New members get their digital card install email within minutes. Renewing members get nothing. Then a renewing member shows up at the gate and says, “I paid last week, where’s my card?” It’s a common pattern with third-party wallet card integrations like Xtrulink that sit on top of Altru, and it’s rarely random. Usually something about a renewal looks different to the integration than a new join does.
We don’t build or support Xtrulink, so we can’t tell you exactly how its triggers are configured on your account. What we can do is walk you through where renewals usually fall out of the flow, and how to narrow it down before you open a ticket with the vendor.
First question: is this a bug or the design?
Many wallet card tools treat a renewal as an update to an existing card, not a new card. If the member already installed a pass last year, the integration may simply push a new expiration date to the pass already sitting in their phone. From the vendor’s point of view, there’s nothing to install, so no install email goes out.
That works fine for members who installed last time. It fails for everyone who didn’t: people who ignored the original email, switched phones, deleted the pass, or joined before you launched digital cards. Those members renew and never hear a thing.
So before troubleshooting anything in Altru, ask your Xtrulink contact two direct questions:
- What exact event triggers the install email? A new membership, any membership transaction, a new card number, or a record appearing in a specific query?
- For a renewal, does the system send an email at all, or does it only update an existing pass?
If the answer is “renewals only update the pass,” you don’t have a bug. You have a gap in the process, and the fix is a separate communication for renewing members (more on that below).
If renewals are supposed to get an email, check these in Altru
1. The query or filter the integration reads
Integrations that pull from Altru commonly rely on a query, or on filters such as transaction type or join date. If that selection was built around new members (for example, “joined in the last X days” or “membership transaction type is join”), renewals are excluded by definition. Ask for the criteria, then open the query in Altru and run it for a date range that includes a known renewal. If the renewing member isn’t in the results, you’ve found the problem.
2. Renew vs. rejoin
A lapsed member who pays may be processed as a renewal or a rejoin, depending on your membership program’s renewal window and on what staff choose at the desk. If the integration only reacts to one of those, you’ll see emails go to some returning members and not others. Compare a renewal that worked (if you have one) with one that didn’t, and look at how each transaction was recorded.
3. Membership card records
Some setups key the install email to a new membership card being issued. Whether Altru issues a new card at renewal depends on how your program handles cards. If renewals keep the old card, and the integration is watching for new cards, nothing fires. Check a renewed member’s record to see whether a new card appears after the renewal. If you’re unsure how your program is set to behave, test a renewal in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support.
4. The email address itself
- Does the cardholder have a primary email on their constituent record? Renewals taken at the desk or by mail often have stale or missing addresses.
- Is the address on the right person? On household or dual memberships, the renewal may be under one member while the email lives on another.
- Are there email solicit codes or opt-outs on the record that the integration respects?
- Is the member a duplicate? If the renewal posted to a different constituent record than last year’s, the integration may be looking at the wrong one.
5. Timing and sync
If the integration syncs on a schedule, renewals entered late in the day or posted later through batches may simply not have been picked up yet. Note the time a renewal was entered and when the email should have gone out. If emails arrive a day late, that’s a schedule issue, not a trigger issue.
6. Channel
Check whether the problem covers all renewals or only one channel: online renewals, desk renewals, or mailed renewals keyed in by staff. A pattern by channel usually points to a difference in transaction type, revenue source, or missing email, all of which you can see in Altru.
A quick way to gather evidence
- Pick three renewals from the last two weeks that didn’t get an email, and one new join that did.
- For each, write down: transaction type, date entered, whether a new card was issued, primary email, solicit codes, and whether the member had installed a pass before.
- Send that comparison to the vendor. It turns a vague “renewals aren’t working” ticket into something they can actually trace.
A stopgap while you sort it out
Build an Altru query of memberships renewed in the last week whose members don’t appear to have an active pass (if the vendor can tell you who has installed). Send those members a short email with the install link, or have desk staff offer to resend it when they check in. It’s manual, but it keeps renewing members from showing up empty-handed while the real fix is worked out.
Also make sure your renewal acknowledgment says what to expect. “If your card is already in your phone, it will update automatically. If not, look for a separate email” heads off a lot of confusion.
If you’re reconsidering your card setup
Social Good’s Digital Membership Cards provide Apple Wallet and Google Wallet membership cards for Altru members. If you’re evaluating options, ask any vendor, including us, to show you specifically what a renewing member receives, both for someone who already has a pass and for someone who never installed one.
Quick answers
Will a renewed member’s existing wallet card show the new expiration?
That depends on whether the vendor pushes updates to installed passes. Ask them, then confirm by renewing a test membership and checking the pass on a phone.
Can we just resend the original install email?
Often, yes, but where and how is a vendor question. Ask whether staff can resend from their tool or whether it needs a support request.
