Turning your WooStore into a Catalog Mode or a Members-only shop is a strategy worth following.
Today, even a popular business like Udemy considers catalog mode as part of its prime strategies.
And, apart from the economic benefits – presenting your store differently to each customer segment, capturing genuine leads, and highlighting product exclusivity for your registered customers acts as a key to boost your sales and revenues.
So, to ensure you enjoy the best of all the benefits, allow me to walk you through the step by step process of enabling Catalog Mode in your WooCommerce store.
Let’s dig in!
3 Steps to Enable WooCommerce Catalog Mode
Step 1 – Choose and Install a Catalog Mode plugin
The first step in the process is to choose a Catalog Mode plugin!
Unfortunately, WooCommerce, by default, doesn’t offer Catalog Mode :/
So, to convert your shop easily, you’ll have to select a plugin that’ll let you create and add members-only or catalog mode functionalities.
Now, there are plenty of WooCommerce Catalog Mode Plugins available out there. You’re free to match your needs against each of the plugins and make your decision accordingly.
But, having said that, for the purpose of this article, I have chosen the WISDM Product Catalog Manager plugin. The reasons I prefer this plugin:
- It is a simple plugin that barely takes a few minutes to set up. Plus, it doesn’t require any coding.
- It is extremely reliable since it developed by Certified WooExperts.
- The support team is always responsive and is available at all times to solve any queries.
And, if you’ve chosen to move forward with the WISDM Product Catalog Manager plugin, then you can go ahead and install the plugin.
You can download the .zip file from the website and upload it to the backend of your WordPress Dashboard.
To do so, follow the below steps:
- WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New
- Upload the .zip file
Once you’ve installed the plugin, let’s move on and enable the Catalog Mode functionalities.
Step 2 – Enable Catalog Mode to create a Members-only store
This is the step where the actual conversion of your WooStore into Catalog mode will happen.
Here, you will be able to showcase your upcoming products and create a store catalog by Hiding ‘Price’ and ‘Add to Cart’ options from your products page.
You have the option to restrict your Guest Users from viewing the Product Price and Purchasing the product.
In doing so, you can increase the appeal and generate curiosity for your products.
Simultaneously, you can also choose to show the ‘Pricing’ and hide only the ‘Add to Cart’ button for your Guest Users. This tactic is useful if you’re pricing your product at a lower cost which, in turn, will encourage the Guest Buyer to Sign up/Register on your store to buy that particular product.
On the other hand, enabling Guest Restrictions also has its own perk which often works in your favor. The moment you switch on this function, all your Registered Members/Customers will feel privileged when they realize that all products are available exclusively for them only.
This will push your Registered Users to stay loyal to your WooStore.
Placeholder Option
Moreover, you also have the option to display a Placeholder when the Pricing or Add to Cart icon is hidden for your Guest Users.
You can showcase a Placeholder text under the product. For e.g: ‘Please login to see the product price’. Plus, add a link to the account page or a custom page you’ve created leading them to perform the action you want them to.
After you’re done, hit the Save button to put your actions into motion.
Step 3 – Test your Catalog Mode functionalities
I must admit that setting up WooCommerce Catalog Mode with PCM is as easy as it can get 🙂
However, once you’ve enabled the Catalog Mode, it’s important to test whether the settings have been applied in the way you wanted. You can go to your front-end and inspect it.
In case, you’re not fully satisfied, you can always come back and make the necessary changes.
With that being said, feel free to enable the catalog mode whenever your website needs to go under maintenance. In doing so, you can avoid creating a negative impact on your customers.
On that note, you’re now ready to enable Catalog Mode in your WooStore.
Parting Thoughts,
Increasing memberships and highlighting product exclusivity through WooCommerce Catalog Mode is a bang on revenue-generating strategy.
And, for what it’s worth, adopting this strategy on your WooStore is definitely the way forward.
I hope this article was able to provide valuable insights into setting up Catalog Mode in your WooStore.
In case of any doubts or concerns, feel free to comment below and I’ll try my best to answer ASAP 🙂
