How do I allow existing paid directory listings to upgrade or renew?
When it's time for existing paid directory listings to renew or upgrade the level of an existing listing, steer the company away from the new listing signup page. There are two reasons for this:
1) Typically renewals and upgrades have a different price point than new listings.
2) If a company tries to enter a duplicate listing they may encounter unexpected errors.
Instead, we recommend the following for better user experience and customer handling.
Create upgrade and/or renewal products using the Product Manager.
In the Product Manager, create a new product with the type "basic" and assign the appropriate name, description and pricing. It is possible to create a separate product for each listing renewal or upgrade option, or you may want to create a single product with multiple pricing options. The better choice depends on your site's layout and how you would like to present the options to the customers.
Instructions on how to create a new product: How do I create a new product?
To create a single product with multiple pricing options, follow the basic instructions in this article: How do I create bulk or quantity discounts for products?
Create an upgrade/renewal landing page(s) using the Page Manager [optional].
You may want to link to the product(s) that you created above directly from an editorial content area or email. However, you may wish to use a landing page to supplement that messaging and craft an effective upsell message. You can use the product page itself as your landing page, or create a landing page with targeted marketing messaging and multiple upgrade options that link to their respective product pages.
If you'd like to use the Page Manager to create a landing page, follow these instructions: How do I create a landing page?
We also recommend customizing the order confirmation message to explain what happens after the customer pays: How do I customize the confirmation email message and online order receipt sent after my customer orders?
To update editorial content areas to link to your landing page or product pages: How do I edit an existing editorial content block?
Until you complete the update/upgrade step in the next step in this article, customers will not be able to edit new premium fields in their existing listings.
Add links to upgrade/renewal product page(s) or landing page(s) to your directory pages.
We recommend adding links to the editorial content area at the top of the directory edit page. You can also add links and upsell copy to the editorial content area at the top of your directory entry tab on the profile page.
How to handle completed upgrades and renewals:
Watch for purchase confirmation emails and order reports.
Give your upgrade and renewal products distinct names so that you recognize them when they arrive in your inbox or are listed in the Admin tool order report. After you receive a notice that a customer has purchased an upgrade, make a note of the contact and company, as well as the purchase terms.
Search your directory listings for the matching company or contact, and open the listing you'd like to update by clicking the listing name.
Search in the Directory Manager, found under Revenue on your Dashboard.
Upgrade or renew the directory listing.
If the company purchased an upgrade, use the taxonomy selections in the directory listing tool to change the Directory Listing Tier assigned to that listing (shown below). These are found under Classification in your directory listing.
Click on the tier next to the tier you'd like to assign or remove.
At this point we recommend emailing the company contact to let them know that the new editable fields will now show on their directory edit page or that their directory listing has been renewed. Alternatively, your purchase confirmation message could recommend that they check the listing in 24 hours.
Click on the x next to the tier you want to remove. If, for example this person is moving from basic to Premium you'd want to click the x next to Basic and then select Premium to replace it.
If the company purchased a longer directory listing subscription, update the expiration date accordingly.
Click Save Changes at the top.