“Family” means something different to every household that walks up to your desk. One family is two parents and a toddler. Another is a grandparent, two kids, and a rotating cast of cousins. When membership levels are named for who someone is (Individual, Dual, Family) instead of how many people walk in, staff end up deciding what each level covers one visit at a time.
The alternative is to build levels around a number instead: admits 2, admits 4, admits 6. It’s easier to explain, easier to enforce, and easier to price. Here’s how to think through that change and set it up in Altru.
First, decide what “number of people” means
Before you touch a price, settle on one definition. There are three common ones, and they lead to different setups:
- Named members. The level covers a set number of specific people listed on the membership. Only those people get in free.
- Admissions per visit. The level admits up to a set number of people at one time, no matter who they are. The cardholder brings whoever they want.
- Named members plus guests. A couple of named cardholders, plus a set number of guest admissions per visit.
“Admissions per visit” is what members usually picture when they hear “admits 4,” and it’s the easiest for front desk staff to apply. Named members gives you cleaner constituent data, since each person is a real record you can market to. Plenty of organizations mix the two: two named adults, with the total head count set by the level.
Building a price ladder
Start with your general admission prices, not your current membership prices. For each level, work out what the admitted group would pay for one visit at the gate, then decide how many visits a year it should take for the membership to pay for itself. Many organizations aim for somewhere around two or three visits, but that’s a judgment call based on your repeat-visit patterns and how much you rely on membership revenue.
A few things to keep in mind as you set the steps:
- Each added person should cost less than the one before. If going from admits 2 to admits 4 doubles the price, families will buy the smaller level and pay for extra tickets instead. A discount per added head makes the bigger level the obvious choice.
- Watch the jump to your largest level. The top tier is often bought by grandparents and caregivers who visit with different groups. If it’s priced too close to the tier below, you’ll see heavy traffic at that level on your busiest days.
- Decide whether children count. If kids under a certain age are already free at the gate, say plainly whether they count toward the admit number. If you don’t, staff will each make their own call.
- Keep the number of levels manageable. Three or four count-based levels plus any premium or patron tiers is usually enough. Every extra level is another row on the website and another option to explain at the register.
Setting it up in Altru
In Altru, this lives in your membership program. Each count-based option becomes its own membership level with its own price and benefits. Name the levels so the count is in the name itself (“Admits 4” or “Family 4”), so staff see it on the screen at daily sales and members see it on their card and renewal notices.
Membership levels in Altru generally let you set how many members belong to a membership and how many cards are issued; check those settings on your own levels. If you’re using the named-members approach, that’s where the count goes. If you’re using admissions per visit, the head count is mostly a policy and benefit question rather than something tied to the records on the membership, so record it in the level’s description and benefits as well.
If you’d rather sell a base level and let people add extra people, check whether your Altru setup supports membership add-ons and how they price and renew. Behavior can differ by setup, so build one in a sandbox or test environment, run it through a join, a renewal, and an upgrade, and confirm with Blackbaud support before you rely on it.
Whichever route you choose, check every place a member can buy before you launch: daily sales, advance sales, your online membership form, and any renewal notices built from queries. The level names and prices need to match everywhere.
Enforcing the count at the door
Count-based pricing only works if the count is visible at check-in. Put the number on the membership card. Make sure the level name shows when staff look up or scan a member. Give the desk a short written rule for the common edge cases:
- A member arrives with more people than their level covers: sell admission tickets for the extras, and offer an upgrade if it would cost about the same.
- The named cardholder isn’t present: decide ahead of time whether the membership still works.
- A group splits up and arrives separately: decide whether the count is per visit or per arrival.
That “offer an upgrade” moment matters more than it looks. A household that keeps paying for one extra ticket is the best upgrade prospect you have.
Moving existing members over
If you’re replacing named tiers with count-based ones, don’t convert everyone in one night. Map each old level to its closest new one and let members move over at renewal. Pull a query of current members by level so you know how many households each change affects, and write the renewal email for each old level separately so it explains exactly what that member is moving to.
After a full renewal cycle, run a revenue report by level and look at where people are landing. If nearly everyone picks the same level, your price steps probably need another look.
Quick answers
Can Altru limit how many people a single membership scan admits?
Don’t assume it does. Test how your scanning and daily sales setup handles it in a sandbox, and plan on staff applying the count by policy until you’ve confirmed otherwise.
Should guest passes count toward the admit number?
Keep them separate. Guest passes are a benefit with their own limits, and mixing them into the head count makes both harder to explain.
