Video Summary
In this tutorial, I walk through how to create a free members area inside Circle that lets people create an account, access free content, and naturally experience everything they don’t yet have access to—turning your community itself into the primary sales environment riverside_Wx6x_eJloAMCEzA=_free….
The strategy starts by intentionally locking down most of the community and exposing non-members to access restriction pages. When someone clicks into a locked space, Circle shows them a fully built, native “tour-style” paywall page with pricing, testimonials, and upgrade paths—no external landing pages required. This is powerful because many people coming from YouTube or lead magnets may never visit your website, but they will see your community.
To support free access, I create a dedicated free section (using a Card View layout) that holds things like free workshops and other public-facing resources. This space is set to Private, not Secret—so people can see it exists but must create an account to enter. The access restriction page for this space includes a Circle Form, embedded directly on the page, where users enter their name and email to request access.
Forms are part of Circle’s Email Hub, which unlocks form creation, emails, and workflows. Once a form is submitted, users are redirected to a custom invite link. This invite link does the real work: it creates their Circle account, applies a Free Member tag, and grants them access via a Free Member access group. No workflows are required just to grant access—invite links handle it automatically.
Access groups are the foundation of the system. Instead of granting access space-by-space, the Free Member access group unlocks only the intended areas (like Getting Started and Free Workshops). This makes everything future-proof, retroactive, and easy to manage as your community grows.
From there, workflows layer on personalization and nurturing. Each form can trigger its own workflow—sending a tailored email, a DM, or follow-ups specific to the workshop or resource the user requested. All forms redirect to the same invite link, but workflows control what happens next based on intent.
Inside the free space itself, I pin a sales-oriented post at the top—styled like an announcement—with buttons linking to my paid membership. Free content posts embed videos at the top and naturally introduce next steps, affiliate bonuses, or upgrades. Once someone has an account, I can email them, DM them, notify them, and keep pulling them back into the community—something that’s impossible with anonymous leads.
The result is a low-friction system that guarantees account creation, centralizes all free content inside the community, and continuously exposes free members to the value of becoming paid—without juggling external tools, zaps, or disconnected funnels.
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Key Takeaways
- Use Private (Not Secret) Spaces: Private spaces show up with lock icons and trigger access restriction pages—perfect for free entry points.
- Circle as the Sales Environment: Locked spaces double as native sales pages, exposing free users to everything they’re missing.
- Forms + Invite Links = Account Creation:
- Forms collect name and email.
- Invite links create the account, apply tags, and grant access automatically.
- One Invite Link, Many Forms: All free forms can redirect to the same invite link, while workflows customize follow-up behavior.
- Access Groups Are Critical:
- Create a Free Member access group.
- Grant access once, manage everything centrally.
- Card View Works Best: Thumbnails + visual layout make free libraries feel polished and intentional.
- Pinned Posts Drive Upgrades: Use pinned posts as in-community sales pages with comments disabled.
- Workflows Handle Nurture:
- Send welcome emails.
- DM new free members.
- Follow up based on what they signed up for.
- Email Hub Cost Justification: Even at ~$19/month for up to 1,000 contacts, one conversion easily covers the cost.
- Guarantees Engagement: Anyone filling out a form becomes a real member you can message, notify, and nurture.
- All Roads Lead to the Community: Free workshops, lead magnets, and downloads all funnel into one central experience.