that you can trigger personalized, automated emails, sent through one of MemberVault's email integration partners, based on what each person does inside a course, such as completing important content or how they answer a quiz question. The same triggers are pitched for sales: an offer can arrive at the moment a member is ready for it. Creators who prefer a personal touch can set notifications for themselves when someone hits a milestone and reach out directly.

The personalization section of the feature grid goes further, with tools named Zombies, Ghosts and Hot leads, interest tagging, intake forms and testimonial collection.

Selling and payments

MemberVault integrates with Stripe and PayPal, and the FAQ is explicit on fees: "We don’t charge any transaction fees on any of our plans." Creators pay only the standard processing fees of PayPal or Stripe. Through those integrations, buyers can pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna and more. Coupons, payment plans, multiple currencies and affiliates are included on every plan, and a creator can also link out to an external checkout. Order bumps and upsells are listed as coming soon.

Site, data and integrations

MemberVault can be a creator's entire website, blog included, or sit beside an existing site. The homepage says you can customize how your site looks and what language and currency you use, and the feature grid adds templates, custom CSS, embed-friendly content and a custom domain. Every plan gets unlimited members, offers, admins, pages and blog posts. Third-party integrations include Zapier, webhooks and HelloAudio alongside the payment integrations.

On data ownership, the FAQ says you keep 100% ownership of your content, and the grid includes import and export of products and members and downloadable quiz answers. Accessibility is presented as a key value: the homepage mentions older audiences and making sure screen readers work on your offers.

Plans and pricing

Three monthly or annual plans are published:

• 5 Product Plan, the "Starting Out" option: $29 a month or $290 a year, with 5 available products, unlimited members, 1 community and unlimited pages and posts.
• 15 Product Plan, marked "Best Deal": $49 a month or $490 a year, with 15 products and 3 communities.
• Unlimited Plan, the "Grow Together" option: $109 a month or $1090 a year, with unlimited products and communities, priority support, quarterly email check-ins and visibility opportunities.

Lifetime plans called Stress Free and Unlimited Lifetime are also offered as one-time pricing with all features included; the pages shown do not give their prices. The free trial runs 30 days with no credit card required. Plans can be upgraded, downgraded or switched from inside the account, and canceled in account settings or by email.

The founders' note makes a promise about pricing: since 2016 MemberVault has offered protected pricing and has never sent a plan increase email, which it credits to being self funded. Support is by chat and email on every plan, with priority support on Unlimited, and the courses page points to a Facebook community where creators share experiences.

Who it suits

MemberVault suits solo creators and coaches who run several small offers at once: a signature course, a membership, a challenge, a few freebies and a coaching portal. Customer quotes on the pricing page show that range, from Alec Chisholm teaching prerecorded bagpipe lessons with a course and monthly membership, to Robin running "a small group coaching cohort and for several mini-courses and freebies", to Clarissa launching a 5 Day Sugar Detox Challenge.

Because members are unlimited on every plan and fees are flat, the price stays predictable as an audience grows; what grows the bill is the number of products. Creators who want behavior-based email will get the most from it if they already use an email tool that connects to MemberVault. Order bumps and upsells are still coming soon, which matters for creators whose sales funnel depends on them.