If your site has a course, a membership or a community, access usually works through a chain of pieces working together: the purchase, a WordPress user account, and something that says “this person gets access” (most often a tag in FluentCRM or WP Fusion, or an enrollment in your course plugin). When access goes wrong, it’s almost always one link in that chain.
Two Things That Trip People Up
1. They need a WordPress account, not just a contact
Your email list (FluentCRM) and your website’s users are two different lists. Someone can be a contact in your CRM without having a login to your website. Courses, memberships and communities need the user account, because that’s what they log into.
When someone buys, the checkout normally creates the account for them. When you add someone by hand (a gift, a comp, a student moving over from another platform), make sure they get a user account too.
2. Tags grant access at the moment they’re added
On most sites, access is set up as an automation: “when tag X is added, give access to course Y.” The key word is added. If the person already had the tag from before, adding it again does nothing, so the automation never runs for them.
The fix is usually to remove the tag, save, and add it again. Or just tell me who it is and I’ll sort it out.
Giving Someone Free Access
For a gift, a comp or a team member, the cleanest way is usually the same way a buyer gets in. Ask me in Basecamp and include:
- Their name and email address
- What they should get access to
- Whether it should ever expire
I’ll set it up so they get the normal welcome email and login details.
Moving Students Over From Another Platform
Coming from Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi or similar? That’s a bulk job. Send me an export (CSV) of the students and which product each one has, and I’ll import them and grant access in one go. Plan the timing with me, since everyone gets a welcome email when it happens.
“I’m Logged In, But It Says I Don’t Have Access”
Things to check, in order:
- Are they logged in as the right account? People sometimes buy with one email and log in with another.
- Do they have the tag or enrollment? Look up the contact in FluentCRM and check their tags.
- Is it a caching issue? Rarely, a member area page gets cached. A refresh or a private window tells you quickly. See “I Made A Change But I Can’t See It”.
If it’s still not working, send me the person’s email address and the course or area they’re trying to reach, and I’ll trace it.
Changing A Member’s Email Address
Their email lives in a few places: their WordPress user, their CRM contact, and sometimes the payment system. Changing it in only one place can split them into two people. Ask me and I’ll change it everywhere at once.