Farmigo Support
  • HOME
  • Browse Help & Support
  • Farmigo Mobile
  • Tip of the Week
  • Why Farmigo?
  • Contact Support

System Update: Editing Member Links for a New Season

3/2/2014

 
Do you manage your farm seasonally? If so, this notification is for you!

There are four Farmigo links that you provide for members:

Sign-up, Account Management, Additional Payments and the Store link. 

In the past, each of these links had to be edited every time you switched to a new season. This means emailing members to let them know about the link changes, and updating links on your web page.

We have officially changed these links so that in the future, only ONE will need to be edited each season.
Picture
Which one of these links is not like the other?

Sign-up: http://www.farmigo.com/join/oldmacfarmseasonal/winter-spring2013
Account Management: http://www.farmigo.com/account/oldmacfarmseasonal
Additional Payments: http://www.farmigo.com/pay/oldmacfarmseasonal
Store: http://www.farmigo.com/store/oldmacfarmseasonal


The Sign-Up link is the only link that will change with each season. The Account Management, Additional Payments, and Store links will all be the same, saving you a little bit of time as you prepare for a new season!

Web store items are transferred automatically between seasons, so you never have to add items twice. 



Technical Advisor Tip: Members are able to view multiple seasons from their account. When you create a new season, members will be able to switch between multiple seasons:

Managing Container Deposits

12/5/2013

 
A reusable box is great way to create a communal experience for your share members and encourages environment-friendly practices.  Coolers are also a great way to expand offerings to your members beyond produce.  But these containers cost money!

The Membership Fee is a helpful tool for asking members to make a deposit on these fun containers.  Read more below for tips on setting up the Membership Fee and then refunding the deposits.

Setting up the Membership Fee

If you set up a membership fee, a member is only charged this fee once when signing up for your share.  The membership fee is specific to a pickup location or delivery zone.  If you want the membership fee to apply to all members who sign up, you will want to set it up for every location.
  1. Go to the Routes manager, found under the Status menu in your dashboard.
  2. Click on a route and then click on a location in order to open the location’s editor.
  3. Click on the “Advanced” tab from the dark blue band at the top of the location editor.
  4. Enter the Membership fee amount and save changes.

Picture
You may want to consider explaining what this fee is for in the signup process by adding a comment to the location or adding it to the payment plan notes.
  • Adding a location comment:  Under the Info tab of the location editor, you may add a comment.  This comment will appear in the first step of the signup process next to the location listed.
  • Adding payment plan notes:  Email [email protected] with edits that you would like to make to your payment plan notes, which are presented in the Terms step of the signup process.  Please note that the notes may not be adjusted for all payment plan types.

Refunding the Container Deposit

When the member signs up and is charged the membership fee, a receive fee payment is added under the Payment tab of their member file.  This payment line indicates that the fee has been charged.

Now let’s say that it’s the end of the season or the member has canceled their subscription, you may record their deposit refund by taking the following steps under the Payment tab of the member file:
  1. Add an Internal payment with the status “Received” for the amount of their refund and save changes.  You may want to add a note that the payment is for a returned container.
  2. Add a Check or Cash payment (depending on how you deliver the refund) with the status “Refunded” for the amount of their refund and save changes.  You may want to add a note that the payment is for a returned container.

Picture

SET UP YOUR NEXT SEASON TODAY!

9/6/2013

 
For seasonal configurations, it is important to allow adequate time to promote your upcoming season. Having a longer window for members to sign up can increase new signups! 


We have streamlined the New Season Process to be more efficient, making it quicker and easier for you to get your next season set up and start taking signups!

Read on to learn more.
Picture

Read More

Promoting New Sign-ups with Coupon Codes

9/21/2012

 
Coupon codes are a great tool to use when you are looking to promote new sign-ups among a target market.  For instance:  If you’re looking to promote a new pick-up location or expand into a new delivery zone, you could buy some advertising space in some local print media that invites people to sign up now and use a coupon code to receive a special discount.

This week’s tip will show you how to create and track these coupon codes.

How to Create a Coupon Code

To create a coupon, click on the Settings link at the top of your Dashboard.  Then click on the tab called “Coupons” from the dark blue band at the top.
Picture
Now take the following steps to create your coupon code:

1.  Enter the coupon ID.  This is the code that your potential customers will enter when they sign up.
Picture


2.  Enter the amount of the discount in the next box and select the discount type from the drop-down menu.

$ Fixed amount discount - The discount amount entered will act as flat dollar amount discount, which will be applied against the total amount owed when checking out from the sign-up process.

% of subscription - This percent discount will apply to the per delivery price of the shares and options selected by the member.
Picture

3.  Select the coupon status of “Published” so that members may begin using the coupon code when signing up.  When the status of the coupon is set to “Draft”, the coupon code may not be used in the sign-up process.  You may change the coupon code’s status at anytime.
Picture


4.  Click the green ADD button and save changes.  Now members may use this published coupon code to receive a discount when they sign up to your program.
Picture



How a Member Uses a Coupon Code 

When a potential member visits your join link to sign up for your program, they will start by selecting their pick-up or delivery option and then selecting their shares and options.  They will then have the opportunity to enter their coupon code in the Terms step where it says “Optional - promotion code”:
Picture
Once the new member selects their payment plan and applies their coupon code, the discount will appear in the order Summary and then the member may complete the sign-up process:
Picture


How to Track Coupon Codes

 For a summary of which new members have used a coupon code, go to the Subscriptions manager in your Dashboard (found under the Members menu) and click the Export button in the upper right corner.
Picture
When you click the Export button, a CSV file will be downloaded to your computer.  Once the file is downloaded and saved to your computer, open the file in a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel.  Then look for the Coupon Code column.  It may be listed under column X.
Picture


When a member uses a “$ Fixed amount discount” coupon code, it will appear as a complementary payment under the Payment tab of the member’s account.
Picture
When a member uses a “% of subscription” coupon code, it will appear as a Special Discount under the Subscription tab of the member’s account.  You may remove this discount if necessary by clicking on the “x” and the end of the item row.
Picture


Special Promotions

If you would like additional advice for managing special promotions, such as Groupon or Living Social, email [email protected].

Early Bird Catches the Worm!

8/23/2012

 
Picture
As the summer starts to wind down, some of you may have already begun planning for the next season.  For those of you who manage deliveries year-round, we encourage you to take this opportunity to update your delivery schedules from your Farmigo Dashboard.  


For those of you who offer your members seasonal shares, please email [email protected] so that we set up your next season.  There are a lot of benefits to setting up your next season now.  For starters, you can begin promoting sign-ups for your next season among your current share members.  You can also begin collecting revenue to help with all the expenses that are required when preparing for your next season.

Update Delivery Schedules for Ongoing Deliveries

If your members have signed up for a continuous subscription to your CSA, please remember to regularly add dates to your delivery schedules.  To edit or add dates to your delivery schedules, go to the Settings link at the top of your Dashboard.  Then click on the dates so that they turn blue in order to schedule a delivery for that date.
Picture
Picture

Good Year? Set up a Fall or Winter Season

Some of you may have been promoting a Fall or Winter share already.  But some of you may have only recently determined that you are prepared to offer a Fall or Winter this year.  If you do not have any sign-ups yet for your Fall or Winter shares, please email [email protected] so that we can set up a unique sign-up page for those seasons.  The new link will allow current and new members to sign up for the share at any time and provide you with a unique link for marketing the Fall or Winter season.

Jump Start Sign-ups for Next Season

As your members have gushed over the beautiful produce that they’ve received all season, this is the perfect time to ask them to sign up for your next season!  Please email [email protected] when you are ready to set up your next season.  If you could include answers to the following questions, it will allow us to set up your season very quickly:

  1. Are the delivery days for the new season the same as a previous season? If so, which season? If they are different, what are the delivery days (M,T,W, etc) of the new season?
  2. What is the start and end date the new season? (We know that Mother Nature may have different plans for your start and end dates, and that's okay - we can always change them. What's most important is that the number of weeks in the season is accurate.)
  3. Are the payment plans you want to offer for the new season the same as a previous season? If so, which season? If they are different, which payment plans would you like to offer this season? 
  4. Are the schedules (weekly, biweekly, etc) for the new season the same as a previous season? If so, which season?  
  5. Are the delivery locations for the new season the same as a previous season? If so, which season?
  6. Are the shares and options for the new season the same as those from a previous season? If so, which season? 
  7. When would you like to start taking sign-ups for the new season? 

After we have set up your new season, we will ask you to review your new season and set up any schedules, shares, or locations that we couldn’t copy from a previous season.  To review the settings for the new season, you will need make sure that you switch seasons when working in each part of your Dashboard.

Switching seasons in the Routes manager

Picture

Switching seasons in the Items manager

Picture
Once you have tested your new sign-up link and verified all settings, you will be ready to start taking sign-ups!  After your current season has ended, you will then email [email protected] so that we activate your new season and you can begin managing deliveries.  

How to Manage Delivery Schedules

8/2/2012

 
Your Schedules are the most integral part of your Farmigo system.  The goal of this week's tip is to illustrate how your Schedules interact with each part of your system.

Charging for Your Shares
YEAR-ROUND CSAs:  Whether you make deliveries year-round or on an ongoing basis, a share's assigned schedule determines when your members are charged for that share.

SEASONAL CSAs:  If your Farmigo system is defined by finite seasons, the total price of a share for the season is determined by the number of distributions in its assigned schedule.  For example, let's say that you deliver a produce box for 16 weeks each summer.  You estimate that the average price of your share is $15 per delivery.  To calculate the total price of the share for the season, you take the number of weeks scheduled times the per delivery price of the share to get $240 for the season.
Picture

Managing Share prices on a per delivery basis offer you and your members more flexibility in managing your shares.  If you deliver your shares on an ongoing basis, members may conveniently put their deliveries on hold instead of canceling their subscription.  If you manage seasonal deliveries, this logic helps you to automatically pro-rate the seasonal price of your share for late signups.


Planning Your Delivery Routes
When one of your pick-up locations is assigned to a Route, it is assigned to the same delivery day as that Route.  For a share to be available at that pick-up location, the share's assigned schedule must include the same delivery day as that pick-up location.  For example, the Full Share above is assigned to the Weekly schedule.  The only delivery days selected in the Weekly schedule are Wednesday and Thursday. Now you want offer pick-up for the Full Share on Sundays at the farm.  Below are the steps that you would take to add a delivery day to a Schedule and Route:
Picture
STEP 1
Click on the Settings link at the top of the Dashboard.  From the drop-down box that appears under the Schedule tab, select the Schedule where you would like to add the additional day.  (You may need to follow steps 1 and 2 for multiple schedules.)

Picture
STEP 2
Add the new day to the existing schedule by clicking on the relevant dates in the calendar.  The day will turn blue in the calendar in order to indicate that it has been selected.  In our example, we selected all of the Sundays for the same weeks that we are making deliveries on Wednesday and Thursday.

Then SAVE CHANGES and close the Settings box.

Picture
STEP 3
Go to the Routes module, under the Status Menu.  Click on the green plus sign in the upper right-hand corner in order to create a new Route.  Assign the new route to the delivery day that you just created.  In our example, we added a Route for Sunday.

Then click on the button to "Save & Close."

Picture
STEP 4
From the Routes module, click on the green balloon symbol in the upper right-hand corner in order to create a new location.  Assign the new location to the appropriate Route and Save Changes.  In our example, we assigned the new Farm Pickup option to the new Sunday Route.  Now when a new member selects this option to pick up at the Farm on Sundays, they will be able to select the Full Share in the next step of the signup process.  This is because the Weekly schedule is assigned to the Full Share.

Picture
What if I don't know how many distributions I will have?  Plan conservatively.  

For those of you that manage your deliveries seasonally, it is sometimes difficult to predict how many deliveries you can squeeze into a season.  I recommend minimizing expectations and scheduling the minimum number of deliveries that you believe is reasonable for the season.  If you find at the end of the season that you may offer additional produce, advertise this surplus as a BONUS for your members at a reduced price per delivery or at no additional cost.  To offer bonus deliveries to your members, take the following steps:

  1. Create a unique schedule for the extra deliveries.
  2. Create a share at the discounted delivery price or at a price of $0; assign the share to the unique schedule created in step 1.
  3. Ask members to log into their accounts and add the Bonus Deliveries to their subscription. (Email [email protected] if the feature which allows members to add to their subscriptiontion is not currently turned on.)

To learn more, visit the Farmigo Help Site. 

What tips can you share about planning deliveries?  Do you find pro-rating shares to be a good strategy for increasing membership?

Starting a Waitlist for All Shares

7/3/2012

 
Farmigo can help you to manage multiple waitlists for locations and for shares.  Today's tip focuses on how you may start a waitlist when you believe that you have sold out of all your shares for the time being.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you want to allow members to continue to add options after they have signed up, you do NOT want to waitlist all of your shares.

Setting up the Waitlist

STEP 1:  Go to the Items manager, found under the Market menu in your Dashboard.  Unpublish any Options that have been set up.
Picture


STEP 2:  Open up the Item Editor for each of your Shares and set the number of available units to zero. Save changes.
Picture
STEP 3:  Go to the Connect manager, found under the Market menu in your Dashboard.  Review the information in the "Automated Email - Waitlist Signup Confirmation" and save changes. 
Picture

What Your Members See

Now when a person visits your signup page (the join link), they will only asked to select their preferred share and share their contact information.  They will not be asked for payment at this time.
Picture

How to Move Members Off the Waitlist

When you are confident that you have a enough shares to move some members of the waitlist, you may take the followings steps:

STEP 1:  Go to the Items manager, found under the Market menu in the Dashboard.  Open the Item Editor for the relevant share and increase the number of available units.

STEP 2:  Go to the Waitlist manager, found under the Status menu in the Dashboard.  Use the Item filter to find the members that are waiting on a particular share.  Email each member in the list and ask them if they would like to be removed from the waitlist and what their preferred pickup location would be.  When the member replies, go on to step 3.


STEP 3:  Open the Member Card for a member that you would like to remove from the waitlist.  Under the Subscription tab, add their desired pickup location and their desired share. Remove the waitlisted share. Save changes.
Picture
STEP 4:  Send the new member an email, which includes their pickup location, next date of delivery and a link to make a payment. (To set up an email template, go to the Connect manager under the Market menu.)

For More Information

To learn more about how the waitlist works in other situations, please visit our Help Site to learn more.

Understanding Member Access Hours

6/13/2012

 
Today, we want to explain how member access hours function. There are two parts to controlling member access hours. 

1. Sign-Up: New Member Sign Up Cut Off
The number of days before delivery a new member must sign up by or their first delivery date will be pushed to the following week

2. Store:  Upcoming Order Hours  
The time members can login and make changes to their upcoming order i.e. change a pick up site/add items in the webstore
 
How do I know what my current member access hours are?
If you are unsure of your current member access hour settings, you can check them in the settings area of the dashboard.
Picture

How Does it Work?

New Member Sign-Up Cut-Off
The new member sign-up timeframe is controlled by setting a fixed number of days to cut off sign-ups before that coming week's delivery. For example, above, the new member sign-up delay is set to 1 day before delivery. This means that for a new member to receive that coming Sunday's delivery, the new member must sign up by Saturday at midnight. If a member signs up once the cut-off time has passed their first delivery will not be scheduled for the upcoming delivery. Instead, the member's account will be put on a temporary hold for that week's delivery and then they will be schedule to receive their first delivery for the following Sunday.
Picture
If you decide that you actually do want to deliver to the new member for the upcoming delivery, you can go into their member card and activate their delivery as shown below.  But use caution before removing the delivery hold!  As soon as the new member signed up, they may have received an automated email indicating when they may expect their first delivery.  If you remove the hold for that coming week's delivery, remember to email them and notify them that their first delivery date has changed.  Also, if you pro-rate you shares, please be aware that the new member will not have paid for this extra delivery.
Picture
Ask Yourself: How many days in advance do you need to know about a new member sign-up in order to prepare their share for the upcoming delivery? One day, two days, three days? Maybe you need an entire week. If you need your sign-up delay changed, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Upcoming Order Hours
You may control times during which a member may adjust their upcoming order based on the delivery day.  For each of your delivery days, we can set a opening hour and closing hour for members to log into their account and make the following changes for upcoming orders:
 
1. Put their upcoming delivery on hold*
2. Change their pick up location*
3. Update their subscription*
4. Add items to their delivery from the Web Store
5. Customize their share (for CSA's doing customized boxes)
 

*Members can only take these actions if you allow them to. These settings may be changed by a Farmigo support team member.

Opening Hour
The earliest members can access their accounts for an upcoming delivery is the day after their most recent delivery. For example, if they receive a delivery on Wednesday, they will be able to begin making changes for the upcoming order on Thursday morning. If you want time to update the web store, we can set the open hour to a later time to allow for changes in inventory/item availability.

Closing Hour
Again, you want to ask yourself, "How many days in advance do I need to know about things like delivery holds/change in delivery location, as well as total orders placed in the web store in order to prepare an upcoming delivery?"

Closing hours can be set to a different time for each delivery day.  Therefore, each delivery day can have a different closing time or alternatively, they can each have the same closing time.
Picture
Same closing time:

Picture
Different Closing Times/Days:


BEST PRACTICE!
Make sure that you communicate your hours with members clearly. Here are some of the best ways to keep your members informed:
 
1. List hours in your policy and on your website. 
 
2. Mention hours in the instructions tab for each pick up site (Routes Module) so members will see them when they login to their account. 
 
3. Set up an email alert that sends out the final day that members must make changes for their upcoming order reminding them that they must log in and make the necessary changes. 

Remember, if you have any questions or need changes to be made to your member access hours, please email us at [email protected]

New and Improved Locations Exceptions Interface

5/13/2012

 
Location exceptions allow you to vary the price and/or schedule of a specific share, option, or item according to a specific location. They also allow you to hide a share, option, or item from a specific location. Recently, we released a new interface to make managing location exceptions simpler. 

Where can I view location exceptions?
Market --> Items --> Click on item to view the item card --> Location Exceptions tab
Location exceptions are a feature that must be enabled by the Farmigo team. If you would like to use this feature in your system, please email [email protected] and ask us to enable location exceptions. 

Are my current settings affected by the new interface design?
No - If you already have location exceptions set up for your system they will not be affected by the new design. All of your location exceptions that were set up previously are still functioning, they will just look a little bit different.

The old design:
Picture
How is the new design different?

Location Exceptions for Shares or Options
Picture
1. Locations
Previously, you had to enter each location you wanted to make an exception for. Now, every location in your system automatically appears in the location exceptions.

2. Price
By default, the price for every location will be set to the price listed in the info tab for the item. The default price will always appear in grey. If you change the price of the item at a specific location, it will become bolded.

3. Schedule
By default, the schedule for every location will be set to the schedule selected in the info tab for the item. No schedule title will show up if the location is set to the default schedule.

If you want to set a location to a different schedule, click on the blank space under schedule for that location and a drop down list will appear with your different schedules. Select a schedule. Locations that have a schedule exception will display the name of the varying schedule.
Picture
4. Show/Hide Item
Previously to hide an item you had to type in the name of the location and then select "No" from a drop down box under a show column. This made it difficult for CSA's that had many locations and wanted to show an item at only a handful of their location. 

We have simplified this with a check box system. By default, the item will be displayed for every location.                                                                     

                                                                    Checked box:    Display item
                                                  Unchecked box:    Hide item

Two buttons at the top allow you to select or deselect the box for every location at once.
- Select every box to show the item at every location. Deselect the boxes for the few locations where you do not want to offer the item.
- Deselect every box to hide the item from every location. Select the boxes for the few locations where you do want to offer the item.  
Picture

Location Exceptions for Store Items
You can also hide a specific store item from a specific location with location exceptions.  To hide an item, open the item card, click on location exceptions and uncheck the box for the locations you wish not to sell the item. 
Picture

Thank you to all our CSA's who gave us valuable feedback about how we could improve the location exceptions interface. The new location exceptions design is more intuitive and simpler to manage. We hope you enjoy it! 
 
If you are not viewing location exceptions in your item cards, email [email protected] and ask us to enable it in your system.

Members Can Now Sign-Up/Login Using Facebook Username and Password

3/22/2012

 
How many times a week do you fail to remember your password to a website you are sure you have an account with? You sit there going through all of the possible options until finally one works or you give up in frustration. Whether it is your bank account or your favorite music website, it is impossible to keep all the usernames and passwords straight. In attempt to stay off of the list of forgotten passwords, This week, Farmigo will launch a new feature, allowing members to easily sign up and log in using their Facebook accounts. Members who do not wish to connect using Facebook or do not have a Facebook account can still sign up or log in using their email address and selected password.

Let's take a look at what the new signup and login processes will look like.

Read More

    Subscribe to the tip of the week mailing list

    Categories

    All
    Accounting & Finances
    Communicating With Members
    Dashboard Management
    Images & Photos
    Knowing Support
    Managing Deliveries
    Managing Locations
    Managing Payments
    Managing Sign Ups
    Member's Perspective
    Reports
    System Updates And New Features
    Web Store

    Archives

    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012