Crescentek

Member Areas & Client Portals

Recurring revenue, gated properly.

Member areas for Irish coaches, course creators, associations, and SaaS founders. Tiered access, drip-released content, subscription billing, community forums — built on WordPress, Memberstack, Circle, or bespoke when that earns its keep.

Based in Ireland
GDPR compliant
Reply within 1 working day
members.strategyschool.ie · My library
SC
Sarah Connolly
Gold Member
Since Jan 2025
Progress to Platinum
38%
Your library
5 / 8 unlocked
Welcome + Getting Started
12 min
Module 1: Foundation
34 min
Week 1 Workbook
Module 2: Core Practice
48 min
Template Pack: Starter Kit
Module 3: Advanced (Gold)
52 min
Live Q&A — Tuesday
Mastermind Access (Platinum)
Completed
3
In progress
2
Locked
3
Four revenue models

Who builds member areas, and why.

Course creators

Drip-released content + community

Online course sellers (fitness, business, skills training) who want structured learner journeys — not just a YouTube dump. Weekly content releases, progress tracking, Q&A forums.

Typical pricing
Usually €30–€300/month or €200–€2,000 one-off
Coaches + consultants

Client delivery areas

1-on-1 coaches (life, business, nutrition, fitness) and consultants who deliver materials, templates, and session recordings privately to each client. Keeps delivery organised, professional.

Typical pricing
Bundled with coaching package pricing
Associations + clubs

Member benefit portals

Professional bodies, trade associations, clubs — members pay dues and get access to member-only content: directories, CPD materials, forums, events, publications.

Typical pricing
Annual dues €50–€500 typical
SaaS + digital product

Authenticated app areas

Software products delivering to logged-in customers — dashboards, tools, documentation, customer-only support forums. The line between member area and SaaS is thin and meaningful.

Typical pricing
Per-seat SaaS pricing models
Example tier structure

Three-tier memberships work for most businesses.

One example of how we'd structure tiers. Your actual pricing and benefits will depend on your audience, content library, and business model.

Silver

The entry point

€29/mo
Per member, billed monthly
Core course library
Monthly group Q&A
Community forum access
Email support
—Live 1-on-1 sessions
—Advanced content library
—Done-for-you templates
Most popular

Gold

Most popular

€79/mo
Per member, billed monthly
Everything in Silver
Advanced content library
Weekly group coaching
Done-for-you templates
Private community access
—Live 1-on-1 sessions

Platinum

Full immersion

€249/mo
Per member, billed monthly
Everything in Gold
Monthly 1-on-1 session
Direct Slack access
Early access to new content
Annual in-person meetup

This is an example structure, not Crescentek pricing. Your membership pricing would reflect your audience, market, and content value.

Content types we support

What goes in a member area — the full mix.

Video lessons
Hosted on Vimeo/Wistia, tracked by user
Written resources
Articles, guides, PDFs to download
Templates & files
Swipe files, worksheets, tools
Community forum
Members discussing + supporting
Live events
Webinars, Q&As, co-working sessions
Progress tracking
Completion badges, certificates
Platform options

What to build on.

WordPress + MemberPress

Most common

Strength: Flexibility + WordPress ecosystem

Best for: Content-rich membership sites with existing WP site

Cost
€200 setup + €180/yr licence + hosting

Memberstack

Strength: Low-code integration with Webflow / Framer

Best for: Design-forward founders on Webflow/Framer

Cost
€25–€99/mo

Circle / Mighty Networks

Strength: Community-first, forums + content in one

Best for: Community-led memberships, less content-focus

Cost
€89–€360/mo

Custom build

When you outgrow off-the-shelf

Strength: Exactly your workflow, no per-seat fees

Best for: €50k+ revenue memberships, complex tier logic

Cost
€15k–€60k one-time + hosting
Member area FAQ

Practical questions, practical answers.

Depends entirely on scale and complexity. For €5-50k/year memberships with straightforward tier logic, WordPress + MemberPress (or similar) is genuinely excellent — cheaper, flexible, ecosystem of themes and plugins. For €100k+/year memberships with complex access rules, tight integration needs, or custom purchasing flows, custom development pays back within a year or two. We'll run the maths with you.
Usually yes. Stripe Billing handles recurring subscriptions, dunning (failed card retries), prorations, plan upgrades/downgrades — all critical for membership businesses. Alternatives: Paddle (useful for international tax compliance), Chargebee (for complex billing), or native platform payments where WordPress plugins include them. Stripe covers most Irish member businesses well.
Member areas are data-heavy — you're storing personal details, payment records, content engagement. Standard GDPR compliance: clear privacy policy, data minimisation (don't collect what you don't need), right to deletion (member requests deletion of their data), breach notification process. We set this up properly in the build rather than bolt on afterwards.
We build the platform — the member area, the content delivery, the tier logic, the integrations. We don't create the course content itself (that's your expertise). We do advise on content structure (course length, lesson pacing, progress tracking design) since that heavily influences retention.
Members can self-cancel through their account area — standard expectation in 2026. The backend properly cancels Stripe subscriptions, revokes access at the end of their paid period, keeps their data for potential return. We recommend cancellation flows with a brief 'why leaving?' question (optional) — useful data for reducing churn over time.
Members unlock content on a schedule relative to their signup date. Week 1 content available week 1 after joining, Week 2 content available week 2, and so on. This is standard in MemberPress, LearnDash, and similar. For custom builds we implement with a 'unlock_at' timestamp per lesson per user. Drip scheduling reduces churn by 30-50% compared to 'fire hose' delivery.
Explore more
Custom Systems (hub)
The broader custom-systems service.
Learn more
Ecommerce Development
If you also sell one-off products alongside membership.
Learn more
WordPress
Platform we build many member sites on.
Learn more

Building a membership business?

Free 30-minute membership call. Share your vision and audience — we'll outline whether WordPress+MemberPress, Memberstack, Circle, or a custom build fits best, with honest cost estimates.

Reply within 1 working day GDPR compliant Based in Ireland