For most associations, the member price is one of the clearest benefits of membership. Yet many still deliver it the same way: a discount code, emailed to members, typed in at checkout. It works, more or less. It also creates problems that grow with every program you sell.
The trouble with member codes
- Codes travel. A code shared in a members’ newsletter ends up on a forum, in a colleague’s inbox or a social media post. Non-members pay the member rate, and you rarely know.
- Members forget them. A member who checks out without the code pays full price, then emails to ask for a refund. Your team processes it by hand.
- Lapsed members keep using them. A code does not know that someone’s membership expired last month.
- The benefit is invisible. If the price on the page is the non-member price, members do not see the value of their membership until the very last step, if at all.
How automatic member pricing works
The alternative is to make the store aware of who is buying. Members sign in, the store knows they belong to the member group, and every price they see is already their price. Non-members see the standard price, often with a note showing what members pay. There is no code to share, forget or misuse.
In Kano Store this is done with customer groups. Each group, such as member, non-member, student or partner organization, can have its own prices on any product. Coupons are still there for what they do well: a time-limited promotion, a welcome offer or a partner campaign.
What it needs from you: current membership data
Automatic pricing is only as good as the membership list behind it. The key decision is where the truth lives, usually your association management system, and how often it reaches the store. Depending on your systems, that can be a regular import, a sync through a system you already connect to, or a custom connection. A small association with annual renewals needs much less automation than a large one with members joining and lapsing every day.
Make the benefit visible
Once the store knows who is a member, you can do more than charge the right price:
- Show non-members what they would save by joining, right on the course page
- Offer member-only programs that non-members can see but not buy
- Bundle a year of continuing education at a member rate
- Give partner organizations their own negotiated price for their staff
Where Credits, Transcripts, and Certificates Belong
Your store sells access; your learning platform records completion. Credit tracking, transcripts and certificates belong in Moodle or Totara. If you need formal accreditation management across several accrediting bodies, that is a specialist job and worth a dedicated tool.
Our longer playbook covers price tiers, bundles and selling to employers in more detail: kanostores.io/2026/11/03/association-member-pricing-ce-bundles-playbook
See it working
We can show you a member and a non-member buying the same course, side by side.
Book a demo