Setting Up MemberPress Funnels

A sales funnel offers customers additional products when they buy. MemberPress Funnels adds a visual funnel builder to MemberPress. With it, you can attach order bumps, upsell offers, and downsell offers to any product checkout.

This document explains how to activate MemberPress Funnels and build a funnel. It covers each step type: Checkout, Upsell, Downsell, and Thank You. What customers see, the resulting orders, Analytics, and Settings are covered in a separate document.

Note: MemberPress Funnels is available with the MemberPress Scale plan. If you’re subscribed to another plan, you can upgrade your MemberPress plan to use it.

How MemberPress Funnels Works

A funnel is a set of connected steps. Every funnel starts with a Checkout step and ends with at least one Thank You step. Between them, you can add Upsell and Downsell offers.

The Checkout step names the product that starts the funnel. When a customer buys that product, MemberPress shows the funnel’s order bumps at checkout. After payment, the customer sees each offer in turn. Every offer has an Accept path and a Decline path. Both paths must lead to a Thank You step.

An offer never replaces the product the customer bought. An accepted offer is charged separately and added to the same order. MemberPress Funnels requires the MemberPress shopping cart.

Activating MemberPress Funnels

First, enable the shopping cart in MemberPress. Then install and activate the add-on at Dashboard > MemberPress > Add-ons.

If the cart is disabled, the add-on does not activate. MemberPress shows this message: “MemberPress Funnels requires the MemberPress shopping cart. Enable the cart in MemberPress settings, then activate MemberPress Funnels.”

Important: If you disable the cart later, MemberPress Funnels deactivates itself. Enabling the cart again does not reactivate the add-on. You need to activate it manually.

Once active, the add-on adds an MP Funnels menu to the WordPress Dashboard with four items:

• All Funnels lists every funnel on the site;
• Add New opens the template picker;
• Analytics reports offer views and revenue;
• Settings holds the add-on options.

The All Funnels list shows each funnel’s Title, Status, Steps, and Created date. Hover a funnel to Edit, Duplicate, or Delete it.

Note: The Steps column counts order bumps together with the funnel’s cards. A funnel with a Checkout, two order bumps, and a Thank You shows four steps.

Creating a Funnel From a Template

Templates give you a pre-built funnel structure. You can also start from an empty canvas.

1. Navigate to Dashboard > MP Funnels > All Funnels, and click Add New.
2. In the Choose a Template popup, click a template.

MemberPress Funnels offers six templates:

• Blank Funnel starts with no pre-built steps;
• Simple Checkout + Bump adds one order bump to the checkout;
• Checkout with Upsell adds one upsell offer after checkout;
• Upsell + Downsell adds an upsell with a downsell fallback;
• Free Trial Upgrade offers a paid upgrade after a trial checkout;
• Webinar Registration adds an optional materials product to an event registration.

The template opens in the funnel builder as a new draft titled “Untitled Funnel”.

3. Click the funnel title at the top left, and type a name for the funnel.

Using the Funnel Builder

The funnel builder is a canvas. Each step is a card. Cards connect with dashed lines labelled Accept or Decline.

The builder works like this:

• the + Upsell, + Downsell, and + Thank You buttons add cards to the canvas;
• clicking a card opens its settings panel on the right;
• the green dot at the bottom of a card is its Accept connector. Offer cards also have a red Decline connector;
• to connect two cards, drag from a connector to the top of the next card;
• to remove a card, click it and press the Delete key;
• the zoom controls and the minimap at the bottom help you move around large funnels.

A Step Name set in a card’s panel appears as the card’s subtitle on the canvas. An orange dot next to the status badge means the funnel has unsaved changes.

Warning: Closing the builder with unsaved changes discards them without a prompt.

Funnel Settings

The gear icon at the top right opens Funnel Settings. Here you can limit the funnel to orders within a price range:

• Min Order Amount shows the funnel only for orders at or above this amount;
• Max Order Amount shows the funnel only for orders at or below this amount.

Leave both fields blank to run the funnel for every order.

The Checkout Step

The Checkout step defines which product starts the funnel. It also holds the funnel’s order bumps.

1. Click the Checkout card. The Checkout Settings panel opens.
2. Under Product, click the field and select a product in the Select a Product popup.
3. Under Order Bumps, click + Add Order Bump to offer extra products at checkout.

Each order bump has a Product, an optional Image and Description, and a Required toggle. Configuring bumps is explained in the MemberPress Order Bumps documentation.

The Select a Product popup lists every membership product and digital product with its price. Badges show the product type:

• Membership or Digital shows the product type;
• Standalone Registration marks a product sold only through its own registration page;
• In Use marks the product already set as this funnel’s Checkout product.

Only one published funnel can use a product as its Checkout product. Publishing a second one fails with this message: “Save failed: This checkout product is already the trigger for the published funnel “…”. Only one published funnel can trigger on a given product.”

Note: A standalone registration product can start a funnel, but only with order bumps. Its + Upsell and + Downsell buttons are greyed out, and the builder shows: “Upsells and downsells require a cart product. Standalone registration products only support order bumps.” Standalone products also cannot be added as order bumps to a cart product’s Checkout step.

The Upsell and Downsell Steps

An Upsell offers a customer another product right after payment. A Downsell is shown when the customer declines an upsell. Both step types have the same settings, so the steps below apply to either card.

1. Click the Upsell card. The Upsell Settings panel opens.
2. Under Product, select the product to offer.

3. Under Offer Content, add an Offer Title, an Offer Image, and a Description. Leave the title blank to use the product name. The recommended image size is 800 × 500 px.
4. Under Auto-Apply Coupon, select a Coupon to discount the offer. Only coupons valid for the offer product are listed.

5. Click Advanced Options to show the remaining settings.

The Advanced Options are:

• Countdown Timer shows a timer on the offer page. Set the length in Countdown Seconds. The timer is cosmetic and does not remove the offer when it reaches zero;
• Template Variant sets the offer page layout: Image Left, Centered Hero, or Video + Text;
• Default Quantity and Allow quantity adjustment apply to digital products only. Membership products always have a quantity of 1.

Connect the Accept connector of each offer to the next step. Connect the Decline connector to a downsell or a Thank You step. An offer card without a product shows “No product selected” and blocks publishing.

The Thank You Step

The Thank You step ends the funnel. Every path must reach one. You can add several Thank You cards. For example, use Offer Accepted for customers who took an offer and Order Complete for those who declined.

1. Click a Thank You card. The Thank You Settings panel opens.
2. Under Step Name, type a name for the step.
3. Under Custom Page URL (Optional), add a URL to replace the default MemberPress thank you page. Leave it blank to use the default.

Publishing the Funnel

A new funnel is a draft. Click Save Draft to keep working later, or Publish to make it live. A published funnel shows Update and Pause instead. Pause returns the funnel to a draft, and its bumps and offers stop showing.

MemberPress checks the funnel when you save it. If a path does not reach a Thank You step, the save fails with this message: “Save failed: Every path must lead to a Thank You card. Add a Thank You card — every funnel must end at one. Checkout: Connect the next step to another card.” The card with the incomplete path shows a warning icon and a red border.

Once published, the funnel runs whenever a customer buys its Checkout product through the cart. Customers see the order bumps on the checkout’s Add-Ons step, then each offer page, then the thank you page. All accepted items belong to one order at Dashboard > MemberPress > Orders.