A new way to manage your members ⚡️

Managing your members on Geneva just got a whole lot easier.

With our new Membership API, you can now use Zapier to connect Geneva with hundreds of apps & platforms including Patreon, Memberstack, Shopify, and Teachable to automatically add or remove people from rooms in your home. And it’s totally free 😊 

So whether you run a big program with thousands of participants, teach a course on a dedicated learning platform, or want to charge for access for your community, the possibilities are endless.

Here's how you'll set things up...

1. Create a “Member Group” inside your home on Geneva — For this example, let’s call the Member Group “VIP Members”
2. Set up a Zapier “Zap” connecting whatever 3rd party platform you’re using with Geneva — It’ll generally follow the format of If: New Member Signs Up (on other platform) → Then: Add Person to Member Group (on Geneva). You’ll also probably want to set up a separate Zap to automatically remove people who are no longer members, something like If: Member is Deleted (on other platform), Then: Remove person from Member Group (on Geneva)
3. Add the Member Group to rooms — To complete the process, you'll give that Member Group (”VIP Members”) access to some or all of the Locked or Secret room(s) in your home so that when someone's added to that Member Group, they'll get automatically added to those rooms.

For more detailed step-by-step instructions on how to set this up, see our Help Center here.

Then, here’s what your members will see…

1. A person signs up for your membership on your website…or makes a pledge on Patreon, pays for your membership on Memberstack, etc. (There are thousands of potential triggers!)
2. They get an email from Geneva inviting them to join your home. This will be a ✨special✨ invitation that automatically adds them to the relevant Member Group, in this case “VIP Members.”
3. They click or tap the link, enter your home, and because they’re now part of the “VIP Members” Member Group, they’re automatically given access to all the appropriate rooms in your home. Alternatively, if they're already a member of your home on Geneva, they can simply input & verify their email address right within Geneva to join the Member Group and unlock the rooms.
4. If their status changes in your database outside of Geneva (i.e. they're removed from your membership or email list of active members), they're automatically removed from the Member Group and lose access to those rooms in your home. They’ll still be able to see posts you make in any “Open” rooms and you’ll still be able to send them DMs.

Taking things to the next level

If you’re going for a more complicated setup with several membership tiers or different cohorts, you can automate that process too. With Zapier’s paid levels, it’s possible to add an interim step to filter data from the source app so that people are only added to specific Member Groups (and therefore, specific sets of rooms in your home) when they meet certain criteria. You can learn more about Zapier's Data Filters here.

Connecting to our API directly

While our Zapier integration is definitely the easiest way to connect 3rd party platforms with Geneva, it’s not the only way. If you’re a bit more technical or have a team of engineers, it’s also possible to build your own custom integration using our Membership API, removing the need for Zapier entirely. For more on how this works, see the technical documentation in our Help Center here (and, of course, you can always email us at support@geneva.com if you have any questions!)

A whole world of possibilities...

We’ve heard from a number of you about all kinds of ways you’re planning to use this and we're excited to see it all come to life! Here are a some of the use cases this is perfect for:

1. Run a “paid” or “freemium” membership community

If you want to charge for access to all or part of your community, you can connect Geneva with tools like Stripe, Memberstack, Memberful, Outseta, and a whole bunch of others.

2. Build a community around your course or program

If you’re running a course on a platform like Teachable or Kajabi or have a program where you use something like Airtable or Hubspot as a CRM, you can easily give active participants access to specific rooms in your home on Geneva. You might also want to set up a Zap going the other way too so that when someone ‘graduates’ or is otherwise removed from your program, they no longer have access to the rooms on Geneva.

3. Create an exclusive community with top fans & supporters

Connect Geneva with Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee so that when someone supports you, they get rewarded with access to a community of fellow fans. Maybe you even share behind-the-scenes content in your home or host some exclusive events in a broadcast room too!

4. Bring together your brand’s top customers or ambassadors

Connect Geneva with Shopify or something similar so that when someone becomes a new customer, they automatically get access to exclusive spaces, conversations, and events in your community. Or, if you want to have a private community with your brand’s official ambassadors or partners, connect Geneva with whatever CRM you use to manage that group.

5. Give your audience a space to continue the conversation

Connect Geneva with newsletter tools like ConvertKit, Ghost, or Mailchimp so that whenever someone subscribes to your list, they get access to your home on Geneva where all the fun follow-up conversations are happening.

What’s next?

We’re excited to hear about all the different ways you're using this feature, and how it’s going! If you have specific ideas or suggestions for how we can make it even better, email us at hi@geneva.com or join our Homeowners Home and share your thoughts in the ‘Suggestions’ room there 😊